Web Surfing No Longer Anonymous ...
4 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence , Specific Issues , Tools for Strategists - Permalink -
I suppose that it had to happen sooner or later, what with the increasing convergence of diverse data sources. If I understand things correctly, this company, netfactor, offers to install software on your system that will track the IP addresses of computers that visit your web site, cross reference those IP addresses with databases recording computer ownership to determine who owns the computers and then cross reference that data further to provide addresses, telephone numbers, etc. You then get a spreadsheet detailing everybody who has visited your web site, without their having identified themselves (consciously at least.)
If this is real, then a whole new generation of spam may be about to emerge, with an approach that starts: "We notice that you visited our web site yesterday ..."
Could be great for marketing and competitive intelligence, though, if it is not abused.
Hat-tip to MBA Depot.
Size Does Count
1 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence - Permalink -
The March 2007 edition of the Law Office Management and Administration Report (subscription required) has an article in it reporting a 7.2% increase in partner billing rates in law firms in the USA in 2006/7, and an 8.5% increase in billable hours. That's ahead of inflation generally, but hardly enough to compensate for skyrocketing associate compensation and operating expenses.
What is particularly noteworthy in the results of the 2006-2007 Law Firm Management Survey that the article reports on, is how billing rates at all fee earner levels vary according to firm size. Size, it seems, certainly does count. For a full size version of the image above, illustrating how much better the larger firms did than their smaller compatriots, click here. Continue Reading
Forecasts for the Next 25 Years
0 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence - Permalink -
The World Future Society (a premier competitive intelligence resource) has just published a set of forecasts for the next 25 years from its members and from its journal The Futurist. Here are their Top 10.
The difference between an opportunity and a crisis is often simply foresight and forethought. How would each of these impact your firm, if they came to be? Continue Reading
Client Surveys: Two Birds With One Stone
2 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence - Permalink -
Leo Bottary over at Client Service Insights (CSI) has a post on using client surveys not only as a source of vital competitive intelligence, but also as a relationship-building tool. Not a new idea, admittedly, but important enough to bear repetition. The main bullets:
- Thank your clients for their business
- Send the message that client service excellence is a priority for your firm
- Don't be afraid to ask
- Involve all your client contacts, not just the primary contact
- Share the results with your clients
- Develop an action plan
See Michelle Golden and Jim Hassett on this topic, too.
Competitive Intelligence on the Upswing in Law Firms
0 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence , Tools for Strategists , , - Permalink -
While competitive intelligence (CI) has long been a standard tool in mainstream industry and in consulting firms, it has only recently come to the fore in law firms.
This is according to an e-brief received from the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) earlier to day, quoting an article in the Boston Globe and another in Legal Technology.
Continue ReadingHow to Conduct Client Satisfaction Interviews
1 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence - Permalink -
Client interviews are obviously an absolutely critical aspect of the ongoing competitive intelligence that any firm needs to be doing. Jim Hasset has two posts on his blog, on how to do these interviews well.
How to Conduct Client Satisfaction Interviews - Part 1 discusses why such interviews are important, how to go about selecting the clients to be interviewed, and who should do the interviewing.
How to Conduct Client Satisfaction Interviews - Part 2 goes into how to go about the interviews themselves. Good, solid ideas for survey questions, especially.
Hasset concludes:
"The most important thing is to get started, and to establish a regular schedule of client satisfaction reviews. It's easy to get slowed down by all the controversies and the options. But every expert agrees that the most important thing is just to get out there and talk to your clients about what they like, and what they need. If you don't, your competitors will."
Harnessing the Phoenix
0 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In "Off the Wall" Insights , Competitive Intelligence , Culture , Innovation , Inter-Generational Issues , Leadership , Strategy 101 , Tools for Strategists , , , , , , , - Permalink -
Surely the most dramatic mythological example of rebirth and renewal, is the Phoenix (or "Firebird.") It is found in ancient Egyptian mythology, various myths derived from it and, most recently, in Professor Albus Dumbledore's study in Harry Potter.
Said to live for 500, 1461 or for 12594 years (depending on the source), the phoenix is a bird with beautiful gold and red plumage. At the end of its life-cycle the phoenix builds itself a nest of cinnamon twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises. The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible.
Imagine, for a moment, that you were able to regenerate your firm in this way. Miraculously, you were able to instantly transform it into an organization of the highest performance with, what's more, that performance being sustained.
Continue ReadingBlindspot Analysis - Uncovering Strategic Bias
0 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence , Tools for Strategists , , - Permalink -
Blindspot analysis uncovers flaws in the process of strategic decision making that are caused by bias and misinterpretation. Most strategy models rely on rational and objective behaviour and ignore the mental filters through which individuals process information. This often results in the decisions made being flawed, perhaps fatally, without the firm even knowing it.
Continue ReadingFinding Information on Competitive Intelligence
0 Comments - Posted By Rob Millard In Competitive Intelligence - Permalink -
The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals is a good place for somebody to start getting basic information about competitive intelligence. The society's web site contains a presentation on The State of CI Today and also An Introduction to CI here. They also publish a journal called Competitive Intelligence that also makes for good reading on the topic.
