Introduction (Toni Wilson)

In this article from another of our CI Division experts, we move from understanding how CI makes information professionals and the individuals and organizations they serve future-ready to understanding the future of the practice of competitive intelligence itself.  In other words, as our respective marketplaces continue to change and evolve – prompting us to be prepared with competitive intelligence and insights – so does the practice of CI.  Another way to be future-ready is to embrace and prepare for changes in the way CI is practiced.

As the current chair for the SLA CI Division’s 2011 conference, I am particularly interested in what makes a conference session memorable and important.  One event I attended recently at the SCIP conference, which made an impression, was led by Dr. Craig S. Fleisher, a leading academic, expert and author – Dr. Fleisher delivered his interactive session, CI 2020, to a sold-out crowd.  The result was the collective reasoning of over 100 CI professionals regarding the future of CI.  Following are a few key takeaways:

1. The lines between primary and secondary research are blurring:  They will continue to converge due to the increasing use of social media in CI.  CI professionals may no longer specialize in one or the other in the future.
2. Info-glut, info-toxicity and data overload have us “drinking from an informational fire hose.”  This growing trend will require us all to become better analysts and create more sophisticated analysis.
3. Higher performance standards and certifications will be required.  Better standards for CI professionals to be measured by, as well as trustworthy certifications for CI personnel are a must.
4. The question of supply vs. demand is highly debated.  Forces increasing client demand include globalization and increasing competition.  However, CI professionals are not confident overall that enough educated practitioners can be trained with existing programs.

Dr. Fleisher will be leading a CI 2020 session at the SLA conference this year, entitled CI Unconference.  The results from these interactive sessions are used by Dr. Fleisher as part of a longitudinal analysis of the future of CI.  It’s very exciting that SLA’s members can take advantage of an opportunity to participate in this important, ongoing project, learn from the findings, and apply them to becoming more future-ready professionally.

Claudia Clayton is Managing Director of ViewPoint, a strategy, consulting and research firm established in 1993.  She leads the competitive intelligence activities of ViewPoint on behalf of major U.S. corporations in multiple industries.  Claudia is a committed and hard-working volunteer, primarily serving the members of SLA’s CI Division and the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).  She won SCIP’s Catalyst Award in 2007 in recognition of her commitment to the CI profession.  Claudia is the CI Division’s 2011 Conference Chair and currently serves as the CID’s Membership Chair as well.

Introduction (Toni Wilson)

There are several themes running through this week’s blog articles from the CI Division experts.  One is that competitive intelligence is inherently forward-looking.  Another is that marketplace insights can be developed by observing and understanding patterns in the information we collect.  Related to the latter is a very important theme – that informational professionals are uniquely qualified to do this, ultimately creating value for the end users, clients and organizations we serve.  In today’s blog, Anna Shallenberger offers practical perspective regarding filtering the facts we gather to provide insights and need-to-know results.

Intelligence – be it regarding competitors, markets or any other area – is inherently forward-looking. And yes – research and content is necessary to feed the intel engine that empowers future-readiness.  Many Info Pros possess untapped skills key to delivering great intel (CI, MI, etc.) services, abilities they may not realize organizations need. The challenges are to apply them effectively and visibly.  YOU have to believe, because in a world where “Perception is reality” – people won’t buy what you’re “selling” without that confidence.

So what are these secret super-hero powers? Is it all about statistical number crunching and PowerPoint presentations? Certainly not, although a certain base proficiency in these areas is preferable. And, of course, our data collection and synthesis skills have value, not to mention our expertise in validating sources. It is the talent to both battle the swollen inflow of inputs AND partner in delivering those targeted Aha’s and So What’s.

It takes an effective balancing act – levering the wealth of information content and methodology our “researcheritis” yields with the right filter – while smartly triangulating the significance of that which has made it through.

Is it the same idea as actionable intelligence? Not precisely. Think of it like a souped-up version of the kid’s “Lite Brite” toy where content is the pegs and you have a big bucket of them in front of you.  The more pegs, the higher the resolution of the image, and the better the insights, right? Again, not exactly.

You don’t need to use every peg. Some should shine brighter (weigh more heavily) than others.  You can arrange them in a variety of designs that make sense in the moment. But the future ready Info Pro sees patterns based on triangulating, drawing on the wealth of otherwise useless trivia rattling around in our mental hard drive.

