FYI: new and notable.
Bonnie Hohhof, bhohhof@scip.orgFuld intelligence toolbarInternet resources.
Fuld intelligence toolbar.
The Fuld Intelligence Toolbar (
www.fuld.com/toolbar offers targeted links and sites through its Internet Intelligence Index to dozens of business, industry and international resources. Sites are organized into several categories, including business Internet resources, industry, international Internet resources, competitive intelligence tools, and intelligence education.
Search engines: news and updates.
Users of
Google need to understand that what makes Google the number one search engine is not the bland front page, but the ingenuity in the backend processes. Microdoc News provides excerpts from a recently released article published by the IEEE Computer Society titled "
Web Search for a Planet: The Google Cluster Architecture". “How a Google search results is served.” Microdoc News, May 19.
http://www.microdocs-news.info/newsGoogle/2003/05/19.htmlNow when you search on google.com.mx, google.com.ar, google.cl and google.co.cr, google.it and google.ch as well as other
Google sites that offer Spanish and Italian interfaces, relevant news headlines will be included at the top of your search. “Google headlines in Spanish and Italian.” Aaron Swartz, Google Weblog, May 20.
http://google.blogspace.com/archives/000928Google is becoming the dominant way to search the Net, and that worries critics who see problems with its privacy practices and ranking methods. “The web according to Google.” BusinessWeek Online, June 10.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2003/tc20030610_2810_tc104.htmGoogle news tech uses computer algorithms to sort stories for its news site and in the section about how it works, the folks say you can find how a news story has developed by clicking the "sort by date" function. ‘In Google news, the first will be last.” Esther Tigre. The Inquirer, June 8.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9898Google News, the news site run entirely by computer algorithms, beat out BBC News Online, MSNBC.com, Poynter's Romenesko and allAfrica.com to win 2003 Webby Award for best news site. “Google News wins Webby.” CyberJournalist, June 7.
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000445.php http://www.web-user.co.uk/news/article/?afw_source_key={AD5C8663-ED69-494E-A6AA-20CCE55DC6D4}
Google's lawyers don't like it, but the search engine's name has become a generonym, a brand name that people use as a generic word for searching. The word
Google itself is a neologism, a variation on the huge number, a googol. “To Google, and other internet neologisms.” Chris Sherman, SearchDay, June 9.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/index.phpMoreover Technologies plans to roll out a new
weblog database. So far, the company has aggregated 17,000 weblogs, resulting in (thus far) about 1,000 daily articles (or "entries," or "blog entries") being indexed. Andrew Goodman. Traffick, June 8.
http://www.traffick.com/blog/archive/2003_06_08_archive.asp#200401247Internet sites with information you can use.
The
Automotive Industry Data Finder will point you to resources specific to automotive industries, such as cars and trucks, automotive parts and accessories, tires, and automotive engines. Cole Library, Rensselaer at Hartford.
http://www.hgc.edu/dept/library/industry/auto.htmBadan Pusat Statistik (
BPS-Statistics Indonesia) is a non-departmental government institution chartered to provide data on Indonesia to the government, and public. It contains statistics by subject/industry, macro economics and statistics, and statistics by region.
http://www.bps.go.id/index.shtmlThe
Directory of Associations allows online searching of associations (free searching displays up to 25 results and displays only the name, city, state, and URL of an organization), with the full directory available in both on- line and CD-ROM format, on a yearly subscription basis.
http://www.marketingsource.com/associations/Competitive Analysis Technologies announces that the CATSites(R)
Energy Portal surpassed a combined 12,000
energy resources last week, with more than 8,000 resources for the Upstream and Downstream industry. The databases, available either as hard copy directories, CD-ROM or on-line at the CATSites(R) Energy Portal are used by energy personnel worldwide to quickly find competitive and market information. Press Release, June 3.
http://www.catsites.comIpo.com, one of the most popular Web pages for new-issues investors, has ceased operations after six years. The site, which listed information for initial public offerings, secondary stock sales, and venture capital transactions, shut down Friday. “IPO.com shuts down.” Dow Jones/API, June 9.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6048428.htmResearch and Development in Industry: 2000, detailed statistical tables available in HTML and PDF.
