How to Create Valuable Insights Within Your Company
This article explains how to create valuable insights within your company and discusses the importance of collecting, collating, and developing your own internal Intelligence network.
To prevent information overload, missed data, and a lack of the critical aspect of insight and analysis, it is essential that collaboration and knowledge sharing take place. Sharing information between teams in different business areas, departments, and countries offers access to a significant amount of invisible information that can turn unused market information into valuable Intelligence for your operation.
Vast external information
Your organisation has access to vast amounts of external information like online media, company databases, newspapers, industry-specific website sites, analytical market research reports and the world wide web. The problem is that there is so much information. Perhaps too much information. Too much data dressed as up as Intelligence to sell an online tool. And finding the right information at the correct times is getting so much more challenging. That’s before spending more time on analysing the data to create actual Intelligence.
Develop your Intelligence network
You have to spend time getting to know people within and outside your organisation. You need to put the effort into developing your intelligence network. Just like what real spies do. To reduce the amount of unused data, it’s wise to get the rest of the company to help you sift and refine it. For example, you hear that your competitor has appointed a new sales director. Is there anyone in your business or surrounding network who knows them personally? Can they tell you how they think and what makes them tick? What is their track record, and how do they manage and sell? Everyone has habits and tried and tested techniques, and this makes people predictable.
Understanding what your competitor’s sales director thinks is way more important than a nice-to-know piece of information. If you put the research in, it will allow you to understand what your competitor is going to do next, isolate the possible new sales messages and find their weaknesses a couple of weeks into their job. Does the appointment match the person’s track record and knowledge of specific markets, services, products and technologies? Does this anticipate a change of direction within your competitor? A shift in strategy?
Make your life easier
Understanding who in your business will have the relevant insights to make your life easier and improve your bottom line is crucial. Hence, it is important to develop your intelligence network by giving your teams Market Intelligence to help them with their day-to-day jobs and to be a sounding board for their business problems, which may reveal more Intelligence subjects you can help them with.
Now, Competitive Intelligence software may help you collate the masses of data and even share the market intelligence via battle cards newsletters etc. But, the software is only as good as the work put into it to generate quality Intelligence. If you don’t put the hard miles in, all you will have is access to even more mass data. But at least it will be collated if you have set it up correctly. And nothing beats meeting people, telling them something, and getting to know them.
It’s more than just software
Software or a simple spreadsheet is recommended to record what you know and distribute it consistently, but to make them feel more comfortable, you need face-to-face meetings in groups and one-on-one settings. Resist emailing people a piece of Intelligence when a little bit of effort will allow you to pop your head around the door.
Allow each Intelligence end-user to define the Intelligence they want to read to make their life easier. These questions need answering and collating associated topics centrally. Otherwise, you will soon have many questions to answer. And unhappy end-users because their exact needs have not been matched. The fact you did not know them has nothing to do with it.
A software platform will allow you to share each other’s needs, manage them and allow other people within the network to see what been asked and answered. They will be in a position to contribute valuable insights to support your decision making.
Finally
I guess I am trying to say that Competitive Intelligence is not something you can do when you have the odd 10 minutes spare. Buying the best software in the world will not help if you don’t work. Or, as they say in some circles, crap in – crap out. And yes, we can help with this, but that’s not the article’s purpose.
How to create valuable insights within your company
This article discussed how to create valuable insights within your company and the importance of collecting, collating, and, most importantly, developing your Intelligence network. Relevant market developments can be easy to miss. Still, with a good intelligence network, supporting software, and excellent analysis skills, you will stand a much better chance of isolating developments before it’s too late.
We are Octopus. The Global People-Powered Competitive Intelligence Agency.
Outsmart your competition. Make the unknown known. Octopus helps you gain clarity in complex markets. With clients and tentacles around the world, we deliver sharp, actionable competitive intelligence through a blend of deep primary (HUMINT) and secondary research. If you’re looking to make smarter decisions, beat the competition, and reduce uncertainty, we’re the partner you want on your side.
