Implementation Policy For Knowledge Management

Author: MV Rakimane 29 September 2009 I declare hereby that the report submitted is original and has not been copied or cited without relevant referencing. Research topic: CI tools used in the implementation of CI strategy Table of content

What is CI and CI TOOLS? Types and measures of CI tools Sharepoint WebFocus Mashups Wikis & Blogs Knowledge Management tools (Lotus Notes). Implementation policy Operational Tactical Monitoring and evaluation CI Strategy Applied and Strategic Intelligence CI tool in the CI processes Identification Collection Analysis Dissemination

Introduction Competitive intelligence tools are often used to analyse and turn information into actionable strategic intelligence to the management, so it is widely advisable for any company to acquire the best CI tool to enhance their operation in the competitive environment. The company’s to achieve their desired goals is through a well organized and implemented CI programme with a suitable CI tool to match its capabilities and strategy without intelligence is not strategy but it’s guessing. In order for Brandhouse to remain globally and locally competitive, new tools for decision-making are required. Of these tools, it is internationally recognised that Competitive Intelligence is fast becoming a norm rather than the exception to assist management with decision-making in the modern economy. The various CI tools will be explored to determine a fine tune for the existing CI programme developed in the company. The purpose of CI implementation in any organisation is to support and lead to management decisions and action. And, well detailed information on the operational and tactical implementation of CI tools will be provided in the following discussion. CI plays an important role in the capability of industries and companies and especially Brandhouse lacked the CI strategies to remain or become competitive. Not only the management of Brandhouse who do not have a full understanding and knowledge for the value of Competitive intelligence, but also even where the function does exist in organisations. What is CI and CI tools? According to Kurt & Bessa (2001:2) “competitive intelligence consist of two core facets: (1) the use of legally and ethically identified, located and accessed sources (not necessarily only published) to develop data on competition, competitors, environmental conditions, trends and scenarios and (2) the transformation, by analysis of that data into useable information that can support better business decisions”. Many authors have different sentiments around the concept of CI and there is no one definition to stick on at the moment but when a business start using the CI in decision-making and taking action and auditing of the intelligence and its associated databases, to establish continued relevancy, that is the core of CI. In the world of information overload, the emphasis is not on more but on actionable intelligence, capable of guiding decisions in organisations. Furthermore, not every company, no matter how large and powerful, properly understands the nature of its own business, or its customer base. Nor does every company or division always understand or act in its own best interests. Without the vision empowered by such an understanding, no amount of CI will help forestall the predictable. Without such an understanding, threats cannot be seen for what they are, if they can be seen at all. In important ways competitive intelligence is about exactly this; about perceiving threats and ways of getting at the information the company need once the threat is somehow perceived. Competitive intelligence can be defined as the art of locating, collecting, processing and storing information to be made available at all levels in the company, with a view to shaping its future, but also protecting against competitive threat. Typically CI tools are the applications used to gather or collect information in a sophisticated manner and it provide a good planning and directing of data collection and analysis. The tools enable CI leaders in the company to be able to disseminate intelligence in a timely and accurate manner. However, this CI tools allows CI leaders to build a network type process as more and more employees this days are using web 2.0 for further communication (Kurt & Bessa, 2001:10). Method and types of CI tools In order for Brandhouse to be able to fully know the process of developing competitive intelligence in a knowledge-based organisation it is necessary to have a clear understanding of how this CI tools works. Apart from the fact that web 2.0 is regarded as the primary resource in Competitive intelligence Kurt & Bessa (2001) describes the characteristics of web 2.0 in the competitive environment: • • •

•

Web 2.0 (or social network) provides access to user-driven content in various formats. The web 2.0 contains content that is not indexed by major search tools like dogpile, google and others. The web 2.0 has become an integral part of online branding strategies of many companies The web 2.0 calls for new research methodologies to find information efficiently (Herschel and Jones, 2005:50).

The impact of this technology is said to have a major impact on small businesses and many of them today are planning to increase their spending on online social network marketing and the top five online social networks in the United State were Facebook, MySpace, Classmates, LinkedIn, and Reunion. Content on the entire web is increasing at an alarming rate, so the CI team of a company must be able to distinguish between actionable intelligence that can be found in user generation content and always keep track of new online social network of the company for comments and Ad hoc questions. When the company started to operate there was usually no financial bandwidth to implement an Enterprise application because it was functioning on a shoe string budget but managed to look through some of the CI tools it requires for its CI team such as Sharepoint, WebFocus, Mashups, Wikis & Blogs and KM tools like Lotus Notes. This CI tools they do not provide information in reactive mode, but in active mode and the focus is on identifying events and trends that are taking place currently. The best CI tools the company has decided to use is Microsoft Sharepoint 2007 because is primarily a server-based document management platform outfitted with basic collaboration features, including; a discussion board, a contact database and a wiki management capability. The tool also has an RSS feed manager and web publishing functionality to it, to allow users to import, manage and share external web content with other site users (Herschel and Jones, 2005:46). The tool is better matched with KM tool Lotus Notes because it has a collection of software products that help people to work together to create or share and store important knowledge and business documents. The tool features domain search, content mapping and Lotus Sametime and it helps user to collaborate and communicate too. The reason why, the choice of Sharepoint not other tools is that it not complicated and it is cheaper to implement, and thus, WebFocus is another application that works just similar like RSS feed but with a little bit of a twist because it integrate and simplify every level of the global organisation-executive, analytical and operational. In summary it makes any data available, accessible and meaningful to every person or application that needs it, when and how they need it (Dearstyne, 2006:39).

