Strategic intelligence, your ally in turning information into the right decisions
Strategic intelligence is an invaluable decision-making tool. Considered time-consuming, it is part of a vital business intelligence approach!
In today's changing and uncertain economic climate, it is more essential than ever to avoid threats and seize opportunities, in order to find the path to performance.
Find out more about the challenges of strategic intelligence, the different types of intelligence, and the tools you need to implement it within your organization!
Strategic intelligence: definition
What is business intelligence?
Strategic intelligence is an informational process put in place by an entity (company, government, administration, etc.) that decides to listen to its environment.
It consists of collecting, analyzing and disseminating, in a permanent and organized way, essential information on :
- its market and players,
- competitors
- potential customers,
- innovations and technological advances, etc.
Its primary objective is to guide the organization's strategic decisions.
☝ Business intelligence is a broader concept, which includes strategic intelligence. The two approaches are complementary; they rely on the same methods and share the same objectives.
Why do business intelligence?
Because you don't want to be left behind by the competition!
Setting up a strategic intelligence system enables you to stay alert and on the lookout for all the developments in your environment and the information that impacts your business.
Depending on your specific objectives, strategic intelligence can help you :
- detect opportunities and weak signals, before your competitors do;
- protect against potential threats;
- anticipate, so you can adapt flexibly, rather than reacting in a hurry;
- keep abreast of new product launches;
- observe the trends that impact your customers;
- keep abreast of technological advances, so you can innovate more effectively;
- compare your methods and know-how with a view to improving them, etc.
The benefits are manifold, and can ultimately lead to better overall management of your business and improved economic performance.
What are the different types of strategic intelligence?
There are several types of strategic watch, each with its own objectives and subjects. These categories enable you to select sources of information that are relevant to your objectives and the type of information you are looking for.
Technology watch
Technology watch or scientific watch studies specialized platforms and sites, scientific publications, patents and emerging players to keep abreast of all the latest innovations.
Whether it's a question of products, techniques or manufacturing processes, it enables you to know and detect advances in your field, to strengthen your capacity to innovate and make better R&D investment choices.
Competitive intelligence
Competitive intelligence involves monitoring competitors' activities to ensure you remain competitive. It aims to explore your market in all its facets: products and services, market, main players, leaders, clientele, and so on.
In particular, this type of monitoring gives you all the information you need before launching a new product.
Regulatory watch
The purpose of regulatory or legal watch is to anticipate the publication of new laws or regulations relevant to your company's activity.
This knowledge of the normative and legal landscape is essential not only to ensure you remain compliant, but also to keep you informed of potential risks of fraud or counterfeiting.
Business intelligence
Business intelligence focuses on two aspects: your customers on the one hand, and your suppliers on the other.
As such, it is useful for analyzing :
- customer needs and their evolution, the relevance of your offer to the market, customer satisfaction, in order to improve customer loyalty ;
- the financial health of your suppliers and subcontractors, the quality/price ratio of their products, the services they provide, in order to remain competitive and optimize the supply chain, for example.
Strategic intelligence: 3 examples of use
Here are a few concrete examples of areas that can be chosen for strategic intelligence, depending on your specific activity:
- you are a start-up offering a digital service:
- technological innovations affecting your sector,
- new services or functionalities developed by your competitors,
- your competitors' fund-raising activities,
- marketing methods used by competitors,
- trade shows and conferences in your field of expertise, etc. ;
- you are a recruitment agency:
- changes affecting employment legislation,
- trends in the digitalization of recruitment practices,
- workplace well-being issues,
- competitive offers and rates,
- means of communication used by competitors, etc. ;
- you are an SME in the agri-food sector:
- the major players in the market and their positioning,
- state-of-the-art production techniques,
- R&D investments in the sector,
- current and forthcoming changes in the legal and regulatory framework,
- news concerning a particular sector, etc.
How to organize your strategic watch?
The 5-step method
- Define your objectives. Clarify your information needs, to identify the information that will be of real interest, and the expected benefits. Make the link with your company's strategic objectives.
- Search for information. Target your research using relevant sources, and qualify them according to your issues (specialized sites, trade shows, conferences, blogs, social networks, etc.).
- Data processing. Sort, prioritize and compile the results of your information gathering. Experts in the field concerned can extract the meaning and added value for your company's strategy.
- Distribute results. In the form of pre-determined deliverables (reports, market studies, press reviews, event listings, state of the art, etc.), communicate useful information to the right people at the right time, to fuel their decision-making.
- Exploiting information. Whether they are decision-makers, business departments (sales, R&D, marketing, etc.), or project teams, recipients are in possession of all the relevant information to guide their decision-making and take action.
Choosing the right intelligence tools
It's hard to implement a strategic intelligence approach without the right tools! Turn to solutions that facilitate and structure monitoring at different levels.
They will help you to
- automate information gathering and retrieval,
- organize your data sources, such as RSS feed aggregators,
- save time in processing information and interpreting results.
Depending on your specific needs, you can opt for tools such as :
- marketing intelligence software,
- a data visualization tool
- a business intelligence platform,
And why not a complete tool that centralizes all these aspects, from information retrieval to knowledge enhancement?
This is the case with Geotrend, an intelligent solution that maps your market and makes sense of all its relevant information. It offers ready-to-use analysis elements to help you guide your strategic choices.
Our latest tips for success
- Get your management's approval: justify your approach and show that you've grasped all the stakes to ensure its success.
- Carry out a complete framework: carry out an audit of the existing situation and define a precise methodology for conducting your watch effectively.
- Work cross-functionally: get the various departments to work together so that everyone can make the data their own and use it in a contextualized way.
- Anchor intelligence in corporate practices: systematically integrate intelligence into the decision-making process, so that every decision is informed by context.
- Capitalize on accumulated knowledge: enrich your databases as you go along, without forgetting to make them available to all your teams and to communicate about access to them.
What about you? Have you set up a strategic intelligence activity? What best practices can you share to optimize it and extract the best value from it?
Article translated from French