Michael McGrorty on Competitive Intelligence
March 30th, 2005Michael always has a way with words (You do read his blog, right?) In one of his latest posts, those words struck me as more important as usual. His honesty should be applauded:
“Because it is the place where the money is. Knowing what a competitor is doing can mean billions in profit—or loss. Think other companies wouldn’t give their corporate eye teeth to know who’s going to put out the next iPod? They would, and they’re working on finding out right now.”
“The nexus of these efforts is what used to be called the company library, an entity that has morphed into the corporate information center. The librarian has become a coordinator of effort by a CI staff, one of their number herself. She is part of the business plan and process, no longer just an archivist of old company reports. That means many things, among them higher pay and prestige, assuming she can keep pace with developments and the endless Niagara of information flowing through her terminals every hour of every day.”
He’s dead on. CI is one of the most exciting (and stressful) parts of librarianship. Clients live and breathe for CI work and it’s our job to make sure that we are part of it. I did alot of this type of work at the law firm for 4 years before my new gig. Now, I’m on the other side: trying to assist in creating and enhancing technologies for CI work from the users perspective. It’s really exciting.
And as far as keeping pace, McGrorty is not alone in his thoughts. See “New Web-Watching Tools Pique Interest of Investors”