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf03318/start.htmThe
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has produced (and de-classified) a report on the importance of accurate and available
WHOIS data. Besides its hopes for consumer trust, the report identifies '
concerns' about the functioning and accuracy of WHOIS and indicates that there is room for improvement. “OECD speakes out on WHOIS.” Demys News service, June 9.
http://www.demys.net/news/2003/06/09_oecd.htmNew products.
The British Library has announced its new secure
Electronic Delivery service, harnessing the strength of the British Library's collections and giving customers fast access to over a billion items. Almost anything from the Library's collections--whether born digital, in print, or in microform--can be delivered to a desktop within two hours if needed. “The British Library delivers over 1 billion items via the web.” Econtent, June 10.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Newsletters/NewsletterReader.aspx?NewsletterID=67Business Browser’s goal is to be a one stop place on the Web to find out everything meaningful about specific businesses and even broad industry information. The service is offered on a subscription basis and priced per concurrent users. The intended users are people who are in need of advanced information about other businesses. “Crack the whip: how to successfully tame info-glut.” Chaim Yudkowsky. Memphis Business Journal, June 9.
http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2003/06/09/smallb3.htmlCardScan quickly scans business cards into your computer, and syncs with Microsoft Outlook, ACT!, Lotus Notes, Goldmine, Palm, Handspring, Pocket PC and more. It even captures a color image of each card. CardScan.Net is the online address book connected to CardScan desktop software. Once you scan your business card collection into CardScan, save to CardScan.Net and access your contacts from any web browser.
https://www.cardscan.net/In a bold move that could set off a price war in
press clipping services and significantly reduce costs for all types of media monitoring services,
CyberAlert, Inc. (
http://www.cyberalert.com ), a leading worldwide media monitoring company, today announced a new "You Design It /You Price It" policy for its media monitoring services. The new service is available at
http://www.cyberalert.com/pyo.html . Press Release May 21.
Dialog, a Thomson business, said that it is now offering additional content channels through its DialogPRO (Predictable Research Online) service for small businesses worldwide. The new content channels are Energy, Engineering, Patent and Trademark. Others previously launched include Advertising, Biotech, Competitive Intelligence, Consulting, Defense, and News. “Dialog augments business content offerings.” Newsbreaks, May 27.
http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/wnd030527.shtmlDialog, has said that the U.S. government's daily online global news monitoring service World News Connection (WNC) is now available through the Dialog-branded family of information services as File 985. “World News connection available through Dialog.” Econtent, June 10.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Newsletters/NewsletterReader.aspx?NewsletterID=67The new version of
EdgarPRO has specific enhancements built for the financial services industry: company profile of SEC documents, personalized folders, section navigation, section 16 filings. News release, May 28.
http://www.edgar-online.com/investor/news/052803.aspFactiva's first solution for Office 2003, Factiva News Search, allows information workers to conduct research on Factiva's collection of nearly 8,000 news and business information sources directly from a report or presentation they're creating. For example, while drafting a competitive brief in Microsoft Word 2003, competitive intelligence professionals can use Factiva News Search to look up important industry trends quickly in the most influential newspapers, journals and news wires from around the world, and use that knowledge to enhance their documents. Press Release, June 3.
www.microsoft.comIBM has aspirations that
WebFountain will actually change business processes by impacting the way that business tools are conceived and created. WebFountain will be a platform on which applications are built. "We think of ourselves as a platform that includes content, technology, and operations. We want to allow anyone that wants to develop technology on top of our platform to do it.” He anticipates that the first applications will be market, competitive intelligence, and brand management tools. “WebFountain: IBM buzzes the web for intelligent applications.” Michelle Manafy. Econtent, June 2003 issue.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=4408LexisNexis' Enterprise and Library Division has announced an expanded and enriched Company Dossier product and a new Industry Dossier product. The new products meld data from numerous authoritative business reference sources to create reports formatted for use in major software, such as Excel spreadsheets. “LexisNexis extends and expands answer products.” Barbara Quint. Newsbreaks, June 9.
http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb030609-1.shtmlManagementFirst, a management information portal produced by
Emerald, has updated and enhanced content. ManagementFirst features articles, discussion forums, case studies, book reviews, and interviews with top management theorists and practitioners; content focus is theory and practice provided in a readily digestible style. Several core management subject areas are covered including management styles, marketing, strategy, change management, human resources, innovation, quality, knowledge management and e-business. Press Release, June 3.
www.managementfirst.com .
