The Art of Smart in association with the Management Consultancies Association
The UK International Group of the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (UKCIF) together with the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) are introducing the subject of competitive intelligence to the MCA membership with material drawn from SCIP's 'Introduction to Competitive Intelligence' course module. The foundation of the course is built on what the presenter, Mike Sandman, has learnt over the past two decades from helping companies with their own CI initiatives, including both research and managing the intelligence process. The tour of competitive intelligence starts with the world of secondary sources and moves onto techniques for talking to people to obtain human intelligence (primary research). Indeed, primary research is at the heart of good intelligence gathering.
'An Introduction to Competitive Intelligence', known as 'CI 101' in the United States is probably the most widely attended course in SCIP's portfolio of educational programmes. Mike Sandman, a principle of Fuld & Company, a leading competitive intelligence consulting firm, has presented this course on behalf of SCIP since 1996, will explain what intelligence is including:
- How to create it from the bits and pieces of raw data
- How to organise the collection effort so that you have the time to add value through analysis
- How to stay within legal and ethical boundaries
About the Presenter
Mike Sandman is senior vice president of Fuld & Company Inc. a competitive intelligence consulting firm in Cambridge, MA. Prior to joining Fuld & Company, he was an operations manager in the composites industry. Mike has an extensive background in international business. He lives in Brookline, MA and is co-chair of the town's Transportation Board. Mike often cycles to work through the Boston traffic, which he claims is no more foolish than his persistent rooting for the Boston Red Sox.
