Press Review, 1999

Elf: a failure of communication TotalFina: a well-directed campaign

On September 12, Philippe Jaffré admitted defeat in his battle with Thierry Desmarets, the Chairman of TotalFina. The strategies and psychologies of the two adversaries had a great deal to do with the result. From August to September, the Competitive Intelligence consultancy, Egideria, followed the Internet communications of the two oil companies with the help of the Umap software package. Thanks to this monitoring, Egideria was able to predict the result of the bid. According to Yves-Michel Marti, Managing Director of Egideria, "this analysis is now one of our success stories and, as such, is included in the 12 case studies on our monitoring training CD-ROM." ... François Dupoteau, in charge of the study, told us, "The strong signal analysis enabled us to identify the view presented by each company of its business." ... while "Elf's communication seemed essentially technical and scientific... TotalFina presented a more industrial and business image." It can thus be seen that the two companies were communicating about different but complementary activities and that their communication methods suggested conflicting company cultures. The weak signal analysis threw a new light on the difference that was particularly strategic at the time of the bid. ... "Elf's lines of communication appeared incoherent while TotalFina's line was clear and undeviating: everything was centered on taking control of Elf". His conclusion, "The resulting impression was that TotalFina's bid was well-prepared whereas Elf-Aquitaine was taken by surprise and its reaction was all over the place."

"Intelligent tools for sharp managers", Le Nouvel Economiste, December 12, 1999, by Frédéric Brillet

"We are the eyes and ears of our clients. Not the brain, we leave that role to the strategy consultants", points out Yves-Michel Marti, Managing Director of the Competitive Intelligence consultancy, Egideria. The low profile that the experts prefer to maintain is in sharp contrast with the importance to company strategy that they have acquired. Witness the change in the language referring to this activity: We used to speak of information and monitoring; now we only talk of intelligence. This apparently flattering semantic shift is the sign of a new reality. The added value of the profession has been increased tenfold by the storm of technology.

"Of companies, knowledge and men", L'Express Multimédia, October 21, 1999, by Dorothée Tromparent

Let us sit down for a moment in front of Umap 1.8. A powerful knowledge spreadsheet, instead of numbers, this program manipulates words and draws a map of any search carried out on the Net. ... In the center is the map itself: continents and islands representing the major topics of the request. This map is interactive and can be modified as the search continues. On the right of the display is a list of the documents that can be instantly accessed in text mode. Impressive! ... When he saw the program at work, Yves-Michel Marti of the consultancy, Egideria, was stunned. "We included Umap in our products straight away", he said. Egideria specializes in Competitive Intelligence: which is to say that the ten or so consultants of the rue Saint-Honoré work in the intelligence field (legal, of course). "Faced with a plethora of information, we realized that the way the questions are asked is becoming more important than the answers that our clients want to find. This is what makes Umap so interesting; it enables us to ask the right questions."

"Patrice Nordey, pioneer of the Net-economy", Archimag, October, 1999.

Beyond the content itself, Patrice and his collegues want to put collective intelligence to work through on-line clubs to which you can subscribe from their site. The one dedicated to knowledge management and Competitive Intelligence already has more than 160 members - and some important ones at that: ... Richard Collin (Trivium), Yves-Michel Marti (Egideria). "What surprised us is that, through the Internet, we were able to reach out to people whom we would have been unable to meet face-to-face. When some of them replied, we were, quite literally, euphoric!"

"The patent, basis of technology monitoring", by Frank Niedercorn, Les Echos, Wednesday, September 22, 1999

In some business sectors, where secrecy is cultivated as an art, the patent can even be one of the best sources of information. "This is the case in the chemical industry, where multinationals like Procter & Gamble publish very little information. This also applies to multinationals such as Mars or Benetton, which maintain highly impenetrable "family" organizations", confirms a specialist in the sector.

