While participating in a discussion on Linkedin about business competitiveness, I suddenly realized that managers and specialists know almost nothing about the capabilities of commercial intelligence and the advantages it provides to businesses. It is likely that business people themselves have little understanding of these capabilities.
I found it strange, as the technology itself had its origins and
development back in the 1990s. And yet!
Well, I will try in a few short notes to outline and remind in general
already well known, in passing dispelling a few well-established prejudices and
misconceptions.
Yes! I apologize in advance for my English. It's not perfect, but it's not my native language either.
Note:
If you are interested, but not before! If you want to understand and implement the system in your business or company, I recommend downloading the guide at the link. It's pretty comprehensive. Anyway, I tried to create a guide that allows you to deploy the system from scratch. If you have any questions, I'm open to discussion.
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You can
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About a major
misconception
So, here we go!
Intelligence of commercial means it works in business (it's true).
The main purpose of intelligence studies is competitors! This is not
that it is a lie, but it is a rather stable and established misconception. As
they say - “it depends”...
Are the company's market competitors subject to intelligence studies?
Yes! Absolutely they are! BUT! Extremely rare. I would guess less than 7% or 5%
of the time. It really depends on the degree of market influence of specific
competitors on your company's operations.
Try to remember how many companies in your memory have actually died
because of the market power of competitors? Even in those rare cases when
companies have died because of competitors, it was not a one-time and
instantaneous event, but usually a long-term stagnation and demise due to the
company's failure to meet market needs and real customer demands and
expectations.
That is, the main reason for the demise is not competitors, but the
market and the company's non-compliance with modern market standards and
conditions. Although, the influence of competitors keeping up with the times
and meeting the requirements and modern demands of the market is hard to deny.
I used the phrase “market influence” here for a reason. If competitors
have a significant “market impact” on your business, on the achievement and
realization of the company's business goals, objectives, and projects, then
competitors can become the objects of intelligence research. As practice shows,
studying a competitor is a relatively simple process that does not take much
time.
However, if competitors do not exercise market influence on the
activities of your company, for example, by methods of non-market or unfair
competition, criminal methods, etc., then in this case, competitors should be
and/or become objects of study not at all intelligence, but other, already
existing in the company services and departments.
To counteract them in this case should be: Security Service; PR Service;
Customer Feedback and Support Service; other services whose business
competencies are exposed to this negative influence and whose competencies
involve responding and counteracting.
The misconception that the
key objects of study in business are competitors was transferred to business
from military intelligence in the very early stages of the formation and
development of intelligence and intelligence methods and technologies into
business in the early 1960s.
Over time (more than 60
years), business intelligence technologies and methodologies have evolved and
become increasingly customized to business needs. Today, anyone who wants and desires
to conduct intelligence activities in business must understand the very
important difference between military intelligence and commercial intelligence!
The difference in objectives
between military and commercial intelligence implies a difference in methods and
techniques of extracting information! And the difference is significant.
The key objective of
military intelligence is to provide information and support for combat
operations to defeat the enemy (defeat the enemy in war). This is why the main
purpose of study in military intelligence is the enemy and everything related
to it.
In war, the slogan: “The end
justifies the means” is quite acceptable and is usually used by both sides of
an armed conflict.
The key goal of commercial
intelligence is somewhat different: information support and support for the
profit-making business of a commercial company. Its activities are carried out
not on the battlefield or combat theater, but in a competitive market
environment, where the number of actors of influence is much wider than in
military affairs.
This fact makes a lot of
military intelligence techniques unacceptable in business. Why not? Because
there is simply no real need for it. Blackmail, bribery, stealing secrets,
etc., EVERYTHING you can get in this way, in commercial intelligence you will
get by other overt methods. Moreover, you will get real advantages over your
competitors from more effective activity in the external market environment and
from a good knowledge of the environment itself.
Competitors are just one of
the participants in the external market environment. Their influence is most
often not so significant, compared to, for example, the impact on the market
of: technology; changes in fashion and customer preferences; changes in local
laws within the country; the emergence of new goods and materials with
different (changed) physical and technical parameters.
All this makes market
competitors out of the list of key and priority objects of study for commercial
intelligence.
Business is not war, although many still believe otherwise. Take this into account.
Key objects of study in commercial intelligence
Now that we have set up that competitors are NOT the key objects of study in commercial intelligence, we need to point out the real and meaningful objects of intelligence study.
