Problem Areas in the CI Cycle
Nov 20,2008 00:00 by admin

Problem Areas in the CI Cycle

CI professionals spend excessive effort, in terms of both time and money, on data collection. Over a decade of experience clearly indicates that the optimal distribution of effort (whether measured in terms of time, dollars, or some combination) among these four stages of the CI cycle is approximately as follows:

Nonetheless, we continue to see a great deal of effort, in fact a disproportionate effort, spent on collection instead of analysis. We continually also see that the message of CI does not always get through. However the question is posed, the answer seems to be that many CI professionals are not providing management with action-oriented CI. The crux of this problem lies in at least two areas.

  1. In terms of management's participation, some managers still seems reluctant to share with the CI professional exactly what they need to know and what they know (or think they know) already.

  2. The CI professional then compensates for this lack of direction by tending to provide more "data," such as newsletters, and less hard analyses.

The solutions for these problems areas are as follows:

  • CI professionals must work much harder on establishing the needs of their internal clients, with or without their assistance. They must continue to collect data on the widest basis possible, but must always understand that their mission is not to collect and report on data. Rather, they must spend more time and effort on analysis. That is where the real value of CI lies.

  • They must learn to communicate their completed message properly. That means learning to say things in a clear and convincing style while also availing themselves of new, passive means of dissemination, such as technology like that provided by Lotus software.

[6]Needs and analysis can be seen as linked, in terms of skills, just as collection and dissemination can be. In our experience and that of our clients, the less effort that needs and analysis command, the poorer will be the outcome of any project or performance of any CI unit.