Competitive intelligence is a process that companies use to gather data on competitors, customers, and products. Every year, U.S. companies spend over $1 billion on their CI programs in an effort to generate actionable intelligence that will impact business decisions. According to a recent MAPI Council survey (excerpt available here), manufacturers are using CI to inform decisions around acquisition identification, competitive threat analysis, and pricing strategy. Several members use internal websites dedicated to sharing intelligence cross-functionally, and some even have CI “hotlines” where employees can submit data for consideration.

When asked to identify which practices they find essential to bridging the gap between raw data and actionable intelligence, MAPI survey respondents mentioned the following: 

• A clear CI ownership and reporting structure
• Linking CI to a business system (SAP, etc.) to embed CI upstream in decision-making
• Working closely with stakeholders outside marketing to ensure broad CI usage
• Balancing anecdotal CI (from trade shows, sales, etc.) with rigorous market data
• Employing CI metrics such as ROI, number of decisions impacted, and internal customer satisfaction

In the words of one respondent, “The best CI involves having quality and vested resources dig in and really get down to the detail. A successful program also takes strong commercial leaders, who are willing to push back and challenge the findings.”