In addition to carefully reading through every patent, some readers are specialists in "metareading" to deduce the strategy of the competition. "We make an inventory of patent applications by class and the names of the various authors. From this we can deduce a great deal. This is a kind of mapping of the research in a company - in the time dimension too", explained Yves-Michel Marti of the consultancy, Egideria.

I can easily imagine that the explosion of the Internet has overturned the patent world. "Above all, because nowadays, before the brand, it is the Internet domain name that must be registered", insisted Yves-Michel Marti.

"The Intelligence Edge", Celebrity Speakers news magazine, August 1999.

MONEY is'nt what it used to be. From castles, land and herds, it is now shares, bonds, index funds and stock options in startups that show no profits. Most precious of all is the ability to have access to capital. The same thing happens to INFORMATION. It used to be books, precious knowledge of elders and it is now email and quickly outdated expert know how.

Most of all, it is the precious ability to ACCESS THE RIGHT INFORMATION AT THE RIGHT TIME. Printed information, either in paper or electronic form is quickly losing its value. Competitive advantage is better found in the minds of people. HARD INFORMATION is now less important than SOFT INFORMATION.

Today, companies are rushing to build INTRANET NETWORKS for managing their hard information, and their architects demand high salaries. Tomorrow, we will see a new breed : the ARCHITECT OF HUMAN INFORMATION NETWORKS who will master the technology of making human beings share and cross fertilize their KNOWLEDGE. Only human information networks can give a company the INTELLIGENCE EDGE in understanding and thriving in its competitive environment.

"The new secret agents of the economy", Le Télégramme, August 17, 1999

Egideria achieves first place in the listing of the best sites devoted to Competitive Intelligence.

"The technology monitor, a contributor to competitive performance", Le Monde Informatique, l'hebdo, June 18, 1999, by Patrice Desmedt.

To remain competitive, companies must stay more than ever alert to technological developments, new markets and competing innovations. This is the role of business intelligence. Already existing in a vague and diffuse form, the task of the technology monitor is now becoming more clearly defined. At the same time, it is moving outside the company with the foundation of specialist consultancies. Those who make a full-time activity of monitoring remain few, not many companies have a monitor identified as such. In the course of a debate organized by the Léonard de Vinci university center, Yves-Michel Marti, founder of Egideria, and Véronique Mesguich, Business Service Manager of the center's library of information, drew up the portrait of a monitor. Above all, this is someone who knows his job well, has reached a high level in a particular sector of industry and has learnt to interpret the market. It is not necessarily the academic qualification that counts. On the contrary, a good monitor is endowed with curiosity as well as to technical abilities. He is also rather resourceful and endowed with a good sense of contact. "Hacking is a rather crude method, especially given that there are so many other ways of coming by the desired information. By being astute, a simple way can be found to do things which would otherwise seem complicated", commented Yves-Michel Marti. To succeed, the monitor must cultivate a strong network of relationships and know how to spot the small signs of something of importance. For example, to realize that, if the engineers working for a competitor start taking part in a congress in which they have never before attended, that certainly suggests something. It is a question of knowing how to "read" events.

"Congress of the SCIP USA", Archimag, June, 1999.

The sign of a certain maturity in the world of Competitive Intelligence, the 14th congress of the SCIP USA, held from April 27 to May 1 at Montreal, rather than emphasizing the theory of the information cycle, now considered fairly well-known, placed the accent on the delivery of practical information, an aspect that should be of particular interest to SMEs. For this first meeting beyond the United States frontier, 1874 participants from 50 countries and representing 845 organizations made the journey. Only two French nationals took part as speakers, one of them being Yves-Michel Marti, the Chairman of Egideria. The next congress will take place in Atlanta from March 28 to April 1, 2000.

"Competitive Intelligence: the awakening", by Patricia Colmant, Les Echos, Wednesday, June 9, 1999

In organizing a seminar on Competitive Intelligence last week in Paris, Les Echos Conférences felt that it was taking something of a risk. It was a success. A full auditorium, attentive audience and abundant questions showed that French businessmen are now convinced of the need to implement the use of this forecasting tool. This awakening, belated but real, demonstrates the mobilization of the entrepreneurial class in France, which, up to now, has not seen the benefit to be gained from the abundance of economic, technological and scientific information that we have available.