Yes, our content gathering skills have great value. But let’s consider our content filtering abilities, and how access to all the data we’ve seen in life empowers us! LIS professionals offer a unique ability to TRIANGULATE between all the information and ASSESS meaning.  Internal and external sources – gathered by ourselves or others. Teaming up on the analysis and impact of the intel. Because it’s that piece that makes organization most future ready.

Anna F. Shallenberger is an experienced researcher, educator, author, strategist & consultant, Anna Shallenberger, aka the ClosetLibrarian, was recently recognized in Best of the Business Web.  At SLA 2011 , she is a panelist  for “Integrating with Sales & Marketing to Capture & Deliver Intelligence.”  At the Intelligence Café, Anna will lead a discussion regarding Unique Information Sources & the Deep Web.   She was also a spotlight panelist @ SLA 2010 and served as conference planner for the CI Division.

by Toni Wilson, Cincinnati Chapter, Competitive Intelligence Division

What is, and what is not, competitive intelligence? Practiced correctly, CI accommodates the ability for organizations to be ready for the future, by anticipating changes in the marketplace and avoiding surprises that might blindside our end users and clients, often as they are focused on making decisions and plans based on what the marketplace looks like today.

When we think about our respective marketplaces, we can’t be focused only on how “the game” is played at present. In the future, new competitors will enter the game. They seek to disrupt the way our organizations play the game, so they will move out of turn or invent new moves. Or, the rules of the game itself may change, affecting all of the players. Because of all of this likely change, CI is not really about the competitors themselves, but about keeping our organizations competitive into the future.

Information professionals are uniquely qualified to provide insights regarding the future of our competitive environments because we are chiefly responsible for gathering the facts that indicate change. Fact-gathering is the first step and foundation of every successful CI process, so our role in the process is invaluable. While gathering facts, we see all of the puzzle pieces before anyone else–-sometimes we’re the only ones who see all of the pieces – and can easily put them together to create a picture of the potential future.

A relatable way to explain what CI is, and its value, is by referring to a quote from The Great One, Wayne Gretsky. He often said: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” We can achieve greatness by helping our end users and clients know where the puck might be going-–what the future competitive environment might look like–-so our organizations can play there, remain competitive, and win the game.
Toni Wilson is the principal consultant at MarketSmart Research Services. She is an experienced competitive intelligence practitioner, having performed hundreds of projects over the past 20+ years, in a variety of industries and throughout the world. Prior to establishing MarketSmart Research in 2000, Toni was a corporate intelligence professional at LexisNexis for more than a dozen years. She is an expert in sources, tools and techniques for intelligence collection, and frequently speaks to groups and coaches individuals regarding the CI process. Toni is a volunteer leader, prolific author, enthusiastic mentor and professional award winner. She is the current chair of SLA’s Competitive Intelligence Division.

Compiled by Amy Affelt, Illinois Chapter, Business & Finance Division

Future Ready Toolkit

This post is from SLA’s new Future Ready Toolkit. The Toolkit was constructed by SLA members who have drawn upon substantial professional experience and alignment research to help you hone your skills in a way that is relevant and global. The toolkit is collaboration, alignment, adaptation, and community put into action.

Value-Added Intelligence

The knowledge that we provide is correct, citable, and on-point.  We deliver this knowledge on-time, in the format that the requestor finds most helpful, and either under or as close to budget as possible.

Facilitation of Good Decision-Making

We do this by gathering, organizing, and sharing high quality and highly-relevant information to ensure that the best decisions are made by our stakeholders.

Creation of a Culture of Knowledge Sharing

We do this by educating our colleagues on the best use of information sources (which are the most credible, most citable, etc.)

Creation of a Competitive Advantage

We do this by applying expert analysis to ensure that our stakeholders have the exact information they need to gain insight, understand trends, and secure an advantage over their competitors.

Expert Analysis

We go beyond “rip and ship” to inform the strategy of the organization by packaging results in such a way that sets the context for their use.  The knowledge that we provide ultimately reflects and enhances the organization’s overall goals.

Trend Identification and Insight

We look for trends across all industries and consider how those trends can be applied to our own work environments.  We anticipate the future by considering the present.  We read the news so that our stakeholders don’t have to, and we share developments immediately with stakeholders and in convenient formats such as through mobile applications.

