March 6-7, 2013 – San Francisco, CA

www.altamont-group.com/bfsf| 510-984-2961

BBUUSSIINNEESSSS FFOORREECCAASSTTIINNGG 22001133

March 6th, 3:30 PM

CI Usage and Allocation Create a communication and governance framework to insure relevant competitive intelligence

usage for multiple end users

Ignacio Feller, Former Senior Market and Competitive Intelligence Manager formerly of Align Technologies Ignacio Feller is a Certified Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professional with exhaustive experience developing and managing new CI programs that improve strategic decision making and sales execution. His industry background included

management consulting, electrical/electronic manufacturing, retail and medical device industries. Most recently, he served as Senior Manager, Competitive Intelligence at Align Technology where he directed all competitive and market intelligence activities to support strategic and tactical decision-making across this $550 million medical device manufacturer. Earlier in his career, Ignacio gained extensive experience in all aspects of market research, competitive/market analysis, competitive strategy and strategic planning at Underwriters Laboratories and Accenture. Ignacio holds a BA degree from the University of Iowa, and an MBA from Loyola University Chicago. He is an active member of the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) organization, and is certified as an advanced Competitive Intelligence Professional (CIP-I and CIP-II) through the SCIP CIP™ Conferred by ACI (Academy of Competitive Intelligence) Program. Ignacio is on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ifeller/

View Presentation online: www.altamont-group.com/bfsf

CI USAGE AND ALLOCATION

Ignacio Feller,

Certified Competitive Intelligence Professional

Intelligence Cycle

Planning

Collection

Processing Analysis

Dissemination

2

• Identify the varying

needs across the

organization

• CI network

development

• Communicating for

impact

Identify the varying needs across

the organization

Best Practices

Gain CI Champion(s)

• Help you navigate the organization

Key Intelligence Topics (KITs)1

• Proven needs assessment process

• Focuses CI efforts on the keep-them-up-night issues of CI clients

Continuous engagement of CI clients

• Be proactive! Create opportunities to engage clients

• Personal relationships

• Feedback mechanism for past/ongoing work

Create CI Mission Statement

• Define what success looks like

• Set expectations

1. “Key Intelligence Topics: A Process to Identify and Define Intelligence Needs”, Jan P. Herring, 1999, Competitive Intelligence Review, 10(2): 4-14

Varying Needs

• Topics

• Depth

• Format

• Delivery

• Frequency

• …quirks .

Flexible CI Solutions

• KITs

• Templates

• Routines

• Filters

• Structure

• Central data repository

• Communication platforms

CI network development

People provide highest value intelligence External

Customers

Partners

Sales channels

Suppliers

Consultants

Journalists

Regulators

Market research firms

Securities analysts

Recruiters

Competitors (ethically)

Others…

Internal Ex Customers

Sales teams

Ex Competitors

Engineering

Marketing

R&D

Human Resources

Finance

Public Relations

Investor Relations

Others…

80% of needed info

already inside

company

Helps you consider “bigger

picture” and check for

internal blind spots

Extensive internal networks can be built on a

shoestring budget

Incentives

Relationships

Work towards a knowledge sharing culture

• Educate users on CI process

• Roadshow

• Training & awareness

• Be visible and accessible

• CI knowledge sharing forums

A word on social networks

Communicating for impact “We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge”

– John Naisbitt

Build the right dissemination platform

Key features:

• Secure (for credibility and… well, security!)

• Current tech (don’t make it harder…)

• Scalable (platform shouldn’t eat away your budget)

• Collaborative (collect and disseminate under one roof)

• Measurable (everything that is monitored improves…)

• Searchable (empower users to find info themselves)

And most importantly: tied to existing tools and workflows –

always design process first, then specify software features.

Communicating CI: less is more

Easy to scan headlines with links

to details

Inverted pyramid style writing

Be stylistically perfect

(proofread)

Include implications and

analysis

• So What?

• Now What?

• What’s Next?

Launch a CI Product Portfolio

“Push” Products

• CI Newsletters

• White Papers

• Situation Analysis Reports

• Early Warning Alerts

• Webinars

• Conference coverage

• Profiles (company, product, technology, etc)

• Competitive Landscapes

• Other…

“Pull” Products

• Ad-hoc reports

• Special projects (advisory role)

• CI Education & Awareness

• Self-service via intelligence portal

• Workshops/Briefings (war gaming, etc)

Continuous CI Deliverables

• Self-initiated

• Standardized

• Targeted

Ad-hoc CI Deliverables

• Self and client initiated

Recommendations

• Be proactive

• Understand KITs and management hot buttons deliver relevant

CI products

• Experiment – try various communication vehicles and formats

• Customize

• Tailor deliverable to decision-maker preference and style

• Focus on metrics

• Continually improve CI products based on client usage and key

metrics

COMMUNICATION

Case Study

Align Technology

Delivery Platform: SharePoint

Rationale for SharePoint: • Widespread adoption

• Ease of use, administration and customization

• Tools for managing data and collaboration

• Systematic tracking how CI products are being used

• No incremental licenses cost

Information filtering and

storage directly tied to KITs

Executive Dashboard provides a snapshot view

of overall competitive posture. Authorized

staff can drill deeper into details.

Sample continuous deliverables

• Daily news delivered via CI Portal (e-mail, RSS)

• 1-page newsletter covering significant events of the week

with added implications and analysis

• Competitor product, pricing and sales messaging continually

updated and made accessible to sales staff at anytime from

anywhere

• Other deliverables: conference coverage, quarterly trends

analysis, landscapes etc

Ad-Hoc Deliverables

• Actionable intelligence based on in-depth research and analysis

• Easy to digest format

• Tailored to specific decision-maker

COMMUNICATION

Questions?

Ignacio Feller

Certified Competitive Intelligence Professional

ifeller@outlook.com

408.461.5767