CCBN's
StreetEvents provides integrated access to
corporate event transcripts, briefs and webcasts via a new user interface, streamlining information gathering for investors and companies. CCBN Event Briefs and Transcripts are accessible via the MyCCBN StreetEvents tab, providing a powerful tool for peer analysis and competitive intelligence. Event Briefs provide a concise, timely and unbiased summary of corporate conference calls. Press release, BusinessWire, June 3.
www.ccbn.com.
For years, understanding and
translating natural language has been one of technology's brass rings. A New York startup,
Meaningful Machines, is banking on a new approach that works, in part, by associating phrases and parts of phrases with each other. ‘I really know what you mean.” Sebastian Rupley. PC Magazine, May 29.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1111980,00.aspAureka 9.0 features an improved user interface that gives customers access to the world’s largest commercial collection of electronically searchable full-text
patent data, MicroPatent’s PatSearch
® FullText database. Press release, June 8
www.micropat.comThomson Financial has announced InSite, an offering that extends corporate visibility by creating Investor Relations (IR) microsites on Yahoo! Finance, a financial information destination for investors. “Thomson Financial announces relationship with Yahoo! Finance.” Econtent, June 10.
http://www.econtentmag.com/Newsletters/NewsletterReader.aspx?NewsletterID=67Searching reviews and tips.
Categorizing text is the basis of extracting business intelligence (BI) from unstructured data, commonly estimated to compose about 80 percent of an enterprise's information assets. Whether a company uses human experts to augment a
search engine or not, a search engine alone will not enable it to act quickly in response to trends, problems, or opportunities that incoming unstructured data might reveal. “It’s all subjective.” Jeanette Burriesci. IntelligentEnterprise, May 31.
http://www.intelligententerprise.com/030531/609strategic1_1.shtmlAll search engines are pictures of the past, but which
search engine has taken its picture most recently? This comparison tries to begin to answer that question and tracks how the search engines change over time. “Search engine statistics: freshness showdown.” Greg Notess. Search Engine Showdown, May 17.
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/stats/freshness.shtmlTweaking existing
search engines and developing new ways to find specialized data were the subjects of two dozen papers presented at this week's 12th
International World Wide Web Conference in Budapest. “Big changes for search engines.” Michelle Delio. Wired News, May 27.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,58971,00.htmlWhat's the best
search engine? That depends on who (or what) you ask. Here's what the search engines themselves recommend. One of the best resources to help you choose the best search engine for your particular needs is Debbie Abilock's
Choose the Best Search Engine, which has been around since 1996. “What’s the best search engine?” Chris Sherman. SearchEngineWatch, June 3.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/2215091General readings of interest.
In February 2003, The Harvard Business Review published "Who Needs Budgets?" by Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser based on their book,
Beyond Budgeting. This new approach to the
budgeting process has gathered momentum as the intrepid earliest adopters have sought to apply information age best practices to management accounting and control systems. Last week the AICPA and the Beyond Budgeting Roundtable conference presented the concepts and results of the earliest practitioners. Ventana Research believes that within three to five years a majority of the Global 2000 will have adopted elements of the Beyond Budgeting (BB) methodology because it makes good business sense. “Going beyond budgeting.” Robert Kugel. VentanaMonitor, June,
http://www.intelligentbpm.com/feature/2003/05/0305feat2_1.shtmlThe 15-member body of mostly senior management staff will spearhead the enthronement of a CI culture in SCiN and try to ensure that it becomes a functional business tool.