Implementing "war rooms".

In line with the old adage that a well-informed man is worth two, the practitioners of Competitive Intelligence call for transparency, openness, accessibility and exchange within the various departments of a company. One of the means of developing this new mind-set is the "war room", warmly defended by Yves-Michel Marti, the Chairman of Egideria.

"The war room, a strategic location", by Patricia Colmant, Les Echos, Wednesday, June 9, 1999

Given that Competitive Intelligence has its origins in military intelligence, it is hardly surprising that some of the terminology has a military flavor. One case in point is "war room", considered a strategic location in companies "on watch". "This is where all the strategic information, all the key elements of the market should be concentrated", explains Yves-Michel Marti, the Chairman of Egideria, who continues, "To be effective, information must be put on the walls and not shut away in cupboards". This concept has been implemented in companies in America (MCI, Disney, Bell Atlantic, DuPont, Lockheed, Ford, Sears Roebuck) and Britain (Lucas Industries, British Airways). The purpose is to favor the identification of gaps in the companies knowledge and the circulation of information, to raise the awareness of as many company members as possible, to break down the barriers between departments so that they no longer live on different planets, accelerate the intelligence process within the company and allow everyone the chance to make his point. It is also a means of avoiding parallel operations that are mutually redundant and a way of recovering almost all the information available within the company. "In order for this to work, you must take into account suggestions and criticisms and always explain the reasons behind the chosen lines of investigation", insists this expert and he concludes, "The war room facilitates the collective ownership of the results".

"The Internet democratises competitive intelligence", La Tribune, June 3, 1999

For simple searches, the directories (e.g. Yahoo) and search engines (such as Alta Vista), when used with boolean operators ("and", "or" to associate or exclude key words) have proved their effectiveness. These easily accessed tools are the primary components of open access Competitive Intelligence. This is the first level of a body of know-how that pays off increasingly as it becomes more effective. "The Internet can provide answers but certainly not all", explains Yves-Michel Marti, the Chairman of Egideria. By mastering the use of a search engine and a directory to search the Web and discussion forums, you can obtain 80% of the information. The remaining 20% require the use of other sources and other skills. The hidden Web, made up of 4 or 5 thousand professional databases and millions of pages and discussion forums that are not indexed by the search engines, is not accessible to just any surfer.

Interview with Y.M. Marti on Bloomberg Television, May 24, 1999

"Competitive Intelligence is a process for building up a body of information that can be used by decision makers at every level in the company. Information is processed as rigorously as yoghurt is processed by Danone on its production lines. Companies have recognized that information is strategic raw material that must be collectively handled in an organized fashion".

"Questions to Y.M. Marti", Veille Magazine, May 24, 1999

"With regard to France, what criticisms or recommendations would you like to be heard?

"There are certain things I find irritating. I am thinking, for example, of the way that we speak of economic warfare. We have to be on the offensive but should remain positive. It seems to me that the term "warfare" has too many negative connotations. Competitive Intelligence can and should be a playful, exciting and inventive activity. There is no need for it to descend into ideology and tragedy. War brings only misfortune and sadness.

I am also against standardization. Competitive Intelligence is an emerging discipline with a very high level of innovation. Standards will tend to dry up or kill off invention. Such reflexes are cramping and dangerous. French bureaucracy has once again fallen into error. In order to justify its existence it regulates anything that moves. In any case, I don't think we can expect any useful results. If we look at what is happening in Quality, we find that ISO 9000 is now much disparaged."

