What does Competitive Intelligence (CI) mean? Benefits of Competitive Intelligence; Competitive intelligence (CI) is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers in strategic decision making for an organization. Need and Benefits of Competitive Intelligence with Objectives and difference. The growing competition in the business industry has made it necessary for any company to stay in competition or have a competitive advantage over its competitors, adequate and relevant information about the competitors need to receive or know at the right time in other to make a good strategic business decision.
Know and Understand the Explanation of Competitive Intelligence.
Definition by business Jargon’s: In business parlance, competitive intelligence can understand as the process of identifying, gathering, evaluating and disseminating, information concerning competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, products, and customers, which a firm requires for strategic decision making. In other words, it is a legal and ethical practice that helps in improving the firm’s competitive ability and capacity.
Discussion of the topic “Competitive Intelligence” first Meaning of Competitive Intelligence, Definition, Why need be Competitive Intelligence? then Benefits. We can also discuss the Objectives with the Difference between Competitive Intelligence and Market Intelligence.
Competitive intelligence or otherwise called as early signal analysis encompasses information relating to competitor’s plans, products, next moves, and actions. Such intelligence influences the organization’s plans and strategies. Add to that, it helps in prior ascertainment of opportunities and threats in the marketplace, before they are apparent.
Competitive intelligence [Hindi] defines as a systematic process that transforms random bits and pieces of data into strategic knowledge. This information comprises about competitors, customers, technological, environmental, product, and market in. others to make a good strategic decision.
Competitive intelligence is described as those activities a company undertake in determining; and, understanding its industry as well as identifying and understanding the competitors, also determine and understand their weaknesses and strength and anticipate their next moves.
This definition of competitive intelligence tends to identify/determine, understand, and anticipate industry and competitors. Furthermore, competitive intelligence is a process of monitoring the competitive environment, to provide actionable intelligence that will enhance a company’s competitive advantage over its competitors.
Why need be Competitive Intelligence?
In today’s changing business environment, organizations need to implement competitive intelligence because:
Business activity is increasing rapidly:
If customers expect businesses to deliver goods as quickly as possible as well as communicate with them with a faster means of communication. To meet these requirements organizations need efficient management and CI.
Needed Business Information overload:
Organizations are privileged to collect a lot of information, but organizations do not have the idea of which information is relevant. Competitive intelligence will assist in analyzing the collected information, filter it, learn what is relevant, and use it to benefit various business decisions and strategies.
Global competition Increase by new competitors:
Companies are now moving across their original borders into another country. For example, financial firms like HSBC can be found in several countries in which they constitute a threat and complete with the home companies.
The existing competitor is becoming more aggressive:
Competitive intelligence will help organizations forecast competitor’s actions and allow organizations to be proactive because all companies want to acquire more market share and customers.
Political changes affect anybody quickly and forcefully:
Deregulation of business such as retail, insurance, and aviation industry create more threat to organizations in other sectors because their sector can also be deregulated; but implementing CI the organizations will keep informed about the proposed political change that might affect the business.
Technology is going to change by Rapidly:
As organizations can all observe that technology is changing rapidly to the extent that something new happens in the computer industry like breakthroughs which tend to create new opportunities.
For example, the iPhone held the highest market share as well as the highest customers but when the Samsung Android and Redmi came into the picture and video, iPhone’s market share and customer base starts to decline. However, if organizations implement competitive intelligence, it will keep track of technological changes in the industry and other industry that is important to an organizations survival.
Important Benefits of Competitive Intelligence:
A formal Benefits of competitive intelligence program can do the following;
Change in the marketplace:
Companies that observe the marketplace tend not to caught unawares, but companies that fail to observe the market place tend to pay a high price for their mistake.
The action of competitors:
Competitive intelligence activity will create an opportunity to understand what competitors are trying to do in other to outsmart their competitors.
Discover new or potential competitors from Business:
Competitive intelligence activity will provide an insight into the new segment or market a competitor is entering.
Learn from the success and failure of other Competitors:
Competitive intelligence activity will investigate if the customer is happy with competitors and use their findings as a yardstick for development.
Know how to Increase the range and quality of acquisition target?