Bottom-Line Benefits

Our work benefits the bottom line by saving stakeholders time and money.  We can conduct research more quickly and easily and achieve higher quality results than those with other job functions.

Context and Analysis for Knowledge and Results

We turn the information that we uncover into knowledge by setting the context for it as well as providing analysis of how it relates to the stakeholder’s challenge.  The stakeholder uses the knowledge we provide to ensure positive outcomes for the organization.

Amy is the chair of the SLA Public Relations Advisory Council, the Alignment Ambassador for the SLA Business and Finance Division, and director of database research at CompassLexecon, an economic consultancy.  She has a BA in History, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MLS from Dominican University. Amy is coordinating the Future Ready Toolkit.

Cindy Romaine, SLA President, has an AWESOME conversation with Neil Pasricha.

I’ve followed Neil’s blog 1000 Awesome Things for some time and feel that his perspective is especially valuable in a time of change and transition, so I was thrilled when Neil agreed to be interviewed for the FutureReady365 blog.

Neil Pasricha is the author of The Book of Awesome: Snow Days, Bakery Air, Finding Money in Your Pocket and Other Simple, Brilliant Things. A self-described “average guy” with a typical 9-to-5 job in the suburbs, Neil Pasricha started his blog 1000 Awesome Things, as a small reminder — in a world of rising sea levels, global conflict, and a troubled economy — of the free, easy little joys that make life sweet.

He didn’t anticipate that his site would gain a readership of millions of people, win two Webby Awards (“the Internet’s highest honor” according to The New York Times), be named one of PC Magazine’s Top 100 Sites On the Internet, or become a place where people from around the world would come to celebrate the simple pleasures of daily life. His first book The Book of Awesome became a #1 International Bestseller for #38 weeks, and The Book of (Even More) Awesome comes out today, April 28, 2011.

I asked Neil a few questions about change and transition. Here are his remarks:

1. Neil, what strikes me about your blog 1000 Awesome Things is how unassuming and yet powerful your insights are. There’s something universal and appealing about snowy days, bakery air, and roller-coaster rides. And yet you’ve experienced some unpleasant things in life, too. How do you keep a positive attitude?
   

   Ha ha, well I don’t always! To be honest, I’ve never thought of myself as an optimist or someone who wears a clown-faced grin all day. And I don’t know if keeping a positive attitude 100% of the time is even possible…or desirable.

   The truth is we all have dark days, dark months, and even dark years. I started writing The Book of Awesome after my wife told me she didn’t love me anymore… and after my best friend took his own life. It was the darkest year of my life.

   When it comes to dark times I say … let them be dark.

   You just have to remember there are awesome things at the end.

   It’s all about enjoying simple pleasures like stepping on dry crunchy leaves on the sidewalk, flipping to the cold side of the pillow, or the smell of a bakery…waiting for you at the end.

2. In your Ted Talk on The Three A’s of Awesome, you say, “We are all going to get lumps and we’re all going to get bumps. None of us can predict the future. But we do know one thing about it — it ain’t going to go according to plan.” Library and information centers are changing very dramatically and corporate libraries have been closed or downsized around the world. What attitude do you recommend to make us ready for the future?
   

   Well, life is short.

   We all live for a blink of an eye on a tiny spinning rock…and we could go at any time.

   So when it comes to attitude I say embrace this temporary nature of life and embrace the fragility and instability of everything…embrace it by filling as many minutes as possible with simple pleasures.

   Because sure, when we’re on our last legs we’ll look back and remember the high highs of first dances at weddings and the low lows of losing loved ones and funerals. But dotting those major moments will be all the tiny seconds we spend appreciating the smell of an old book, the look on a kid’s face after they close their first paperback, or the inner satisfaction that comes from finishing up a new display in your front window.

   Awesome things add up to hours and days and months and years.

3. As library and information professionals, we’re actively working with social media services in an effort to connect with our clients and customers. Your blog has gone viral with millions of hits a day. Is there a secret sauce for such impressive growth?
   

   When I was 15 my friend Chad and I started a website called “When I Was A Kid” as an online collection of funny things people believed when they were little. Over the three weeks the site lasted we only got one submission…and it was from my sister. She thought fish lived in waterbeds.

   I think over the years I’ve had fun experimenting with tiny websites in school projects, with friends, and just while tinkering around online. And they all probably got a grand total of a few hundred hits, most of which were my mom and dad and me hitting the “Refresh” button over and over.

