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By Heather Carine
 Finding Competitive Business Information in Six Steps
Written by Heather Carine.
People in business are always looking for information - for current and future projects, to pitch for new work, and to help them to understand the market in which they are operating.
There are six key steps to keep in mind for finding competitive information for business. The steps bring together elements of the searcher's professional interest as a specialist in their field, research know-how, knowledge management and networking.
These steps have been developed from practical experience as a business researcher and interviews with leading researchers and specialists from a range of industries on how they find the competitive business information they need.
While some of the tools in this article refer to Australian content, the six steps aren't limited to Australian research. See if they apply in your part of the world.
Step One: Keep in touch with your market
Insightful specialists and organisations are in touch with what is happening in their market.
The first step in finding reliable information is, therefore, to have a general awareness of the issues affecting your market, industry, company and your customers.
Stay abreast of not only technical or operational developments in your areas of practice or work, but also market and industry news, staff changes that impact your firm and your clients, and strategies that your organisation is pursuing for business development.
Beyond reading the news of your choice, subscribe to industry alerting services, relevant forums, blogs or Twitter feeds for your market, and follow some of the offerings of leading commentators in your field.
Having a general level of knowledge of what has been happening in the markets your business operates in is very helpful when it comes to knowing where to start looking for insightful, competitive information.
Step Two: Refine the research parameters
Journalists use the ‘who, when, what, where, why and how' approach to get to their story. A similar approach is useful as a starting point for narrowing down vague or broad research requests. These may be questions that you ask your research requester, or simply questions that you put to yourself before you start your research.
The questions may include:
- Who needs to know the answer?
- What precisely are you looking for?
- When do you need the answer?
- What information do you think is available?
- What are the best sources of information for finding the answer?
- What information will be available from public or private sources?
- What confidentiality issues need to be considered?
- How current must the information be? Does recent mean yesterday, last week or in the last two years?
- How will the information be used?
- How do the results need to be presented?
- How much time and money can be spent on the research?
Step Three: Think about who cares
Before you start throwing words into Google or your preferred online search tools, think about which sources are the most likely to have reliable information on the topic you are researching. (I picked this tip up from Mary Ellen Bates many years ago, and it has often led me to where I need to look).
The best sources for reliable information are those that care about the topic. Who cares enough about the industry, company or person that you are researching that they will provide accurate and reliable information? They may be specialist publishers, industry groups, expert commentators or colleagues regarded for their expertise on the topic.
If you are looking for free information from the Internet, aim for sources that have an obligation to provide reliable information, such as regulatory bodies for corporate reporting information. Consider also the bias of information that is provided by groups, such as industry and lobby groups.
Take time to get to know the offerings of the commercial legal publishers, and what to expect from their various services and publications.
Step Four: Talk to your contacts
When you are looking for competitive business information, a good network of connections is invaluable. Ideally, your contacts will be wide ranging and include current and former colleagues, industry and business associates, professional peers, clients, and web 2.0 contacts. Your network of contacts is vital for keeping you informed on what is happening in your fields of interest, organisation, profession, and industries in which you work or advise.
Furthermore, your contacts are an invaluable source for helping to provide background information, or filling out the details that don't make it into published sources.
Generously sharing information with your network of contacts is essential, and is one of the key skills in building a good network of reliable contacts.
Step Five: Build on your organisation's knowledge
Not all research questions require starting the research process from scratch. Take advantage of the extensive repository of knowledge and unique insight that your organisation or client base has developed over many years.
This body of knowledge reflects the insight and connections that an organisation has developed over its business life and is part of the organisation's competitive edge.
If your organisation has systems in place to point you to helpful business information, such as client information, issues papers, articles and presentations, use them as a starting base for further research.
Tapping into your network of contacts in your organisation is also often necessary for uncovering vital competitive information already held within a business.
Step Six: Use directions to the right path
With many information requests, there are quite often one or two points that direct the research path you take. For example, when you are finding information on the reputation and experience of people, the research path you take depends on whether the person is high or low profile.
For known high profile business or industry leaders - press searches, biographical directories, company web sites are useful sites for background information and, if necessary, further discussion with the person's colleagues and associates.
For lower profile people - use public record information, Web 2.0 searches such as Linkedin, Facebook or MySpace and general web searching. Similarly, the path used to search for company information differs depending on whether the company is a public listed company or a private company.
For common search questions, such as background on people, or a company - become familiar with the information sources that are most likely to provide the information required. Get to know what to expect from the information tools along the different pathways, and keep up to date with significant changes in the content or search tips that will help you use the tools.
These six steps highlight that the art of finding competitive business information starts well before the research question has been asked, and continues well after the results have been found.
Links:
For further details on pathways and sources for finding information on Australian people, companies, industries and policy decisions, refer to
Carine, H., ‘Searching for Australian content: Industries, companies, people and Government', Searcher, May 2008
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/may08/Carine.shtml
This article is included in the FUMSI Report: Folio on Competitive Intelligence. Learn more and purchase.
By Heather Carine
Heather Carine is a Business Researcher. She set up Carine Research in
2006 capitalising on her experience as a corporate librarian, knowledge
manager and marketing advisor. Her research is relied on for business
proposals, marketing initiatives and advice.
In 2007 Heather was
awarded the FUMSI (Find, Use, Manage and Share Information) Award for
the most useful article in Freepint, as voted by the freepint.com
readers.
Heather writes a free monthly newsletter on Business
Research Tips focusing on practical ways to find and manage business
information. Heather is based in Adelaide, South Australia and online
at www.carineresearch.com.au.
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