Implementation Policy Although the need for competitive intelligence in organisations are growing and decision makers are starting to recognise the role and importance of CI, very few publications indicate how this function should be installed and positioned in the company in order to benefit decision-making and ultimately support the innovation process. This document will try to shed some light by suggesting an implementation model for competitive intelligence in the new South African knowledge-based organisation. Competitive intelligence should be positioned in the organisation to identify threats in the external environment capable of impacting negatively on the future of the company or organisation. The tracking of competitors are conducted to be able to create a model for competitive respond modelling, implying much more than simple understanding and the implication is to anticipate actions, understanding intentions rather than tracking events (Havenga, 2000). Operational Level The CI implementation on operational competitive intelligence platform is all about architectural superiority. The tools will boasts or work hand in hand with: •

Sharepoint as a Self-optimizing autonomic server whose workload and traffic management and capacity planning eliminate complexity, improve system performance, and dramatically reduce total cost of ownership of original cost of computer and software, to hardware and software upgrades.

•

Super-linear scalability through multiple technological advantages

•

A unifying integration infrastructure that accesses, reconciles, cleanses, and prepares any and all data for Competitive intelligence use

•

Service-oriented architecture support with the ability to create, consume, and publish Web services

•

Simplified developer and end-user interaction, with advanced visualization and deep integration with desktop products such as Microsoft Excel and Adobe PDF (Bernhardt, 2003).

The aforementioned methods will help the company to reach its objectives and goals through a thorough and well organized CI strategy, but it will be more manageable because the company has combined the Marketing, Sales and Finance department and not forgetting Research and Development to implement a strong CI strategy, why the reason been to avoid the notion of the CI unit reporting only to the CEO. The tools will provide a multifaceted and collaborative function of a CI because other organisations report only to marketing and Sales department. This will enable the CI team to have a company-wide network and ultimately gain exposure in front of senior management where CI leaders are able to communicate strategic implications. In order to avoid duplication of information the market research and sales department will work harder to fulfil client request and strategic planning is frequently needed for real-time access to research information. And if the combination of these departments is not done properly, as a result staff from all three departments will often be frustrated with duplication which will occasionally lead to miscommunication (Fuld, 1985). Tactical Level The orientation and utilization of CI tools is tactical and to some extent strategic and the CI tool time horizon focuses on present events and to some extent past and future events as well. Some CI tool processes are designed to serve the strategic level, while some focus on operative monitoring or both like for example RSS feed and WebFocus. Tactics are carried out by the CI team of analysts in the company that support the entire organisations and business directorates to identify both micro and macro trends within the external environment, and each analyst specializes in one or more competitor activities or aspects of the global environment. Essentially the team acts as a think tank, covering the three of the four intelligence pyramids- marketing intelligence, competitor intelligence and strategic intelligence to enable the tools modify the intelligence required to make actionable decisions. If management can not be expected to ask the right questions about the competitive environment without understanding the forms of information that shape that environment, what does this mean to CI? Well at Brandhouse before the CI programme was developed a thorough understanding of the concept with complementing information was provided. And therefore, it means campaigns and programs to inform and educate management. The corporate management of this company has taken the right first step in setting up a CI function, but who now need to understand what kinds of information can be found. Without such clear direction and programme of action, at minimum, competitive intelligence will be underutilized; at worst the CI program will die an untimely and unwarranted death (Havenga, 2000). Monitoring and Evaluation CI tools are best known as corporate gadgets on the web to fine tune information into actionable intelligence for management of any company to take active decision-making. CI gained mass media attention and it continues to strive towards giving meaning to competitor intelligence rather than just turning over information to customers. In order to see the performance of this CI tools it is wisely advisable to develop monitoring and evaluation plan to specify process measures, assessment instruments and monitoring schedule. The CI personnel are required on a regular basis to observe and monitor the competition of changes in direction that these tools are generating, thus, CI manager. And the CI tools should fulfil the immediate needs of the top management and customers when specific competitive data is asked. The CI tools will must eliminate the trouble of controlling the flow of competitive information through the organisation and provide the guiding hand in how to use it more effectively and in this way the tools will be monitored and maintained for future management in the company. CI strategy applied and Strategic intelligence There are different ways of defining a CI strategy and the concept can be viewed from many angles, so to cut the story short, it means a coherent, unifying and integrative pattern for decision-making, a blueprint for the whole organisation that indicates the organisation’s future destination. CI strategy as a firm’s competitive domain including defining the businesses a firm is in or intends to be in, segmentation, strategic positioning and how and where it is going to compete (Kurt and Bessa, 2009). The company decided to take the smooth functioning of the intelligence process, by teaming up departments in order to allow interaction and information sharing to ultimately reach the company’s visions and goals. This effort produces optimized market intelligence that leads to best informed executive decision-making regarding company growth. After all a good CI strategy is routed in the planning and implementation phase where intelligence staff and users establish and agree to the users core concerns and associated information requirements. The role of intelligence in strategy formulation is a critical one, especially now, given the quickly changing business environment. When discussing CI strategy, strategic planning, strategic design or strategic thinking it is important to give

