Market & Competitive Intelligence Usage and Allocation: Best practices in creating a communication and governance framework to ensure actionable intelligence across varied internal stakeholder groups - including executives, marketing, sales, product management, and investor relations - within complex organizations competing in rapidly changing markets.

1. March 6-7, 2013 – San Francisco, CA
www.altamont-group.com/bfsf| 510-984-2961
BBUUSSIINNEESSSS FFOORREECCAASSTTIINNGG 22001133
March 6th, 3:30 PM
CI Usage and Allocation
Create a communication and governance framework to insure relevant competitive intelligence
usage for multiple end users
Ignacio Feller, Former Senior Market and Competitive Intelligence Manager
formerly of Align Technologies
Ignacio Feller is a Certified Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professional with
exhaustive experience developing and managing new CI programs that improve
strategic decision making and sales execution. His industry background included
management consulting, electrical/electronic manufacturing, retail and medical device industries.
Most recently, he served as Senior Manager, Competitive Intelligence at Align Technology where he
directed all competitive and market intelligence activities to support strategic and tactical decision-
making across this $550 million medical device manufacturer. Earlier in his career, Ignacio gained
extensive experience in all aspects of market research, competitive/market analysis, competitive
strategy and strategic planning at Underwriters Laboratories and Accenture.
Ignacio holds a BA degree from the University of Iowa, and an MBA from Loyola University Chicago. He
is an active member of the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) organization, and
is certified as an advanced Competitive Intelligence Professional (CIP-I and CIP-II) through the SCIP CIP™
Conferred by ACI (Academy of Competitive Intelligence) Program.
Ignacio is on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ifeller/
View Presentation online:
www.altamont-group.com/bfsf

2. CI USAGE AND ALLOCATION
Ignacio Feller,
Certified Competitive Intelligence Professional

3. Intelligence Cycle
Planning
Collection
ProcessingAnalysis
Dissemination
2
• Identify the varying
needs across the
organization
• CI network
development
• Communicating for
impact

4. Identify the varying needs across
the organization

5. Best Practices
Gain CI Champion(s)
• Help you navigate the organization
Key Intelligence Topics (KITs)1
• Proven needs assessment process
• Focuses CI efforts on the keep-them-up-night issues of CI clients
Continuous engagement of CI clients
• Be proactive! Create opportunities to engage clients
• Personal relationships
• Feedback mechanism for past/ongoing work
Create CI Mission Statement
• Define what success looks like
• Set expectations
1. “Key Intelligence Topics: A Process to Identify and Define Intelligence Needs”, Jan P. Herring, 1999, Competitive Intelligence Review, 10(2): 4-14

6. Varying Needs
• Topics
• Depth
• Format
• Delivery
• Frequency
• …quirks .
Flexible CI Solutions
• KITs
• Templates
• Routines
• Filters
• Structure
• Central data repository
• Communication platforms

7. CI network development

8. People provide highest value intelligence
External
Customers
Partners
Sales channels
Suppliers
Consultants
Journalists
Regulators
Market research firms
Securities analysts
Recruiters
Competitors (ethically)
Others…
Internal
Ex Customers
Sales teams
Ex Competitors
Engineering
Marketing
R&D
Human Resources
Finance
Public Relations
Investor Relations
Others…
80% of needed info
already inside
company
Helps you consider “bigger
picture” and check for
internal blind spots

9. Extensive internal networks can be built on a
shoestring budget
Incentives
Relationships
Work towards a knowledge sharing culture
• Educate users on CI process
• Roadshow
• Training & awareness
• Be visible and accessible
• CI knowledge sharing forums

10. A word on social networks

11. Communicating for impact
“We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge”
– John Naisbitt

12. Build the right dissemination platform
Key features:
• Secure (for credibility and… well, security!)
• Current tech (don’t make it harder…)
• Scalable (platform shouldn’t eat away your budget)
• Collaborative (collect and disseminate under one roof)
• Measurable (everything that is monitored improves…)
• Searchable (empower users to find info themselves)
And most importantly: tied to existing tools and workflows –
always design process first, then specify software features.

13. Communicating CI: less is more
Easy to scan headlines with links
to details
Inverted pyramid style writing
Be stylistically perfect
(proofread)
Include implications and
analysis
• So What?
• Now What?
• What’s Next?

14. Launch a CI Product Portfolio
“Push” Products
• CI Newsletters
• White Papers
• Situation Analysis Reports
• Early Warning Alerts
• Webinars
• Conference coverage
• Profiles (company, product, technology,
etc)
• Competitive Landscapes
• Other…
“Pull” Products
• Ad-hoc reports
• Special projects (advisory role)
• CI Education & Awareness
• Self-service via intelligence portal
• Workshops/Briefings (war gaming, etc)
Continuous CI Deliverables
• Self-initiated
• Standardized
• Targeted
Ad-hoc CI Deliverables
• Self and client initiated

15. Recommendations
• Be proactive
• Understand KITs and management hot buttons  deliver relevant
CI products
• Experiment – try various communication vehicles and formats
• Customize
• Tailor deliverable to decision-maker preference and style
• Focus on metrics
• Continually improve CI products based on client usage and key
metrics

16. COMMUNICATION
Case Study
Align Technology

17. Delivery Platform: SharePoint
Rationale for SharePoint:
• Widespread adoption
• Ease of use, administration and customization
• Tools for managing data and collaboration
• Systematic tracking how CI products are being used
• No incremental licenses cost
Information filtering and
storage directly tied to KITs
Executive Dashboard provides a snapshot view
of overall competitive posture. Authorized
staff can drill deeper into details.

18. Sample continuous deliverables
• Daily news delivered via CI Portal (e-mail, RSS)
• 1-page newsletter covering significant events of the week
with added implications and analysis
• Competitor product, pricing and sales messaging continually
updated and made accessible to sales staff at anytime from
anywhere
• Other deliverables: conference coverage, quarterly trends
analysis, landscapes etc

19. Ad-Hoc Deliverables
• Actionable intelligence based on in-depth research and analysis
• Easy to digest format
• Tailored to specific decision-maker

20. COMMUNICATION
Questions?
Ignacio Feller
Certified Competitive Intelligence Professional
ifeller@outlook.com
408.461.5767