FAQs
When someone says Technology, we just think of big companies with lots of money. Why do you say you work with entrepreneurs when we can’t afford it?
Competitive Intelligence Technology offer value for every pocketbook. Check our article on Competitive Intelligence Technology – Intelligent Agents for more information.
Does the fact that you use proprietary technology mean that we can’t use it after the project is complete?
Nope. You and your organization can use it for your exclusive use. You cannot, however, give it to folks outside of your organization without our agreement.
Virtual Competitive Team sounds invisible … what if I want to have you work in my offices?
Usually that is not a problem; however, it frequently turns out that a hybrid of that works better. That’s because we have equipment, software and resources at our beck and call in our own environment, which enables us to work more efficiently on your behalf.
Client Fit
How do you differ in producing for such widely different entities as large business, entrepreneurs and professional services?
We bring talent resources to the project who are familiar with the “pain points” which those three types of businesses have … which are frequently quite different. We would not, for instance, introduce to an entrepreneurial project someone whose only experience and sensitivity is to Fortune 500 companies. In addition, we provide context briefings to our affiliates that cover the specific company and the key pain points that are characteristic of their kind of business structure.
I’d like to make sure that our staff has documentation of the work when you finish a project.
A basic tenet in how we work is called Institutional Knowledge. That means we commit to more than documenting our work — we commit to ensuring that the appropriate staff members come away with more knowledge than they had when the project was initiated.
Solutions
I like having options for what I need … can I combine them?
The great part about our commitment to Choice is the ability to mix and match whatever approaches fit your company’s culture and preferences.
Do you create entire Business Plans?
No … but we do work with folks to help them create their business plans and develop key components of it, such as a robust market analysis and competitive analysis. Why don’t we create entire business plans for companies? We think that’s bad business and we want your business to succeed.
Do you build Marketing Plans?
Well, we like to think that we enable the marketing plan through providing a range of strategic and tactical competitive intelligence, analysis and competitive services (such as competitive initiative forecasting, scenario planning, competitive strategy facilitation, website channel analysis, and more).
What is an Employee CI Program?
It is a program whereby your employees are guided and incented in providing competitive intelligence (CI) to a central source, which is then able to take in the data and information and convert it to actionable competitive intelligence. In our experience, these programs are inexpensive and a great morale builder, educator and energizer throughout the company. And, did we say … in addition to being very popular and an excellent source of intelligence … they’re dirt-cheap.