Fast facts about
Father’s Day: June 15. Father's Day dates back to 1910 when it was conceived by Mrs. John B. Dodd of Spokane, Wash., and proclaimed for June 19 of that year by the mayor. The first presidential proclamation was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Father's Day has been celebrated annually since 1971. US Census Bureau, Facts & Features, June 2.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-ff08.htmlA strategic shift is occurring in the
information professional market as individuals are challenged with providing more value to their organizations and aligning themselves closer to profit centers, reports a new survey sponsored by LexisNexis. Ninety-one percent of respondents agree that their roles have shifted from information gatherer to information consultant. Press Release, June 10.
www.lexisnexis.com http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-10-2003/0001962736&EDATE=
For example, you could specialize in online searching, public records research, competitive intelligence or training and seminars -- or a combination of all of those activities. If you're insatiably curious there's literally no limit to the types of work you can find. “How to Succeed as an Information Professional.” Chris Sherman. SearchEngineWatch, May 14.
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/2204861Executives at large tech companies are increasingly accepting that the era of rocketing revenue growth may be over as the industry matures. Using their piles of cash, they're hunting for small and mid-size companies that will get them instant entry into new markets and access to new customers. The result is a fertile environment for deal-making that is turning
IPOs into M&As. “Deal making on rise in tech industry.” Chris O’Brien. Mercury News, June 9.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/6046707.htmIn a legal tactic called "offensive blocking
patents" businesses or individual entrepreneurs use patents not so much as tools to build new products, but as legal roadblocks or bargaining chips against competitors or corporate giants. The tactic underscores the growing importance of patents as a competitive weapon in the technology industry. “Inventors patent ideas to pre-empt their rivals.” Benjamin Pimental, San Francisco Chronicle, June 9.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/09/BU213833.DTL&type=techAs big
pharma struggles to keep drug pipelines stocked, they're agreeing to richer deals with their biotech partners. “The new alliances.” Daniel Levine. San Francisco Business Times, June 6.
http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/health_care/biotechnology/2003/06/09/sanfrancisco_focus1.htmlContent has changed the requirements of enterprise security, exposing the fact that anti-virus software is no longer enough. Instead a new market is emerging known as
secure content management (SCM) to address the need for policy-based Internet management tools to manage Web content, messaging security, virus protection, and downloadable applications execution.” The emergence of secure content management.” Drew Robb, IT Management, June 9.
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/secu/article.php/2219101Tools are now available in the form of
sales effectiveness systems (SES), designed to give salespeople the information and best practice queues they need, when they need them. A salesperson is empowered with real-time sales effectiveness tools that (1) help the salesperson understand the specific types of business analysis that should be conducted
in the context of each specific sale, and (2) assist in translating the prospect's thoughts to the types of offers that could be shaped. Empowered with the product and
competitive positioning intelligence, they can marry that knowledge with a specific customer's needs,. “Boosting confidence to boost sales,” Michael Heflin, Destination CRM, May 19
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=3073Great
speakers and presenters are not afraid to bare their souls. They strip away all masks and illusions to allow audiences and prospects to see them for who they are. Audiences walk away not only with increased knowledge, but some insight into the presenter as a person. “Stripping for the audience: secrets of great presenters.” Randy Siegel. MarketingProfs, June 10.
http://www.marketingprofs.com/3/siegel1.aspCreating effective
translation software requires solving many of the same problems that natural-language processing faces. Researchers are making progress today using three basic approaches drawn from natural-language processing. “The translation challenge.” Chip Walter. Technology Review, June.
