 |
||
 |
||
|
|
CHAPTER NEWS SCIP Austin, TX Chapter Presents: Using CI to Support Innovation
On March 1, the Austin SCIP Chapter hosted Dr. Jay Paap, one of the pioneers in the competitive intelligence field. During this event sponsored by Market Awareness, Dr. Paap presented "Using CI to Support Innovation" to an audience of over 80 from the Austin and San Antonio corridor. Participants in this included University of Texas graduate students, small business entrepreneurs, and intelligence professionals from firms such as Dell, USAA, and HP.  Drawing on his nearly four decades of experience as a consultant to leading organizations around the globe, Dr. Paap focused his remarks on three main areas: how innovation works and why CI is critical, how CI works, and where CI can have an impact on innovation. Competitive Intelligence and innovation are two powerful tools that most firms use to grow their businesses. Unfortunately, Dr. Paap explained, many organizations fail to understand the critical link between them, and how the logical application of CI and the dynamics of innovation can work together to drive growth. Too often models of innovation start with screening ideas, with CI taking a secondary role in the process. However, research conducted for NASA at MIT uncovered an important insight – innovation starts with intelligence, not ideas! Intelligence on expected customer requirements, on potential new technologies, and on the competitive environment is where good ideas and innovation are born. Dr. Paap warned that any organization wanting to innovate must recognize the central role of competitive intelligence. “I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Paap’s insights on using competitive intelligence to fuel innovation. His point about looking to other industries as sources of innovation was particularly interesting, as often times we tend to focus solely on our immediate competitive set,” stated Laura Worcester, Strategy and Competitive Intelligence Consultant at Dell. Dr. Paap’s lively presentation was peppered with amusing anecdotes and brain-teasers. As an example, to illustrate the relationship between management of risk and management of exposure; Jay gave the term "exposure" a literal spin, telling a story about a winter assignment in Finland. It was there that his hosts revealed the key to staying warm was not in the weather, but in the preparation for it. And similarly, competitive intelligence can help organizations limit exposure through preparation for what "weather" may be on the horizon. “This was a topic that resonates well with what our team looks at on a regular basis. Dr. Paap is a dynamic speaker, and his wealth of industry experience really added weight to the discussion. I am really looking forward to participating in future events hosted by the Austin SCIP Chapter," said Venkat Rajan, Industry Manager at Frost & Sullivan.  The talk was followed by an interactive Q&A and then a networking hour over drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Dr. Paap remained for the post-presentation activities allowing attendees the opportunity for more intimate conversations. The Austin SCIP Steering Committee received positive feedback on every aspect of the event, and they highly encourage every SCIP Chapter to plan a presentation with Dr. Paap. “This was a great event and quality experience! The evening fostered networking among CI and like-minded professionals and I gained valuable, practical knowledge from Dr. Paap’s presentation. I’m excited that the Austin SCIP Chapter is thriving and active,” stated Gloria Caughlin, Competitive Analyst at Hewlett-Packard.
Some attendees were already familiar faces, having been to all three of Austin SCIP's events since the chapter started about 8 months ago. And excitingly, our numbers continue to grow. “When we launched the Austin Chapter last year, Market Awareness had connections to a lot of local professionals with heavy interest in the intelligence world, and we knew they would all find value in this resource. Our plan was to bring all walks of CI practitioners together, and now each event is more exciting than the last as we meet dozens of new people that want to get involved,” said Glen Brynteson, Austin SCIP Chapter Chair and CEO of Market Awareness. The Austin Chapter of SCIP has even more excitement up its sleeve. We continue reaching out to intriguing speakers to line up presentations for our Chapter, and we always encourage those interested in visiting Austin to reach out to us. As demonstrated in all of our past events, networking time with this group is extremely valuable. Our next event this spring will be a social which is bound to ignite even more quality conversations and connections. About the Author When she’s not volunteering her time as the coordinator of the newly formed SCIP Austin Texas Chapter, Crystal Pieschel is a Sales Manager at Market Awareness, providing firms with intelligence that allows them to understand perceptions in the marketplace, and exactly what they need to align on to win, re-engage, and retain more business. For more information on CI provider Market Awareness visit www.market-awareness.com |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
© 2012 Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals |