How to Identify User Needs with Key Intelligence Topics

The Intelligence Collaborative
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How to Identify User Needs
with Key Intelligence Topics
A Complimentary Webinar from Aurora WDC
12:00 Noon Eastern /// Wednesday 27 January 2016
~ featuring ~
Jan Herring Derek Johnson

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Jan Herring
Jan P. Herring serves as an advisor to business executives and intelligence professionals. He assists
companies in developing and operating their own Business Intelligence Systems, as well as improving
their existing intelligence operations. His efforts are focused on increasing the effectiveness of
business decisions and corporate performance through the use of BI Systems and the intelligence
they produce. He is the President of Herring & Associates LLC, a management consultancy,
specializing in intelligence matters.
Between 1987 and 1996, Mr. Herring established the profession’s leading business intelligence
consultancy at The Futures Group (TFG), an international firm specializing in forecasting, strategic
planning and policy analysis. Prior to joining The Futures Group, Mr. Herring was Director of
Intelligence at Motorola. Before Motorola, Mr. Herring spent 20 years with the CIA as a professional
intelligence officer. Jan’s current research is focused on the Future of Competitive Intelligence and
how CI managers might best prepare for that future.
Email: jpherring@snet.net
The Intelligence Collaborative is the online learning and networking community powered by Aurora WDC,
our clients, partners and other friends and dedicated to exploring how to apply intelligence methods to
solve real-world business problems.
Apply for a free 30-day trial membership at http://IntelCollab.com or learn more about Aurora at
http://AuroraWDC.com. See you next time!

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THE
SYSTEM
Key Intelligence Topic
Identifying
Management’s
Intelligence Needs
...
Is the Key to Producing
Actionable Intelligence!

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THE
SYSTEM
• Strategic and Operational decisions, where competitive factors and
forces are major determinates in the outcome.
• Early Warning, of both threats and opportunities!
• Knowing the competition … and, creating strategies to out-think and
out-perform them.
• Understanding the actual competitive situation the company currently
faces … and, will most likely face in the future!
An Expression of Management’s Intelligence Needs
(Best defined by its intended business application)
Key Intelligence Topics

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Senior Management’s
Key Intelligence Topics
• Management Decisions and Actions
– Future of mobile satellite communications
– European entry strategy – selecting the right partner
• Early Warning Topics
– The introduction of disruptive technologies
– Competitor efforts to form alliances with our customers
• Key Players: Competitors/Customers/Others
– Creating a unifying view of the competition
– Competitors’ efforts to acquire our technology

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SYSTEM
Dissemination
Analysis &
Production
Decision Makers
& Other Users
Planning &
Direction
Information
Services &
Processing
Intelligence
Collection &
Reporting
INTELLIGENCE
CYCLE
Intelligence Systems Operations

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SYSTEM
The Role of Key Intelligence Topics
• Critical First Step in Intelligence Process:
Identifying Key User’s Intelligence Needs
• Provides Focus and Purpose to the Effort
• Engages Users in Intelligence Process as:
– Providers of feedback
– Analysts and forecasters
– Collectors and reporters
• Becomes an On-going, Management Process
– Users must select and prioritize the KITs
– Use Ballots, Workshops, etc.

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Pro-Active Mode: Key Intelligence Topics
• KIT Process Well Developed & Proven Approach
• Regular Meetings with Principal Users
–Help them identify and define needs
–Feed back mechanism for past/ongoing work
–Coordinates user needs and related activities
• The Benefits
–Permits planning and focused operations
–Actively involves management/users in process
–“Guarantees” a user for the intelligence produced
Identifying User’s Needs

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SYSTEM
Types of KITs
• Management Decisions and Actions
- Formulation & implementation of strategic plans
- Capital expenditures affecting competitive positions
- Strategic alliances, acquisitions and divestiture
- Opportunities that company recognizes first
- Threats, including new/emerging competitors
- Significant changes in industry, government, technology
• Key Players: Competitors, Customers, Others
- Greater understanding of their capabilities & intentions
- Insight and foresight regarding their actions
- Monitoring their activities on an ongoing basis

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• Business Decisions and Strategic/Tactical Actions
1. “What decisions and/or actions will you be facing in the next _____months,
where BI/CI could make a significant difference?”
2. How will you use that BI/CI?
3. When will it be needed?
(Begin by identifying/discussing a past “surprise” in your industry.)
1. “Identify several topics that you do not want to be surprised by: new competitors,
technology introductions, alliances & acquisitions, regulatory changes, etc.”
• Key Players in Our Marketplace: Competitor, Customers, Suppliers ..
1. “Identify those players you believe company needs to better understand.”
2. What specifically do we need to know?
KIT Protocol

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SYSTEM
• What production process will the competition use in their new plant?
• How is competition likely to respond to our new product?
• How will the government change the regulatory regime we now
operate under?
• Identify new and emerging competitors, particularly those coming from
entirely different industries and businesses
• Provide intelligence inputs for the company’s strategic plan to create
“our” future competitive environment
Some Management KITs

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Intelligence
Assessments
and Inputs
Collection
Guidance
KIT
Action
Plans
Intelligence
Analysis
Teams
Senior Management
Intelligence
Reports
Intelligence
Alerts
The
Intelligence
Unit
Collection
Operations
KITs
Analytical Approach
and Framework
Managing the KIT Process

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SYSTEM
International Strategy
Chairman
Competitor Co.
Competitor Z
1.
2.
3.
Strengths Weaknesses
Strategic Intent
Government Plans to . . .
Likely Actions:
Past Decisions
Intelligence
Assessments
E-mail & Reporting
Briefings
Intelligence Reports,
Newsletters & Early
Personality
Assessments
Current Intelligence
Products of the Intelligence Process

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•Involve the User from the Beginning
•Include the Future in the Final Product
•Link Key Findings to User Responsibilities
Producing Actionable Intelligence

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Thank you!
Now how about a little Q&A?
Email: jpherring@snet.net
The Intelligence Collaborative is the online learning and networking community powered by Aurora WDC,
our clients, partners and other friends and dedicated to exploring how to apply intelligence methods to
solve real-world business problems.
Apply for a free 30-day trial membership at http://IntelCollab.com or learn more about Aurora at
http://AuroraWDC.com. See you next time!

How to Identify User Needs with Key Intelligence Topics

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