************************************************************
DSS News
D. J. Power, Editor
May 12, 2002 -- Vol. 3, No. 10
A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM
************************************************************
Check the Article by Jeff Lipschultz
of Attenza, Inc. at DSSResources.COM
************************************************************
Featured:
* DSS Wisdom
* Ask Dan! - Are there decision support tools for Competitive
Intelligence (CI) tasks?
* Spreadsheet-based DSS Tip - Pick Fonts Carefully
* What's New at DSSResources.COM
* DSS News Stories
************************************************************
Check Dan Power's new book, Decision Support Systems: Concepts and
Resources for Managers. Get more information at
http://www.dssresources.com/dssbookstore/power02.html .
************************************************************
This newsletter has more than 840 subscribers from
50 countries. Please forward this newsletter to people interested in
Decision Support Systems or suggest they visit DSSResources.COM.
************************************************************
DSS Wisdom
Yavitz and Newman argued in their 1982 book that "The temptation to
prolong analysis of external forces and possible responses is held in
check by deadlines. Strategic planning requires give-and-take of ideas
and information. No person sees the total picture at first; what to
communicate and why is ambiguous; mindsets of various individuals have
to be adjusted. But this iterative process cannot continue
indefinitely. There must be conclusions--decisions--so detailed
planning and action can proceed. The planning system stipulates when
and where each kind of question should be
raised--resolved--reopened--and who normally participates." (p. 93)
from Yavitz, B. and W. H. Newman. Strategy in Action: The Execution,
Politics, and Payoff of Business Planning. New York: The Free Press,
1982.
************************************************************
Ask Dan!
by D. J. Power
Are there decision support tools for Competitive Intelligence (CI)
tasks?
In this Ask Dan!, I've grouped together three related questions: What is
Competitive Intelligence? How does Competitive Intelligence differ from
Business Intelligence? and What are examples of Competitive Intelligence
software packages? The last question about software packages initiated
my analysis of this topic. But all three questions must be addressed to
answer the broader question of providing computerized decision support
for Competitive Intelligence tasks.
What is Competitive Intelligence?
Jean Graef, founder of The Montague Institute (www.montague.com),
argued in a 1995 article at CIO.COM that "Competitive intelligence (CI)
is a key discipline for IS managers who recognize the importance of
information content as well as information technology. CI is both a
product and a process. The product is actionable information --
information used as the basis for a specific action (e.g. acquiring
another company). The process is the systematic acquisition, analysis,
and evaluation of information about known and potential competitors."
The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) website,
SCIP.ORG, states CI is a "systematic and ethical program for gathering,
analyzing, and managing external information that can affect your
company's plans, decisions, and operations. Put another way, CI is the
process of enhancing marketplace competitiveness through a greater --
yet unequivocally ethical -- understanding of a firm's competitors and
the competitive environment. Specifically, it is the legal collection
and analysis of information regarding the capabilities, vulnerabilities,
and intentions of business competitors, conducted by using information
databases and other 'open sources' and through ethical inquiry." Check
http://www.scip.org/ for more information.
The Competitive Intelligence Resource Index
(http://www.bidigital.com/ci) is another source for background on CI. It
is a search engine and listing of sites by category for finding CI
resources.
So Competitive Intelligence is a fairly well-established profession
related to strategic planning and it is a process/task and it is an
output or product of a process.
How does Competitive Intelligence (CI) differ from Business Intelligence
(BI)?
A number of Ask Dan! columns have examined business intelligence (cf.,
DSS News 11/04/2001). Some vendors and conference organizers try to
overlap the terms BI and CI or equate them. The terms are ambiguous. My
suggestion is that Competitive Intelligence (CI) focuses on providing
external competitor input for strategic management and planning and that
business intelligence initially provided analysis of company data. Today
some vendors define BI more broadly as providing any type of data-driven
decision support that helps managers understand their business, their
environment and their competitors.
For example, the Frost & Sullivan Competitive Intelligence conferences
have moved toward more of a BI focus, but they remain oriented more
narrowly from my perspective to qualitative aspects of competitive
intelligence with "a blink and a nod" toward computerized support for
intelligence gathering and processing activities. You can find out more
about Frost & Sullivan's 9th Annual Competitive Intelligence Executive
Summit at http://frost.com. It is planned as an "Interactive Forum for
Competitive Intelligence, Corporate Strategy, Business Development, and
Marketing Executives Seeking to Drive Decision-Making."
The event summary promises attendees can "Develop a world-class business
intelligence function by sharpening your skills and
expanding your arsenal of sources and analytical tools. Network with BI
professionals as well as research and business development executives to
find out how the business intelligence function can and should influence
corporate strategy."
Frost & Sullivan's 9th Annual Competitive Intelligence Conference will
be held at Sheraton World Resort, Orlando, Florida, September 22-25,
2002.
In general, Competitive Intelligence and Business Intelligence refer to
processes/tasks and the outputs/products of a similarly named process.
Computerised support can assist staff in completing both types of tasks.
What are examples of Competitive Intelligence (CI) software packages?
