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My whole Competitive Intelligence life - Report and Analysis

mardi 3 mai 2016

This survey and report will serve as a companion piece to the Academy of Competitive Intelligence 2013 survey (Who Are the Most Successful Competitive Intelligence Professionals ?) The 2013 survey profiled the factors that affect successful Competitive Intelligence careers. Its secondary objective was to assess the contribution of CIP™ certification to that career. Among the findings in the 2013 report were :
- There is a Superstar group whose members were promoted three or more times that in part was the result of a high level of training and professional education. Nearly one‐half (44%) had a Masters in Competitive Intelligence (CIP™ II Certification)
- Competitive Intelligence skills are transferrable to other jobs
- Healthcare was the industry that demonstrated the highest number of promotions among respondents (64%), followed by Aerospace (57%)

The 2015 study surveyed this same population of ACI alumni. This time we shifted our focus from understanding the value of certification and education to examining this group’s entire “Competitive Intelligence Life.” Our ultimate goal was to collect data from this audience to help frame a more complete picture of the CI professional. We wanted to understand their current job experience and expectation working as a CI professional, as well as the impact their service has on their companies.

The 2015 survey yielded 236 responses. The findings are reported below. In addition, comparative analysis is performed for several variables judged critical in understanding the findings, and when available, statistically significant results are highlighted.

Some results were intriguing. CI practitioners have advanced a great deal from just a few years ago. In particular, they are more involved in strategy, early warning and even executive decision making. The most intriguing of findings, though, involved a few simple steps which can make CI more impactful and which we believe should be pursued by everyone in this field. We recommend you present these findings to your management.

CI is Global

As the leading global training institute in competitive intelligence and strategic risk management and the ones who created the standard training curriculum in the field back in 1999, we have taken upon ourselves the role of not only providing managers with the necessary skills of CI, but following and shaping their careers for more than a decade.

We’ve watched our graduates move up and around in their companies, and we heard from them about their successes as well as their struggles. One of the questions we’ve been asked over the years is how CI and its practices and career path differ globally.

Since we have alumni from 58 countries we have been in an excellent position to answer this question. In this latest endeavor, a global survey we dubbed “MY WHOLE CI LIFE”, we deliberately dug deeper into all aspects of the professional life of our alumni from around the world.

We hope you enjoy this report. Most important, we hope we have provoked you to examine the real life of a CI professional and to encourage others to enter into this intriguing and challenging career.

Dr. Ben Gilad, President
Leonard M. Fuld, Chairman

Report Highlights

- Salaries in competitive intelligence are rising, particularly for more senior level positions
- Competitive intelligence professionals have found management’s ear with a large percentage no more than one or two reporting levels below the company’s senior executives  Small CI teams dominate. Bigger doesn’t mean better
- Those with a great deal of CI experience have ambitious career goals within strategy or senior management
- PhDs or non MBAs in a CI role are as likely to report to senior management as a CI professional with an MBA
- Building both internal and industry networks is a CI force multiplier
- Full-time CI professionals believe their organization has more either externally‐ or internally produced information than it needs to make a good decision

Highly salaried Competitive Intelligence professionals as well as those with deep industry expertise coming into the job are more likely to run war games, be involved in resulting decisions, and engage with management as part of this process than more junior or less experienced CI professionals. That is an encouraging finding that suggests as the CI professional accumulates experience, his or her influence rises.

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