Competitive Intelligence in Business. «Whites Start and Win!»

Competitive intelligence in business. «Whites start and win!»

Competitive intelligence in business. «Whites start and win!»

For business, information possession is one of the key factors of its success. Prompt information can have a dramatic impact on management and strategic decision-making.

Intelligence is as old as the world, since ancient times people have sought to know in advance the intentions and capabilities of their enemies or rivals.

Stories of successful industrial espionage

Silk.The only source of silk was China, which strictly guarded its monopoly. However, Persian monks managed to discover the secret and export silkworms to Rome in hollow staffs. China lost millions in its foreign trade.

Rubber.Brazil had a virtual monopoly on rubber production. One English company illegally exported the plant from Brazil to England despite the Brazilian government's strict ban on the export of rubber plants. As a result, Brazil's economy began to decline.

Textiles.Early American colonists depended on England for their manufactured goods, especially textiles. England not only banned the export of factory equipment and its designs to the colonies, but also the emigration of textile manufacturing specialists. Samuel Slater, an apprentice in England, memorized the designs of a textile factory. He was helped to leave England and get to the colonies, where he used his knowledge to break England's monopoly.

LET'S DOT THE POINTS
The intelligence activities of commercial structures can be divided into two areas. One of them is industrial espionage. The second is «business intelligence», which has many synonymous names, such as «business», «economic», «financial», «strategic», «marketing», «commercial» or «competitive» intelligence.

The difference between industrial espionage and business intelligence is only in the latter's compliance with legislation and ethical standards.

WHO TO TEACH WITH MONITORING COMPETITORS' ACTIVITIES
You can entrust the tracking of competitors' activities to consulting firms that offer a full or partial set of business intelligence services. I would like to note that the intelligence business in Russia is «young», and there are almost no serious professional players.

However, for continuous monitoring of the information field, I recommend using the company's own resource (security service, marketing department), having previously trained personnel in specialized courses on the basics of business intelligence.

It is recommended to involve third-party verified specialists only when necessary. An option to check the competence of business intelligence officers is to request information that you know, a reference about your company or the company of a business partner.

Remember that unprofessional actions in intelligence are more likely to harm the company than to benefit it.

WHAT COMPETITORS' ACTIONS SHOULD BE TRACKED
First, it is recommended to establish the circle of competitors. Who are they – your rivals? It is advisable to consider not only the current players in your business segment, but also potential competitors. Determine the approximate market shares. The geography of the study is expanded to the area of ​​your sales market.

Understanding what you want to know about your adversary and why you want to know it will help you define your objectives and allow you to focus on collecting specific information.

Let's look at the types of information.
• overview (gives a general idea of ​​the company);
• operational (changes in events);
• specific (answers specific questions);
• clarifying (confirms or refutes certain assumptions);
• expert (explains events and provides a forecast for development).

It is necessary to take into account that it is easier to verify information than to obtain it. Try to share all the information you have about the competitor with the business intelligence officer. This will significantly facilitate his work, while the time will be used for a more in-depth study of the tasks set.

As a rule, managers are interested in the following information about competitors: plans, development strategy, decision makers, costs, suppliers, clients, pricing, discounts, credit load, problematic (weak) spots and even internal gossip of the company, including emotional background.

Having completed the collection of general information and the study of the current state of affairs, resources and capabilities, the intentions of the competitor, the business intelligence officer begins systematic monitoring of the object and information and analytical work.

Changes in the foreign policy (product range, prices, suppliers, etc.) and internal activities (business processes) are monitored in a competing company.

Competitor monitoring activities should be systematic and covert. It is important to remember that competent business players can use techniques to disinform competitors.

BENCHMARKING
benchmarking (from the English benchmark, «notch», «reference point») is a comparative analysis of the company's performance with the indicators of competing firms in order to improve its own work.