consideration as well to strategic management. Strategic intelligence is an important tool in informing and supporting strategic management activities in different stages of the strategy development. In short, strategic intelligence can be defined as a systematic and continuous process of producing needed intelligence of strategic value in an actionable form to facilitate long-term decision-making. From the process perspective, strategic intelligence is seen as part of competitive intelligence as it is also a systematic and continuous process with a purpose to facilitate decision-making with needed and timely intelligence input delivered in actionable form (Kurt and Bessa, 2009). CI tools in the CI processes Information is power, truly enough but the trick part of it is synthesizing information into critical competitive insights that drive corporate strategy is the real art of the competitive intelligence. Identification The CI tools will be used to identify key decision makers across the organisation and their intelligence needs like for example Lotus Notes works just like an email, facebook, Twitter and it can reach many people within a short period of time. In the identification phase this tools can deliver higher volume of experts in the CI field and also within the company. Collection Information is generated from different sources about events in an organisations external business environment from print, electronic and oral sources and not forgetting that no company operates in isolation, they release information for promotional, image and regulatory purposes and sometime company’s share customers, dealers, and suppliers who can be interviewed. By customizing Sharepoint, RSS feed and WebFocus the better information will be generated from government, press, web, road shows, Sales Reps, investors because this days do not forget that every company has many needy employees with loose lips. In order to be ahead at all times it is wise to do counter intelligence with this CI tools because competitors are working against the company. Analysis The CI tools will gather the scattered bits and pieces of knowledge to and synthesize it to suite the CI workers. After gathering more operation information and running it through a side-by-side intelligence, it appears that competitor has become highly efficient and agent decisions about a thorough strategy will be needed. Dissemination CI tools are part of an emerging infrastructure that uses the global Internet as a massively scalable platform to disseminate information in a form that can be easily written, read, correlated and commented on by anyone with the skills necessary to use the tools. Collection, analysis and dissemination are classic parts of the competitive intelligence process, and particularly well suited to the strengths of CI tools technology. Conclusion The success of each and every company is through a thorough strategy with a good direction and goals outlined to be achieved and fulfilling their customer expectations and management with innovative programmes and projects, thus, the CI tools and the CI strategy that will serve quality good CI programme at Brandhouse. To achieve and reach the ultimate objectives and final destination the company has decided to explore different CI tools for its operation and tactical operation in this forever changing environment and Sharepoint, RSS feed and WebFocus were the tools recommended for the journey to success. The CI processes coming into play put more impact on the CI tools as they were improving each and every step in the process to identification, collection, analysis and dissemination of information. List of references Benjamin, J. and Gilad, T. 1998. The business intelligence system. New York: AMACOM Begg, M. and du Toit, A. S. A. 2007. Level of importance attached to competitive intelligence at a mass import retail organization. South African Journal of Information Management, vol 9(4).

Bernhardt, D. 2003. Competitive intelligence: how to acquire and use corporate intelligence and ––– counter intelligence. London: Pearson Education Limited. Blenkhorn, D., L. and Fleisher, G., S. 2005. Competitive intelligence and global business. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. Dearstyne, B. W. 2006. ‘Blogs: the new information revolution?’ information Management Journal, September/October: 38-44. Du Toit, A.S. A. 2003. ‘Competitive intelligence in the knowledge economy: what is in it for South African manufacturing enterprises?’ International Journal of Information Management, 23(2):111-120. Fuld, L. 1985. How to get it; how to use it. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Havenga, J. 2000. Wave model to implement competitive intelligence in companies. Pretoria: IBIS consultant. Herschel, R.T. and Jones, N. E. 2005. Knowledge management and business intelligence: the importance of integration’. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(4):45-54. Johnson, A. R. 2009. Competitive intelligence workflow: the self-service continuum from ad hoc research to environmental scanning. Available from http://www.themanager.org . Accessed on 20 September 2009. Kurt, A and Bessa, J. 2009. A critique of the strategic competitive intelligence process within a global energy multinational. Available from http://www.ashridge.org.uk. Accessed on 26 September 2009. Prescott, J., E. and Miller, S., H. 2001. Proven strategies in competitive intelligence: lessons from the trenches. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Rothschild, W. 1994. How to gain (and Maintain) the competitive advantage in business. New York: McGraw Hill Slater, S.F. and Narver, J.C. 1994. ‘Does competitive environment moderate the market orientationperformance relationship?’ Journal of Marketing, 58:46-55. Venter, P. and Tustin, D. 2009. The availability and use of competitive and business intelligence in South African business organisations. Southern African Business Review, vol 13(2):88-115.