"The Internet democratizes competitive intelligence", La Tribune, May 3, 1999

As an aid to the study of discussion forums, the site, Déjà (www.deja.com) has built up an archive since 1995 of all the topics and opinions on any particular subject. A gold mine that requires no particular basic knowledge. For simple searches, the directories (e.g. Yahoo) and search engines (such as Alta Vista), when used with boolean operators ("and", "or" to associate or exclude key words) have proved their effectiveness. These easily accessed tools are the primary components of open access Competitive Intelligence. This is the first level of a body of know-how that pays off increasingly as it becomes more effective. "The Internet can provide answers but certainly not all", explains Yves-Michel Marti, the Chairman of Egideria. By mastering the use of a search engine and a directory to search the Web and discussion forums, you can obtain 80% of the information. The remaining 20% require the use of other sources and other skills. The Competitive Intelligence world is profiting enormously from the rush to the Internet. While access to information in general is becoming open, the experts are enhancing the value of their know-how by concentrating on the most complex aspects of Competitive Intelligence. Their role is increasingly to provide training and organizational advice. Remember that once it has been harvested, the information must be processed and distributed within the organization in order that it can be properly used. As soon as a new piece of information is gathered, the person responsible for each topic must be notified. After getting drunk on the plethora of information, individuals and companies must learn to digest.

Radio Canada Television, interview on the subject of Competitive Intelligence and information sharing on the occasion of the Montreal SCIP Forum, April 30, 1999.

"Companies, the information war", Le Nouvel Observateur, April 22, 1999

Two examples of "competition monitoring" were supplied by Yves-Michel Marti of the consultancy, Egideria, specializing in Competitive Intelligence. "One of our clients was negotiating with a foreign partner and the affair started badly. Finally, on investigating, we found that the people that had been sent to the discussions did not have any proper authority to negotiate. The declared intentions of the negotiation were not the real motives. My client was being taken for a ride. He broke off the discussions." Another story: "The Italian SMEs active in the area of cardboard packaging for washing powders failed to foresee the arrival of compact wash products. When the demand for large packages plummeted while that for small ones exploded, they were unable to follow and the large detergent manufacturers found other suppliers."

"Recruitment, beware of espionage", L'Express, April 2, 1999

"The authors of Competitive Intelligence: the Company's Eyes and Ears, quoted the case of an American company that set up a fake recruitment agency in London. The only candidates interviewed were – the ones who worked for a competitor."

"The difficult practice of knowledge sharing", La Tribune, March 31, 1999

"Knowledge Management is a new name for an old practice", says Yves-Michel Marti, Chairman and founder of Egideria, a consultancy specializing in Competitive Intelligence. What is the connection between knowledge management and Competitive Intelligence? "The second is the eyes and ears of the first, which is the memory and the brain. Without a memory, we are nothing."

... Competitive Intelligence does not prevent us from managing our knowledge badly and there are many examples of bad use of the available tools or incorrect interpretation of information. Boeing, for example, had a very good Business Intelligence system with psychological profiles of all its competitors but the tool is old and has not been updated. Result? It no longer serves any purpose. In the same way, some twenty years ago, General Electric saw a noticeable rise in the sales of its vacuum tubes. The company took some time to realize that, in fact, its sales were rising because all its competitors were pulling out of the vacuum tubes to concentrate on the nascent transistor market. This could have cost a smaller company its life. This is a cultural problem.

"Diderot's Encyclopedia is an excellent model of information processing and knowledge management. In England at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, Sir Francis Bacon prepared a work for the queen of England that was a master plan of the ideal intelligence system. However, without doubt the best example is that of the Portuguese navigators."

To prepare an expedition, a navigator would go to see a cartographer with whom he would spend several months preparing his journey. During the expedition, he made a note of everything: water and air quality, wind force... On his return, the navigator would discuss his logbook with the cartographer, who would use the new data to refine his maps for the benefit of subsequent navigators.

... Japanese and Israeli companies have systematized information gathering. Every employee who goes on a visit or to a seminar makes a report on his return. ... The growths of the Internet and of intranets contribute to this change by making information available to everyone without regard to seniority.