Fuld & Company (http://www.fuld.com) evaluated 13 CI packages in their
2002 Intelligence Software Report including: Knowledge.Works from Cipher
Systems at http://www.cipher-sys.com, STRATEGY! Version 2.5 from
Strategy Software, Inc. at http://www.strategy-software.com, and
WisdomBuilder 3.1 from WisdomBuilder LLC at
http://www.wisdombuilder.com. Leonard M. Fuld is a pioneer in the field
of competitive intelligence.
Competia (http://www.competia.com), a consulting and training
organization for senior executives and analysts in Strategic
Planning and Competitive Intelligence, lists 25 CI/BI software vendors
at their website including: Cipher Systems, Evaluate at
http://www.evaluategroup.com, Strategy Software, and Vineyardsoft
Corporation at http://www.vineyardsoft.com.
Finally, SCIP.ORG in its CI Marketplace of Analysis Software & Tools
identifies 18 companies/vendors including Evaluate and Strategy
Software. A complete list of all of the vendors with URLs identified in
preparing this response is posted on the Bulletin Board in the
DSSResources.COM Subscriber Zone. We'll be adding them to the DSS
Vendor Directory.
In conclusion... Personally it seems to me that the software for CI is
narrower and more focused than most BI software. Report and query and
other BI tools are more general purpose and could be used to create
systems to assist in evaluating data for competitive intelligence
purposes. Competitive intelligence professionals and decision support,
marketing and business intelligence analysts can benefit from better
understanding of what software can be used to create systems to support
their data gathering, data analysis and decision support activities and
tasks. It is my hope that this Ask Dan! column continues us down that
path.
References
Competia, Montréal, Québec, H3B 4W8, Canada, URL
http://www.competia.com.
FULD & Company, Cambridge, MA URL http://www.fuld.com.
Graef, J. L., "Using the Internet for Competitive Intelligence",
CIO.COM, June 1995, http://www.cio.com/CIO/arch_0695_cicolumn.html.
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), URL
http://www.scip.org.
The Montague Institute, URL http://www.montague.com.
************************************************************
Spreadsheet-based DSS Tip - Pick Fonts Carefully
A large Spreadsheet-based DSS should have consistency from one worksheet
and screen to another. Use a small set of fonts and font sizes that will
be available to anyone who uses the application. Avoid unusual or custom
fonts like Stone Sans Bold or Tempus Sans ITC. Fonts like Arial and
Times are readable and widely installed with Excel. Most of the time two
or three font sizes are adequate. Put body text in 12 point, column or
row headings in 14 point, and titles in 24 or 30 point. Readability is
the major issue.
************************************************************
What's New at DSSResources.COM
05/08/2002 Updated About DSSResources.COM Frequently Asked Questions
page, URL http://dssresources.com/admin/dssrfaq.html.
05/05/2002 Posted article by Lipschultz, J. "CIOs Agree on Key Issues",
DSSResources.COM, 05/05/2002, URL
http://dssresources.com/papers/dssarticles.html.
************************************************************
DSS News - April 26 to May 9, 2002
05/09/2002 New tool in Connecticut for improving hospital's services and
competitive position.
05/09/2002 GoldSim Software helps waste management programs build trust
with regulatory agencies.
05/08/2002 BPMI.org and Workflow Management Coalition announce joint
standards meeting.
05/08/2002 Brio Software certified as first business intelligence
partner for Tivoli Enterprise Data Warehouse.
05/08/2002 ProClarity announces support for SQL Server Accelerator for
Business Intelligence.
05/07/2002 Cognos announces Cognos® Analytic Applications for SAP.
05/06/2002 Siebel Systems deploys Hyperion Planning to help manage cash
flow and profitability.
05/06/2002 Intergraph announces GeoMedia 5.0 product suite for mapping,
GIS, and IT professionals.
05/02/2002 Retailers Praising MicroStrategy’s New Business Intelligence
Platform, 7i.
05/01/2002 Business Objects and Unisys Partner to Provide Business
Intelligence to U.S. Federal Government.
05/01/2002 Aspect Medical Systems Monitors Company Pulse with Cognos
Business Intelligence.
04/30/2002 scheduling.com and Bayshore Community Health Services win
Health Management Technology's What Works
Award.
04/30/2002 NetManage's OnWeb Selected by SunTrust to Leverage Legacy
Investments.
04/30/2002 Strategies 2002 conference includes release of instruction
standards.
04/29/2002 EMC introduced Centera, the first content addressed storage
solution.
04/29/2002 Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Taps Decision Support
Cross-Platform Data Access Tools to Optimize
Supply Chain Management.
04/29/2002 BI platform dynaSight® now also for handheld devices.
04/29/2002 Feature: "Fixed Content" Marks Next Explosion of Information
Growth.
04/29/2002 Feature: TruSecure Expert lists top 10 questions companies
should ask their ASPs about Information Security.
04/26/2002 SPSS Inc. Integrates Text Mining into its Data Mining
Workbench.
************************************************************
You can read 696 DSS News releases in
the Subscriber Zone at DSSResources.COM.
************************************************************
This newsletter is available online in the Subscriber Zone
at http://dssresources.com/newsletters/ .
************************************************************
DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2002 by D. J. Power. Please send your questions to
daniel.power@dssresources.com. You have previously subscribed to the DSS News
Mailing List.
|