BLAST FROM THE PAST
Take One Step Forward:
Involve Management When Starting a CI Function
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By Dale Fehringer
Owner
Inkwell Productions
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Like many competitive intelligence practitioners, I became involved in the field “accidentally” when my boss told me to start a competitive intelligence (CI) function. Well, that’s not exactly how she put it. She actually told me to figure out how to keep our company from being surprised by competitor action. With that directive I went off to discover what was available.
Fortunately, I quickly found SCIP. After some internal meetings, internet research, and training classes, I decided the best approach was to start a small centralized CI function focused on early warning. That’s when the work of educating and selling the concept to management began. My boss and I spent the next several months surveying key areas of the organization, putting together a plan, working with a cross-company task force to define priorities and deliverables, and convincing senior management that we could help them.
Starting a CI function requires much more than hiring staff and producing deliverables. It also involves planning, reviewing, and selling the function to management. At best, it is a complex sales campaign; at worst, a crusade.
Someone once told me that to successfully deal with management, you need to do four things:
- Ask them what they want.
- Remind them of what they said.
- Inform them of what you are doing.
- Tell them what you did.
That rings true in my experience. Here are some suggestions for making the process run a bit more smoothly:
ASK THEM WHAT THEY WANT
An important first step in starting a CI function is to determine exactly what your management wants. You might think you have a mandate based on either directives from one member of management or an immediate crisis. But designing a CI function on such short-term imperatives can minimize company-wide buy-in and make it difficult for you to sustain the function.
It’s usually best to take the time up-front to decide what management wants your CI function to accomplish for the organization over the long term. By doing so, you will increase the likelihood that the CI function will have an enduring impact on your organization.
Assess your organization’s needs
Decide what your organization is trying to accomplish and how the CI function can help. A good place to start is by “reviewing the company’s general strategic plan as well as the plans for the specific business units you are responsible for” (Tyson 2008 p45). Identify your organization’s major competitors and those which the CI function will analyze.
Make lists of what your company should understand about its competitors, what it is
already aware of, and what it doesn’t yet know. The things your company
doesn’t know are intelligence gaps. The CI function should strive to fill some or all of them.
Interview management
To determine what your management wants from the CI function, interview members of your organization’s decision-making team. As Larry Kahaner wrote:
The competitive intelligence team can learn [management’s needs] in many ways. Interviewing or surveying top management about their interests is the most effective way. (Kahaner 1997 p49)
Determine management’s priorities and find out in what format and how often they want to receive the intelligence. As William West wrote:
Find [internal champions] you trust and talk to them about competitive intelligence as a topic. Talk about how actionable intelligence might benefit them and others. Build the proposal around their remarks. (West 2008 p31)
Develop a plan
Define a plan to fill urgent intelligence gaps that are within your jurisdiction and are not being pursued by other groups in the organization. This could include other CI groups, regional offices, or related groups in Marketing, Market Research, and so on. Outline deliverables that will convey critical competitive intelligence to appropriate members of the organization. Estimate the staff and budget you will need to do this.
Review the plan with your boss
Sit down with your manager and review your understanding of:
- What your organization is trying to accomplish.
- Who the major competitors are.
- What you think the CI function should do.
Discuss your proposed plan, staff, and budget. Adjust your plan as appropriate based on this discussion.
REMIND THEM OF WHAT THEY SAID
Communicating your goals and plan with management is an essential part of starting a CI function. As John Prescott and Rachele Williams wrote:
Close working relationships among CI users and producers are a primary factor in determining if intelligence will be a core component in user decision-making and implementation. (Prescott and Williams 2003 p13).
Before rolling out your CI function, set up meetings to tell management what you heard them say when you interviewed them and what you intend to do about it. Review your CI plan with them and describe how it will help them. Define which competitors you will analyze, what deliverables they should expect, and what size budget and staff it will take to accomplish your plan.
Expect questions (and probably some challenges) and deal with them in a positive manner. It’s better to address these concerns sooner rather than later.
INFORM THEM OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING
When you have reached general agreement with management, put your CI function in place by using the plan developed during the previous stages. As you implement your plan, work with key members of management to explain the deliverables and gain feedback on their usefulness. Make adjustments based on the feedback.
Survey members of senior management periodically to obtain additional input on the timing, format, and value of your plan and deliverables. As Jan Herring wrote, “The key to all successful and viable (CI) programs is: management wants competitive intelligence and uses it” (Herring 2005 p21).
TELL THEM WHAT YOU DID
Your management’s willingness to support a CI function typically depends on whether they believe they are receiving value from it. To demonstrate value you should regularly remind them what your function is attempting to achieve and how well you are doing it:
- Distribute a list of your objectives including how you completed them to your manager and key members of the senior management team.
- Send management a list of deliverables and their purposes.
- Circulate a list of CI “successes” to key decision-makers.
Don’t neglect this crucial reminder step in the process of developing your CI function – and don’t assume that management will remember what you’ve done. As Will Rogers said, “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.”
IMPROVE YOUR SUCCESS ODDS
By initially making the time and effort to define exactly what you plan to do and then maintaining ongoing communication with management, you will increase the likelihood that your CI function will survive and have a long-term positive impact on your organization.
Once you have a well-defined plan in place, tell your management what you intend to accomplish, work with them to understand and use your deliverables, and regularly show them what you did. By taking these extra steps, you will increase your visibility with this crucial group of stakeholders and enhance the perceived value of your organization.
References
Herring, Jan (2005). “Create an intelligence program,” Competitive Intelligence Magazine, v8/5, September-October p20-27.
Kahaner, Larry (1997). Competitive Intelligence: How to Gather, Analyze, and Use Information to Move Your Business to the Top, Simon & Schuster, New York.
Prescott, John; Williams, Rachele (2003). “The user-driven CI model,”
Competitive Intelligence Magazine, v6/5, September/October p10-14.
Tyson, Kirk (2008). “Starting a Strategic Competitive Intelligence Function.” IN:
Starting a Competitive Intelligence Function, Ken Sawka and Bonnie Hohhof editors, Competitive Intelligence Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia.
West, William (2008). “From Challenger to Champion: Selling Your Idea to the Senior Executive Officer,” IN:
Starting a Competitive Intelligence Function, Ken Sawka and Bonnie Hohhof, editors. Competitive Intelligence Foundation, Alexandria, Virginia.
About the author
Dale Fehringer is a freelance writer and editor. He started and managed the competitive intelligence function at Visa International and served on the SCIP Board of Directors and Education Advisory Committee. Dale edited the Competitive Intelligence Foundation’s Competitive Intelligence Ethics book and the State of the Art: CI study. He can be reached at
dalefehringer@hotmail.com.
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