Competitive Intelligence Lessons from Frost & Sullivan's 2008 Growth & Innovation Congress

The most interesting learnings from attending this weeks Frost & Sullivan's Global Congress on Corporate Growth are results shared from an annual CEO Survey. The most striking highlights from a competitive intelligence (CI) practitioner standpoint include:

* CEO's number one priority is growth and overwhelmingly agreed that competitive strategy is the most effective growth strategy

* According to the same executives, the number one external challenge to growth is the competitive environment.

That is good news for us because it validates the role CI can play in shaping and executing resilient strategies in light of an increasingly competitive environment. But here is the discouraging news - only 37% of these companies involve CI in developing their firms growth strategy. A major disconnect but unfortunately a reality many of us have grappled with as practitioners and consultants.

Why is CI left out of these discussions? The same stigma that CI is more about data than insight and analysis seem to continue to plague the profession. The burden is on us to change this misperception. Our challenge is not that we can't do the analytical part of the job but instead that in today's economy with constrained budgets and resources, we are pulled in many directions including spending an inordinate amount of time collecting and managing data leaving little room for developing insights and true intelligence.

In light of the economic turmoil we find ourselves in, it will be interesting to watch if the remaining 63% of CEO's are compelled to draw on our expertise out of necessity.