"Better knowledge of target markets: the answers from Competitive Intelligence", Le Moniteur du Commerce International, M. Guilguy, March 11, 1999

Whether large or small, the company that puts Competitive Intelligence into practice is better equipped to confront its foreign competitors. Failing to monitor the market can lead to many disappointments.

"The head of a small company generally has his local information networks: the mayor, the member, his colleagues, etc. In extreme cases, he no longer reads the local paper because he knows what is going on in the area and possibly beyond before the journalist. However, abroad he is without resources", explains Yves-Michel Marti, co-author of a book on Competitive Intelligence and Chairman of Egideria, a consultancy specializing in competition monitoring services.

"Knowledge mapped out", Le Monde Informatique, Jean-Pierre Cahier, Feb. 26, 1999

... The very large volumes of documents immediately invoke the Web. Hence the rather inelegant expression, "webware", sometimes used to designate this new range of complementary tools of which the best know are, upstream, the search engines such as Verity, Fulcrum, AltaVista or Ecila and the most visual are the graphic programs that map the knowledge. Finally, there are functions such as content analysis, indexing, domain thesauri, multilingualism, which companies such as IBM and Xerox are bringing to the market. For the market monitoring niche, the consultancy, Egideria, has produced one of the first examples of a webware suite. Its "Monitor's CD-ROM" contains seven programs including the search agent, DigOut4U and the Umap mapping software as well as useful addresses and more.

"Intelligence Wins", The Gartner Group, Wentworth Research Publications, February 1999

Intelligence and the right information can make the difference between failure and success, between prosperity and poverty - and sometimes between life and death. Consider why the Titanic sank. Was it really all the iceberg's fault or was the ship sent to the bottom of the sea by a combination of misunderstanding, mis-information and mis-communication on board?

The Titanic's first problem was that the people in charge simply had the wrong mental models - they believed that it was an unsinkable ship. They had the wrong priorities - the captain and crew catered mostly for first class passengers. The information sensors of the ship were not properly activated - the radio was busy sending passengers' personal messages. The ship's information relays malfunctioned - because of hierarchical barriers, time was lost passing on and transmitting vital information. There was a lack of training and knowledge - trying to avoid the iceberg resulted in more damage than a frontal hit. There were insufficient lifeboats, which were only half-loaded on evacuation. And finally, there was a tragic lack of tools - the crew could not find the binoculars.

Many of today's corporations may feel that they are equally unsinkable, but a breakdown of information, or lack of it, at a critical moment could spell disaster. They also face many hazards, ranging from aggressive new competitors, to dangerous paradigm shifts in markets, technologies or customer buying patterns.

Businesses have built vast computer networks over the last few years but most senior decision makers do not really get involved in understanding what they are used for and how. The result: despite all the investment, most businesses still have few strategic information flows. Organizations must take information sharing more seriously. There are 12 information sharing laws that may help.

Putting people in touch with people is one of the most valuable information strategies for 1999. It helps to build a community within and around the business that can share information, respond to change, create new ideas and improve performance.

As any naturalist knows, an individual ant may be stupid, but an ant colony is a powerful example of collective intelligence.

""Competitive Intelligence testing the organization", Les Echos, Tuesday, February 2, 1999

"Identifying the environmental changes that might affect the business, collecting information on competitors, detecting internal funds of knowledge: in a highly globalized and competitive economy, being well-informed provides a real competitive advantage. Companies are now convinced of this. But how do you gather, process, distribute and share this precious information? That is Competitive Intelligence. Nothing or very little to do with espionage, as it is still sometimes named. This concerted command of the information cannot be improvised. It requires in-depth consideration, structures, procedures, tools and, above all, a new way of thinking. The first step is to define the information that is really relevant at each level of the company, in other words, to establish strategic priorities without seeking to throw the net too wide. The exercise is all the more difficult because of the plethora of information now available – enough to drown in, as Yves-Michel Marti, Chairman of the consultancy, Egideria, points out.