Competitive intelligence activity will create insight on target company for acquisition because not all company that posses as a threat are worth acquiring. After all, some companies create deception.
Know about new technology, products, and processes that affect business:
Competitive intelligence activity tends to reveal if the project being embarked upon by their company is worth investing in or needs additional resources or the project needs to be shut down because some projects don’t worth any extra expense or resource.
Know about political, legislative, or regulatory changes that can affect business:
The competitive intelligence activity will help analyze the impact of a law or regulation proposed by the government because this government law affects everybody and forces all to change.
Startup new business:
Competitive intelligence activity will help organizations decide if they should enter a new business by observing the success and failure of the market competitor.
Look at own business practice with an open mind:
Competitive intelligence activity will expose organizations to new ideas and concepts because their method of business might be stale and outmoded. Also, it will help organizations to be externally focused.
CI management tool is Help for implements:
Competitive intelligence activity will provide organizations with relevant information that will assist organizations in re-engineering as well as enhancing customer satisfaction.
Objectives of Competitive Intelligence:
The following objectives below are;
- To provide an advanced warning of risks and opportunities, such as mergers, takeovers, alliances, new products, and services.
- To make sure that strategic planning decisions rely on relevant and up-to-date competitive intelligence.
- Competitive Intelligence intends to make the firm more competitive concerning the environment in which the firm operates, i.e. competitors, customers, distributors, and other stakeholders.
- To ensure that an organization can adapt and respond to the changing business environment.
- To provide a periodic and systematic audit of the firm’s competitiveness; which provides an unbiased evaluation of the firm’s actual position, concerning the environment.
Difference between Competitive Intelligence and Market Intelligence:
These differences from infinite research; Often, we come across several terms in business that sound more or less the same; but they turn out to be completely different. Before getting into the differences, let us cut to the chase and get to the basic point of similarity between competitive intelligence and market intelligence. Both these types of intelligence help companies to gain a better foothold in the market and require a considerable amount of accurate research to succeed.
So, what is the key difference between the two? Here goes – Competitive intelligence is the strategic study used by companies to understand their industry and track the moves of their rivals. On the other hand, market intelligence is a broader concept; which includes the research conducted by a company on the external market it wishes to enter, its competitors, and customers. By differences, you’ll understand the Benefits of Competitive Intelligence.
What meant by Competitive intelligence?
DescriptionCompetitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers in strategic decision making for an organization.
What meant by Market intelligence?
Description Market intelligence is the information relevant to a company’s markets, gathered and analyzed specifically for accurate; and, confident decision-making in determining strategy in areas such as market opportunity, market penetration strategy, and market development.
But that’s not all; there are other factors as well that differentiates the two, curious to know what they are?
The focus of the Data Collected:
As discussed, market intelligence gives a larger picture to companies about the market and customers. This means that it is more client-focused, which helps companies to understand their customers and the general consumer behavior better. Competitive intelligence is more business-focused as it comprises data about a company’s competitors and their business strategies.
Digging Deeper into the Data:
Customers are in the spotlight in case of market intelligence; therefore, the data gathered in this type of business intelligence involves economic; and, social statistics of people such as demographics, population, consumption, and demand. On the other hand, competitive intelligence helps companies identify competitor’s strategies, their strengths, and weaknesses; the chunk of the market share they own; how their tactics are impacting your business, etc.
The Game Plan:
While the ultimate aim of both these strategies is to reduce business risk and up the game in the business; the data focus of both these techniques is very different. Therefore, their application in a formal business plan of a company also differs. Market intelligence employee by businesses to improve their existing product offerings and develop new and innovative products; which will ultimately result in improved customer loyalty.
Competitive intelligence use by companies to plan specific strategies to overcome the competition from various competitors in the market. Each competitor will have different business strategies and tactics and with the help of competitor intelligence, companies can plan different counter-tactics for each of them.
References:
- Need and Benefits of Competitive Intelligence – www.mbaknol.com/modern-management-concepts/competitive-intelligence-ci/
- Definition and Objectives of Competitive Intelligence – businessjargons.com/competitive-intelligence.html
- Difference between Competitive Intelligence and Market Intelligence – www.infinitiresearch.com/thoughts/competitive-intelligence-vs-market-intelligence
