Foundation of an Analyst
WHEN: June 21+22, 2021 10:00am EST
FACULTY: GILAD
CREDITS: 0 CEU CREDIT
SUMMARY: In this 3-hour virtual course, divided into two 1.5-hour segments, Dr. Ben Gilad, the father of CI, the originator of the Strategic Warning System approach, author of 5 books on using CI and the creator of the first official certification in CI- The CIP™- will give you a framework to start your analyst’ journey. He started his 30 years as a competition analyst with this one framework. He will retrain your brain to see CI very differently than the convention of more data adding to the internal noise. That is a big step if you like to get noticed.
For those who need a quick intro to the true power of CI beyond data, information, search tricks, noise and dead-end “research” jobs.
There are a dozen courses out there teaching competitive intelligence. They are all good courses – encompassing collection, sources of information, the intelligence “cycle”, a few case studies of the possible areas of use of CI, some so called CI “capabilities”, and other topics relevant to beginners who are tasked with competitive intelligence roles and want to know where to start or seasoned managers who’ve been “doing CI” without formal training.
Of course, if you’ve been “doing CI” for years without training, it means “doing CI” doesn’t really require training, does it? You wouldn’t “do Finance” without having some training in Finance, right?
If you believe competitive intelligence is about collecting and disseminating competitor information, you can “do CI” anytime. For that, a basic course in process and data storage and perhaps some “analytics” (whatever it means) will do. It will get you more organized. It will give you some “coverage” in that everyone “does it this way”. You might even think these are “best practices.” (There are not. Not by a long shot.)
It will not, repeat, will not mean you are doing CI. Not one bit. What you are doing is being pigeonholed as “information practitioner” or “stick fetcher.” Among those companies include archivists, “researchers”, librarians and some so called “CI” which are tasked with finding data when management comes asking.
Then what’s the next step? How do you develop a career? How do you get out of the Zoom corner? How do you see any impact? Or are you happy doing “research” and sending “CI” into a black hole and having little respect for your perspective beyond the data?
Competitive Intelligence has little to do with collection or watered down semi “analysis”. It has nothing to do with A/I or Big Data. It is never “research.” These tasks are low level and easily replaced.
What you need is to become a competition analyst because these are jobs that never go away. The intelligence “cycle” and “capabilities” mean little in the race to become valued to your company if no one truly uses your “CI.” And no one truly uses your CI because it is irrelevant to the vast majority of users. At best it’s “good to know.” Competition analysts guide the way companies compete.
The whole value proposition of true intelligence lies in understanding opportunities in an evolving market structure before others do. One model, one mind (yours), peering into the future provide strategic early warning to your internal customers, especially at the top.
June 21, 2021 The first installment will deliver the framework and the model of true competitive intelligence
June 22, 2021 The second session will get participants to practice it, discuss it, listen to each other’s perspectives
In this course:
You will learn how to:
- Why what you do is not competitive intelligence
- Why data, information and “platforms” have little impact on your career
- What are the factors that get CI professionals promoted?
- What one framework can change your entire view of your work?