The scope of commercial
intelligence deals exclusively with EXTERNAL market risks, threats and
opportunities, at the three levels of a company's business activities:
·
Current
(tactical) - day-to-day operations;
·
Strategic -
realization of long-term goals, plans and projects of the company;
·
Operational -
random and unplanned events and circumstances that can significantly affect the
company's business activity.
Thus, it is EXTERNAL market
risks that are the key focus of commercial intelligence. What kind of risks?
This depends directly on the strength and degree of their influence on the
company's business activity. Such influence, except for neutral (presenting
neither threats nor opportunities), can be of two types: negative (risks and
threats to business); positive (events/events presenting additional
opportunities for business).
·
Risk - an event;
phenomenon; (a set of events and conditions); intelligence object (or
third-party object) and its activity (activity) that can significantly affect
(complicate) the current activities of a commercial organization or the
possibility of implementing strategic business objectives. Or the consequences of
such events, objects or the consequences of their activity. One and the same
risk can be single, multiple, recurring, ongoing.
Another area of business
intelligence is TECHNICAL (technological) intelligence. It concerns
modernization (improvement) within the framework of benchmarking, internal
management, technological and other processes, techniques, technologies and
products offered.
Inadequacies or
inconsistencies in a company's internal processes can, over time, grow into a
serious risk that poses major problems for the company's competitiveness in the
market.
Finally, speaking about the business activity of the company and
information service and support of this activity (which is what intelligence is
engaged in), it is impossible not to mention information uncertainty. In
practical terms:
·
Information uncertainty is the multivariate
development of events in a specific market environment in which a business or a
commercial company operates. Simultaneous presence of several
options/opportunities for the development of events in the specified sphere,
including those acting simultaneously or sequentially. Risks or opportunities
may be related and/or unrelated to each other and act/develop in different
directions and scenarios, affecting (influencing) different areas and aspects
of the same business.
The practical task of intelligence is to manifest and clarify
information uncertainty. Studying, understanding and determining exactly what
scenario the events under review are developing. What can this lead to if we
are talking about an event that is still in its infancy?
Intelligence activity in this area provides the company with
opportunities to proactively respond to events that occur in the business
environment. That is, BEFORE the event is realized or at the earliest stages of
its realization. In contrast to reactive response, when a company is forced to
react as a reaction to an event that has already occurred and, quite possibly,
not expected.
This is how business intelligence ensures competitiveness and
competitive advantage by enabling a company to respond to risks as quickly and
as specifically as possible, especially when compared to those who do not do
any such thing at all.
Thus, to summarize, we can say:
· The object of study of commercial intelligence is specific: EXTERNAL risk; opportunity; object of market influence; group of risks; external commercial and non-commercial conditions; events affecting the business, etc., to be studied by commercial intelligence structures.
Why is it NOT
recommended to talk about this out loud with random people?
·
What is being done;
·
By whom it is done;
·
How and when it is done;
·
In relation to which objects.
Ideally, no one, even within the commercial company itself, except for
the narrowest circle of dedicated individuals, should be aware of the existence
of such capabilities. Leaking information about a company's use of intelligence
capabilities to the outside world can itself have very undesirable
consequences.
For example, it can lead to damage to the company's business reputation.
Your competitors will probably try to make it look like you are engaging in
industrial espionage, even though you are not using any of the industrial
espionage tools listed. And that's not the worst of it!
- But let me! - some
people will say - after all, you yourself wrote that commercial intelligence
does not use in its arsenal of dubious methods of military intelligence! What
is the need for such secrecy?
Don't rush to indignation! I'm not retracting my words. I just haven't
told you about the main criterion for selecting risks to be studied by the
commercial intelligence system.
As we already know, the basic requirement for an intelligence object is
the materiality (significance) of its influence:
·
on business and business activity of the company;
·
on the possibility of achieving (realizing) the
intended long-term goals (projects) of the company.
There is one key and overriding issue to identify and define future
intelligence targets as accurately as possible:
|
What
exactly, WHICH event; phenomenon; occurrence; incident - is capable of FULLY “KILLING”
or DESTROYING the company's business or making specific planned business
goals unattainable? “KILL” -
without the possibility of subsequent recovery or at very high cost? |
Thus, the compiled list
of identified intelligence objects is literally a list of weaknesses and
vulnerabilities of your company, in case of occurrence (realization) of which,
the business of the company expects very hard times and consequences.
Real questions of LIFE or DEATH of a commercial company! Is it worth
sharing such a list with outsiders? Could it not be used to destroy your
company or reduce its competitiveness?
If I were you, I would prefer that as few people as possible know about
the existence of the list itself, and even less about its contents.
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