   Now http://www.1000awesomethings.com has had over 30 million visitors, won multiple awards, and has two books—The Book of Awesome and The Book of (Even More) Awesome—coming out of it.

   So what’s my secret?

   I say try a lot and fail a lot. If you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying, if you aren’t trying, you aren’t failing. But when you’re doing both you’re always learning and getting better…

4. In your Ted Talk on “The Three A’s of Awesome,” you talk about awareness and using new eyes to see the world. When it’s “permanent whitewater everywhere,” how might awareness help?

Well, I don’t have kids of my own but I always love hanging out with three year olds. I love the way they see the world because they’re seeing the world for the first time.

Whether they’re staring slack-jawed at their first baseball game, on their hands and knees looking at ladybugs, or spending an entire afternoon picking dandelions in the backyard for the Sunday dinner centerpiece.

And…we all used to be three years old! That three year old boy is still inside you, that three year old girl is still a part of you. They just grew into someone who doesn’t spend as much time looking at ladybugs anymore.

But that’s where awareness of the tiny things in The Book of (Even More) Awesome is meant to come in. After all, there was the first time you experienced déjà vu, the first time a baby fell asleep on you, and the first time you snuck candy into a movie theater.

Being aware of these tiny little pleasures helps remind us how awesome life is.

5. Thanks in part to the Internet, library and information centers are changing dramatically right now. Information professionals are learning they have to be consistently awesome with their clients in this fast-changing landscape. What advice do you have to help us become awesome?
   

   Well, I think you already are! You guys are some of my favoritest people ever. I’ve honestly spent a good chunk of my life in libraries. My mom took me every Saturday morning and we’d drive home with a stack of books sliding all around the back seat. I’d crack into them at night and finger peel my way through The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and my sister’s Babysitter’s Club books when she wasn’t looking.

   I absolutely love books. They’re a record of everything! They’re the way we communicate with our past and the way we send messages into the future.

   You are already very awesome so there’s really no need to try…just stop and appreciate the awesome things around you already. Enjoy coming back to your own bed after a long trip, smile when you let go of the gas pump and land perfectly on a round number, and get into the moment when the cashier opens a new lane at the grocery store…and you get to be first in line!

   Thank you so much for the chat and thank you sincerely for the very gracious words of support for The Book of (Even More) Awesome. I hope you enjoy it. Sending lots of love from snowy Canada and have a very awesome day,

   Neil

by Debi Beall, Oregon Chapter, Competitive Intelligence Division

Future Ready for a corporate library means being relevant to your company’s changing needs by staying nimble and looking for new ways to support the company’s goals and strategies. The Intel Library has always been focused on the needs of the company, but a couple of years ago, we tried a new, more proactive approach. As a result, we have undergone a transformation that has empowered our staff and increased visibility throughout the company.

The Intel Library has been publishing the Executive News Summary on a daily basis for the past 10 years. This publication was created at the request of Craig Barrett as a way to stay informed without having to scan endless news clippings. Two years ago, we decided to expand our publications with more in-depth industry newsletters, called Monitors. These weekly Monitors are specifically focused on Intel’s Global Strategy and key market segments and include an analysis of the news that week. The Monitors are a deeper dive into the areas of key importance to the success of the company. They have been wildly successful (we now publish 11 Monitors) and have resulted in several changes:

1. Fewer requests are coming into the library since the information people need is already being selected and distributed.
2. Each staff member has developed a deep understanding of the topic of their Monitor, becoming the experts that others turn to for insight.
3. Different business units throughout the company have linked the Intel Library Monitor that most applies to their business to their business unit web site.
4. The Intel Library is now more than an information repository. It is a place to gain critical insights into each of the Monitor markets.

Now that the Monitors have been institutionalized, we are looking to the future again. Next on our plate is improving access for mobile devices and a step into visual analytics. We have developed a rich data repository that is ready to be mined for insights. Visual analytics will take us to the next step, offering added value to Intel and contributing to the success of the company.

Debi Beall began her career as a Systems Engineer for IBM, then switched careers becoming a librarian with the Phoenix Public Library. Debi joined Motorola in 1992 as a Research Specialist, where she ultimately transitioned to a position as a Competitive Intelligence Analyst. She most recently joined Intel as a Research Analyst for the Intel Library in October 2008.