In addition to searching for opportunities to «fight», the analysis of the competitive environment allows you to study and use best practices. For example: The Japanese, launching their «economic miracle» in the 60s, were doing exactly that, adopting the best world experience

METHODS OF OBTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT A COMPETITOR
You can become the owner of almost any information, it all depends on your creative approach, financial and time capabilities, as well as ethical and legal standards.

Confidential information can be obtained from a variety of sources, most of which are not taken into account by an inexperienced person.

A simple example. If you want, you can find out how successfully your competitor is working. In the morning, when your competitor's outlet opens, you need to make a purchase and repeat the event in the evening before closing. By the difference in numbers on the checks, you can find out how many customers there were that day.

Example: You can analyze documents sent by e-mail from your competitor (contract, bonus conditions, etc.) using special programs that will show the changes made or deleted fragments. Perhaps this information will be more valuable to you than the final copy.

Example: Empty flash drive. Under some plausible pretext, obtain a flash drive from a competitor. Let it be empty, take a «mask copy» from it, and return it to the owner. Then restore the entire volume of information that was previously on the flash drive. You can also openly take photos and videos at the competitor's facility, at the request of security, apologize, delete the data, and then restore it. Specialized companies are engaged in information recovery, the percentage of data recovery from digital media is up to 90%.

Example: A car with a built-in hidden video camera is parked opposite the company gates (warehouse, production complexes), the recorder records all passing vehicles. The data obtained is analyzed and on their basis it is possible to obtain primary information on the volumes of sales, deliveries of the competitor.

To obtain information, operational games with various scenarios are also played out.
When playing an operational game, you don't need to skimp on attributes — starting with business cards, corporate attributes, websites, rented offices, registering legal companies, hiring personnel, etc.

Sometimes business intelligence agents who make direct contact can only guess about the true customer of intelligence activities.

An example of an operational game: An offer to buy a business or provide a credit program by a third-party company. As part of the negotiations, the company is audited by the buyer's representatives. After accessing and collecting the necessary information, they refuse the offer.

There are many options for obtaining information, I will not list them, they are actively discussed and, if desired, you can easily find them on the Internet.

I will note that there are official sources of information with on-line access that allow you to obtain the following information:
• Information, details, licenses of the company.
• Company structure, co-owners, subsidiaries, branch network, management. (Ability to obtain extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs);
• Statistical and financial statements of companies, information on audits;
• Scoring assessments, including credit risks;
• Information on securities issues, calendar of events for shares and bonds, quotes, information on the registrar;
• Database of bankruptcies and decisions of arbitration courts;
• Information on the company's obligations, information on participation in government tenders.

INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE
In business intelligence, there are «white», «gray» and «black» schemes for obtaining information. Therefore, before sending a spy behind enemy lines, you need to familiarize yourself with the legislation and decide whether these methods are acceptable to you.

Industrial espionage is a form of unfair competition, its methods include:
• Bribery of employees, partners to transfer information.
• Hacking software.
• Collection of information using technical means.
• Physical methods.
• Infiltration of insiders.
• Collection of compromising information and subsequent blackmail.
• Extraction of information with the help of government agencies.

RED RAG
Knowledge of information about a competitor and the true position in your industry will allow you to have an advantage. At the same time, most companies do not seek to advertise this data so as not to lose it.

A stable operational channel allows you to evaluate the dynamics of the correctness of your strategic activities. Intelligence, like diplomacy, is a subtle art.

IN CONCLUSION:
You must understand that you can obtain information and learn the secrets of a competitor, but it is not a fact that the use of this information will bring results to your company. Each gear is made for its own mechanism.

Business intelligence is an exciting process, but you should not get carried away by the process, so that it does not develop into a meaningless game.

I would like to note that the methods of obtaining competitive information can be used not only by your company, but also by your competitors. Therefore, I wish you success not only in effectively conducting competitive intelligence, but also in organizing preventive measures aimed at eliminating it in relation to your company.

I wish you fair competition!