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/walter0603.aspOn July 1, a new EU directive goes into effect requiring all Internet firms to account for value added
tax, or VAT, on "digital sales." The law adds a 15 to 25 percent levy on
select Internet transactions such as software and music downloads, monthly subscriptions to an Internet service provider and on any product purchased through an online auction anywhere in the 15-member bloc of nations. “New EU law bursts dot-com tax bubble.” BizReport, June 9.
http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=4469 Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36150-2003Jun9.htmlThere are many questions to answer before integrating
Weblogs into the corporate structure, including: Who in the company should write? How often? What should they say? How much of their personality/personal information should be interjected? What legal issues should you be aware of? “Business blogs provide edge, present challenges.” Colin Haley. Boston Internet, June 9.
http://boston.internet.com/news/article.php/2219041Articles mentioning competitive intelligence.AdvancePCS (Nasdaq: ADVP) announced today that Gail Marcus has joined the company as senior vice president, product and pricing strategy and
chief competitive officer. Marcus will guide the company's activities in client pricing and analysis, competitive intelligence, strategic initiatives and product development activities. Press Release, May 28.
www.advancepcs.comCI enables a business executive to determine risks to their companies; gauge competitors' strategies and actions; and identify and understand future threats and opportunities. Under the extreme pressure of the business world, executives can use
competitive intelligence to maneuver around unavoidable trends. “Competitive intelligence a must for navigating in a 24/7 world.” Ruch Castleberry. Charlotte Business Journal, June 2.
http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2003/06/02/editorial2.htmlCustomer relations,
competitive intelligence, acquired knowledge, legal matters, and business regulations affect small companies as they grow. Aggressive technology companies already have the lucrative small and mid-sized market in their sights. If good information practices benefit efficiency and competitiveness, then having an information management plan makes sense for entrepreneurs who have their eyes on the horizon and their feet on the ground. “Information is growth asset for small, mid-sized businesses.” Press Release, May 27.
jgable@gableconsulting.comDarrell Mockus was interviewed on a radio talk show about competitive intelligence. The interview is broken up into 3 20 minute segments and is available at
http://www.prg3.com/aboutus/announcement6.htmlBradley Hoyt has a message for business in his article "Early Warning: The Art of Inference" in the January/February 2002 issue of
Competitive Intelligence Magazine: seismic change often creeps in on little cat's feet, and the best way to spot it is to constantly scan for anomalies. Strategists, he insists, must learn both how to look (spotting change is a largely visual process) and where to look (early indications of change come not from within our companies or our industries but from the world at large -- your local Hallmark store is a good place to start). They must then learn to weave their observations into inferences on which they can act. "Hoyt lays out a system for detecting anomalies that can be adapted for any company that's serious about competitive intelligence," says InfoPosse member Christine Klein. “Search: The Greatest Stories Ever Told. Forbes, May 12.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/inc/2003/05/12/inc24831.htmlHowever, it is often the case that competitive dynamics, such as price fixing behavior, particularly in a heavily concentrated industry, do not need to be part of a formalized process. These suppliers have all been observing each other’s moves for decades. As a result, they all have extensive competitive intelligence “institutionalized” within their respective organizations and management ranks. Competitor information can be readily gathered since they have all shared, and continue to share, customer, supplier, and vendor relationships. Speaking the language of “the nod, the wink, and the whisper” these players recognize all the signals and know how to signal each other. Consequently, these suppliers can readily “read” each other’s market signals, infer conclusions about each other’s predictable behavior, and react accordingly. DRAM pricing: the fix is in.
Melanie Hollands – May 12, http://newsforge.com/newsforge/03/05/12/0125221.shtml?tid=7Still, disgruntled employees often offer proprietary documents. Salvati said her firm, Frost & Sullivan, has turned away such offers. "They say, 'I have this information, maybe you can use it for your clients,"' she said. "There's a fine line between
competitive intelligence and industrial espionage. You need to know the difference." Investigators want to know whether Boeing executives encouraged improper intelligence gathering. They also want to know why the company initially returned only two documents to Lockheed but has since provided thousands of pages to its rival, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Inquiry may boost Lockheed: Boeing probed for possible use of rival's data.” Jennifer Beauprez, Denver Post Business, May 12.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~1384917,00.htmlShell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN) have held their first workshop on
Competitive Intelligence (CI) and appointed a "Core Team" that will work to embed this emerging area of business across the organisations. ‘Shell Coys Hold Workshop On Competitive Intelligence”
http://allafrica.com/stories/200305150434.htmlCopyright Society of Competitive Intelligence Professinals
scip.online, issue 33, June 10, 2003
