Administrator
When gathering information about your competitors and the general market, a great place to start is in your own files and resources.
First, check your business plan. It should contain a section on the market and your competition. Copy the relevant sections and place them in a special “competitive intelligence” file.
Remember that not all information you find on your competition will be accurate or correct. That is what makes this probably one of the most difficult aspects of the whole process.
Once you enter into the information gathering process of competitive intelligence, it is important to note that all your methods for collecting data should be legal.
The key to the competitive intelligence process is to understand what information you truly need. The goal is to find information about your market and about your competition that will give you a competitive edge.
Even if your company has a committee in place to gather and organize the necessary information you will need to stay informed about what the committee has found.
Just as you wish to know information about your competitors, they want to know things about you. That is the nature of competitive intelligence. To prevent your competition from learning too much, you need to find a way to protect your secrets.
Since competitive intelligence is a group effort where everyone in the company is responsible for gathering information, it makes sense to form a special group that is in charge of the information.
In order to engage in the competitive process accurately, you need to understand the nature of your industry.
Once the competitive intelligence system is underway, there are some things to keep in mind that will make the process much easier.
In order for the Competitive Intelligence system to work, employees need to stay motivated so they can share any information about the competition and the market that they gather.
Competitive Intelligence