Competitive Intelligence: Definition and Significant Roles

What is Competitive Intelligence? What is its essential aspect? How to set it up? Here is a topical methodology where we make sense of Competitive Intelligence according to its and further subtleties. Tragically, excessively minimally rehearsed by SMEs, deep knowledge is an incredible device for vital expectation, serving the organization’s maintainability.

Meaning of cutthroat knowledge: Serious insight is the arrangement of frameworks set up by an organization to screen the activities and results of the opposition ceaselessly. A very much directed severe watch is a basic consideration of the organization’s prosperity. Without a doubt, it makes it conceivable to stand apart decisively by investigating the innovative biological system encompassing an area of movement.

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Competitive Intelligence: Strategic Intelligence

Competitive intelligence consists of monitoring some aspects of your competitors, such as:

their news in terms of products and services (price, launch of new ranges, innovation, etc.),
their communication actions (media used, frequency of publication on social networks, advertising spots, etc.),
their business practices (prospecting methods, sales pitch, customer management, etc.),
or their public data (social, legal, financial, etc.).

Of course, this list is incomplete. Competitive intelligence consists of analyzing all the elements that may be of strategic importance and identifying signals that suggest that competitors are trying to develop a competitive advantage. In addition, the objective is to identify sectoral trends or trends in research and development. In the end, competitive intelligence fulfills three significant roles. Here they are.

Three Significant Roles For Competitive Intelligence.

Before defining the objectives of your competitive intelligence, let’s see how it is beneficial.

Detecting If Changes Are Taking Place In Your General Environment.

Each business sector experiences changes, more or less predictable and rapid. Whether macroeconomic or microeconomic, political or social, they must be integrated into strategic decision-making. The sooner you detect these changes, the sooner you can act. These changes can have positive or negative implications. To learn more, see our article PESTEL analysis: definition and concrete example.

Highlight Threats

By analyzing the behavior of competitors, competitive intelligence can lead to the detection of threats that could weigh on your business, directly or indirectly. As for the first point, if you quickly identify a threat or threats, you can slow them down and stop them by spending less time and less money. Threats Can Be Very Diverse, Depending On Your Activity:

increase in the price of your raw materials,
protectionist import/export policy,
societal change,
regulatory changes,
and increased or changing competition (new entrants, changing market shares, strategic changes, etc.).

Remember that your competitors are also on standby and quick to innovate, launch new products, improve the customer experience, etc. However, a threat can also be a springboard to a potential opportunity; know how to take advantage of it.

Anticipate Opportunities.

Your competitive intelligence will reveal trends. If your competitors are moving towards more “green” communication, it’s a safe bet that your potential customers will show an attraction for eco-responsible products. Also, bet on “weak signals”. This less obvious information will allow you to work on your strategy over the longer term. These signals are interesting indicators for potential niches.

Competitive intelligence also allows you to know where your competitors are not present. Keep an eye on trends emerging from social media and influencers in your target audience. Keep yourself informed of everything that can allow you to anticipate what will be popular tomorrow to be one step ahead of the competition!

How To Do Competitive Intelligence?

To be effective, competitive intelligence must be implemented in a continuous and organized manner. It can be articulated around five axes:

Information Gathering

For this first step, it is necessary to list the actors to be monitored. It can be your direct or indirect competitors, suppliers, policymakers, or influencers…. Any source of information that may have an impact on your strategy and your sector can be included.

Filtering Of Collected Data

After collecting information comes a much more tedious phase: that sorting. It will be necessary here to define what is the relevant information to keep and, therefore, to process. The cross-checking of specific data is essential. This step is time-consuming because it must be organized and carried out regularly, depending on the volume of data. The more relevant your sorting will be, the better your dissemination.

Competitive Intelligence Data Processing

Once the filtering phase is complete, it is time to classify the information. The classification and cross-checking of information will make it possible to ensure adequate “capitalization” of it.

Capitalization Of Information

Data relating to your market and competition has been collected, filtered and processed. All you have to do is store them before they are released, depending on their destination (research and development, customer management, communication, etc.)

Broadcast

This step makes it possible to check whether all the information meets the objectives the company’s teams set. Therefore, depending on the feedback, it will be necessary to re-evaluate the sources and types of data collected during your competitive intelligence.

You Are The Target Of Competitive Intelligence Too

Remember, if you’re old competitive, so are the competitors! So be careful what information you post, as it could help your competitors if you divulge too much. Find the right balance between what to say and what to keep.