At the PLLIP CI group meeting at AALL last week in DC folks threw out some wonderful program ideas for the next year to be used as webinars or suggestions for the next AALL Annual Meeting. One idea for a program on basic Competitive Intelligence. While a program or webinar will be planned, it occurred to me that I could start going over CI basics (and some not so basics) here.
As Maria and company put it... "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.." My thought for how to organize a general intro to CI begins with a "who, what, where, when, how, and why" kind of thing; except the traditional order doesn't have the logical flow I want. "What, why, who, when, where, and how" works better for me. That being said, let's get to it.
As Maria and company put it... "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.." My thought for how to organize a general intro to CI begins with a "who, what, where, when, how, and why" kind of thing; except the traditional order doesn't have the logical flow I want. "What, why, who, when, where, and how" works better for me. That being said, let's get to it.
WHAT is Competitive Intelligence, or "CI"?
Most industries that practice CI are looking at what their competition is doing. What the new developments/products are and in general how the other companies are doing financially, etc. Don't get me wrong, law firms are all about keeping up with Smith, Jones, & Davis down the street. We call it Competitive Intelligence too. This type of CI isn't really where Info Pros get quite as invested.
In addition to keeping track of what their competition is doing, law firms ALSO create intelligence profiles on target clients to prepare attorneys for meetings with the target. Not something that is done quite as typically in the business world at large. The goal of these second reports, also called Competitive Intelligence reports, is to give attorneys intelligence on the target to make their law firm competitive in landing that target as a client. With the change in climate between law firms and their clients and the shrinking legal market, that's a big deal.
No, none of this is at all confusing. Not one little bit. It's a breeze to know which type folks are referring to when they say CI, right? (Just in case you missed it, that was dripping with sarcasm) I gotta say I was more than a little confused for the first year or two when folks started talking about CI. Just as I thought I had a handle on it someone would say something and totally throw me. Big surprise, law firms do things differently and cause confusion in the process. You aren't alone if you get a little whiplash trying to figure out what someone means when they say "CI".
For the purposes of the L.I.P. Service discussions, I'll be pretty exclusively talking about the reports we craft to assist in turning a target into a client. Personally, I like calling them TIP sheets (Target Intelligence Profile sheets) to avoid confusion... but it hasn't caught on yet. Maybe if I throw it in enough times?? We'll see.
Next up - WHY is CI a thing?
