The Benefits of Competitive Intelligence
You may be interested in Competitive Intelligence; you may be thinking about setting up an Intelligence operation within your business. This article looks at the benefits of Competitive Intelligence to offer an introductory guide to you. If you have any questions, then please get in touch.
Benefits of Competitive Intelligence
Before setting up a CI function or project, you should decide why you need one. It is undoubtedly a question your peers at every level of seniority will ask. It’s essential that you can lead your organisation into CI, but it does not guarantee the implementation of a function. If the entire firm does not know why you are doing it, then you are going to struggle. It will be no surprise that you do not operate in an isolated market, and you are not the only company to offer what you do.
It’s easy not to see the wood or the trees
It is easy to be blinded and panicked by a new product/service and think it is the best thing in the market. The information you need to create Intelligence and prevent surprises is out there. If you can gather sufficient information, understand your rivals/prospective acquisition target’s business model, and isolate and take advantage of your rival’s strengths and weaknesses, you will stay ahead of the game.
Using CI will transform your own thinking, firm productivity and how you do things and deliver a better strategic direction to your organisation. It offers unbiased news, views, truth and relevant analysis for your strategic and operational decision-making. Making an important decision is better based on Intelligence than a rumour, gossip and salesperson’s worde. It does not have to be expensive or time-consuming, but how much are you prepared to spend to avoid surprises?
What can Competitive Intelligence do for you
This is what Competitive Intelligence can do for you:
- Firstly, find out critical game-changing information about your competitors.
- Secondly, get to the truth and close the gap on your rivals
- Reduce risk, increase insight and understanding
- Gain the first-mover advantage and avoid costly mistakes.
- And CI can help you assess the risk and rewards
- Drive strategy. Make smart decisions based on considered Intelligence, not rumour and gossip
- Spot opportunities, Isolate new markets, and customers understand what customers and prospects need to Anticipate competitor moves
- Then learn from other companies mistakes
- It can blow assumptions out of the water
- Monitor your competitor’s pricing
- Find out what your competitors are really offering and make a comparison to your operation
- Find new or potential competitors
- And provide an early warning system
- Predict changes in your industry, legislation and regulations
- Size up candidates for acquisitions or mergers
- Identify customer needs, gauge your reputation and win more tenders
- Stay competitive but being up to date on how your customers perceive you
- And isolate cost-saving technologies, processes and improve internally
The Benefits of Competitive Intelligence
You may be interested in Competitive Intelligence, and this article looked at the benefits of Competitive Intelligence, but the most critical aspect of CI is avoiding the nasty surprises; the ones which keep you awake at night.
