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Competitive intelligence is the processes of understanding how competitors operate, how business trends impact your business, and how competition is evolving. This intelligence allows companies to proactively discover and anticipate opportunities, make informed decisions, and successfully compete in today’s competitive marketplace. Let’s explore how NetBase Quid is using their competitive intelligence platform to benefit clients.
What is a competitive intelligence platform?
An advanced competitive intelligence platform is a combination of complementary tools that have been designed to work together to produce a comprehensive and insightful report for businesses.
The importance of CI
Competitive intelligence has an enormous impact on business strategy and will continue to increase in importance. More companies are recognizing the value that they are creating by deploying an effective CI program. One large corporation, represented by its Chief Customer Officer (CCO), recently was awarded the Forbes 2014 Most Innovative CIOs for his initiative in recognizing and implementing the power of CI. The CCO realized that organizations were beginning to monitor not only their own operations but also the operations of their competitors. Through his initiative, he established formal partnerships with his competitors to facilitate the flow of information on market developments, key customer trends, competitive threats, and regulatory/regulatory issues.
How to build a CI program
In a competitive landscape, there are a number of entities that will use their competitive intelligence tools to see the areas of your business that you don’t want them to. These tools can be accessed in many ways; however, these tools do require maintenance, updates and the acquisition of valuable data.
NetBase Quid and the future of CI
NetBase Quid is a new way of assessing competitive position with a fresh approach to historical information and the ability to predict future patterns. NetBase Quid provides a unique proposition for understanding how a business is currently positioning itself in the marketplace. By combining historical knowledge with predictive analytic, Quid is the first product to bring a combination of internal research, third-party data, and commercial data together in a systematic and transparent manner to provide a new perspective on competitors and how your own business is positioned.
NetBase Quid incorporates product and supplier recommendations and highlights different ways of taking advantage of competitor weaknesses and enhancing your business position.
Market Disruptions
With CI, a company can anticipate what competitors will be doing or not doing to create potential conflicts or issues that could lead to a competitive advantage. There are many possible sources of market disruption and disruption is an important factor in a company’s decision making process. As a business strategy evolves it is the ability to anticipate market changes and move to the advantage of a company’s strategy that defines a company’s success.
Sectors that pose the most significant risk to a business’s success can often be found in retail, telecommunications, eCommerce, and other areas in which competition and new entrants can play a role.
Why CI is Important
Just imagine you are leading a team of engineers and you want to understand what technologies your competitors are using to improve their product lines. It might be as simple as picking up a newspaper and doing a bit of research, but there is a lot more involved than that.
These are the steps required for a CI analysis
Find sources of information. This is where the database comes in. Once you have gathered the needed information on relevant topics, you can start to compile the information into a database. Create scoring criteria. Once the data is built, you can then use criteria to evaluate the current condition of the database. Recommend actions. Once the condition of the database is in line, it is recommended that you make some changes to the database. Redo the analysis.
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