One of the key questions, when we create the Intelligence Function in the organization, is "What do we want to know?". One way to approach the problem is –as so often– by splitting it into parts. In this case, we will separate the objectives according to the temporal scope of the decisions to be made. Thus, we can classify the intelligence objectives according to the time horizon in which we focus: Short term (Tactical), medium (Strategy) and long term (Prospective). Let's see what we mean in each case.
Tactical Competitive Intelligence deals with what is happening right now (e.g. opening a competitor's business in one of our market areas), and leads to reactive decision making.
The clients of Tactical Intelligence are usually the Departments since the information captured influences decision-making in the short term. We must have a rapid capacity for analysis, which must be taken care of by those involved in the fight in the trenches of the business: Account Managers monitor their clients, those of engineering to suppliers ... Here again the concept of Distributed Intelligence Function takes its importance because no one better than they know how to evaluate the importance of a specific market signal.
Decision-making must also be quick, as you react to something that has already happened. That is why, even if reporting to other areas of the company, the tasks must start immediately, without waiting to develop reports that are likely to be published too late! Let's see what the next horizons are, what information we are looking for, and who are the internal clients of the analysis.
|
Strategic Competitive Intelligence deals with what is likely to happen, in a period of months or a maximum of a few years. Therefore, we are halfway between reactivity and proactivity as an organization. The more certain we are of a possible event, the closer we will be to Tactical Intelligence and the more reactive we will be, but we can also act in anticipation of less likely events.
The monitoring of market trends fits into this medium-term horizon. If we can identify trends it means that something is happening (not that it "can" happen). What we have to assess is whether it will affect us and to what extent. Market trends are waves that we can take advantage of to do business, depending on whether we see them coming (with Intelligence) and if we are able to take advantage of them (with the execution of the Strategy). It is the strategy that allows us to increase our business by taking advantage of market trends.
Sometimes intelligence deficiencies will make us see trends too late and we can fill that deficiency with operational agility, being faster than others. But I wouldn't bet on it. "Amat victoria praeparatione" (Victory loves preparation).
While Tactical Intelligence provides individual market signals to support tactical movements, Strategic Intelligence generates more mature reports, with added value analysis, that are supported by key signals from the environment. Solutions such as Antara Mussol allow us comprehensive management of this problem.
|
|
The internal client of this deliverable will be Management. Or rather, the Board of Directors as a whole, which starts the definition of the company's strategy for the usual period of 2 to 4 years. Some say that "The Strategic Plan is dead", but let us assume that nevertheless there is a -kind of- strategy in our organization...
The intelligence focused on the long term (15 years or more) fuels our foresight activity. What will the world we compete in be like in 15 or 20 years? And what will be the role of our organization in this possible scenario?
The objective of foresight is to proactively reorient our strategy, to change the nature of our company and make it what it wants to be when it grows up, not just the best among current competitors. The company strategy will be reoriented every 3 or 4 years depending on the information provided by strategic intelligence and the knowledge about how our market could be in the long term (Prospective).
We already addressed the prospective in Scenario Planning and Competitive Intelligence.
So when we approach the creation or reorganization of the Intelligence Function and we ask ourselves What do we want to know? Let's think about the different horizons that we have to focus on. Let's start with Tactical Intelligence, it is the simplest. But let's not stay in the very short term. We have a much better chance of winning the war if we look up a little further, to the second and third horizons.
Only the third pig was far-sighted, and for that reason, he could withstand the onslaught of the wolf.
The Three Little Pigs is a 1933 Disney film, based on the fable of the same name.
Bonus track: For those interested in all three horizons from an innovation perspective, I suggest this reading from McKinsey.
Image credits: Cliparts.co , antara.
Antara undertakes that the published content is created by its own team, clients or collaborators. Antara never outsources content generation.
The opinions of the authors reflect their own views and not those of the company.