Federal prosecutors have been investigating whether Reuters Analytics (a
subsidiary of Reuters Holdings PLC) is guilty of industrial espionage activities which
involve break ins of computers at its competitor Bloomberg.WALLY'S COMMENT ... This one
could be an indicator of the crime of the new century, the electronic break in. What makes
this news is that computer break ins are involved on a corporate basis. This kind of
information stealing and espionage has been the norm for years in highly competitive
industries. So has cracking computers to get at the information inside. This particular
story polls the two of those together.
Expect more industrial espionage stories in the months ahead, and more corporate
cracking into other computers. Industrial espionage is one of a few buzzwords that are
starting to crop up more frequently in the business press and on TV.
EMERGING BUZZWORDS: competitive intelligence, business intelligence, industrial
espionage, information warfare
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE is sometimes "competitor intelligence" after the
seminal book by Leonard Fuld. In 1985 he defined it as "highly specific and timely
information about a company."
The definition currently used by the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
(SCIP -- http://www.scip.org ) is somewhat different:
"Timely and fact-based data on which management may rely in decision making and
strategy development. It is done through industry analysis, which means understanding the
players in an industry-competitive analysis, which means understanding the strengths and
weaknesses of competitors; and Benchmarking, the analysis of individual business processes
of competitors."
The change in definition illustrates the shift from an accent on the information to an
accent on the way the information is to be used.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE is a somewhat newer term. When I use it to describe a project I'm
doing for a client, I see business intelligence as including competitive intelligence, but
also dealing with internal information sources, marketing intelligence and other
information as well.
INDUSTRIAL (OR CORPORATE) ESPIONAGE usually refers to business or competitive
intelligence that is illegal.
INFORMATION WARFARE is a term coined by Winn Schwartau in his book of that name. It's
usually used to refer to things that happen between countries, though Schwartau and others
include industrial espionage.
Business Intelligence consists of three clusters of tasks.
Research tasks involve the gathering and sorting of data and information..
Analysis tasks involve reviewing the data and information gathered by research and then
drawing conclusions, preparing summaries, and categorizing it.
Connection tasks involve making recommendations or taking action that connect the
intelligence gathered to strategy. Without these steps all of this is an intellectual
exercise.
RECOMMENDATION: If your company (no matter how small) does not have a structured
business intelligence effort, start one. If you do have one, make sure it's more than
simple information gathering.
RECOMMENDATION: You your personal information gathering should be habitual and
concentrated. It should include regular reviews of news sites, industry or professional
sources, and competitive sites. You should be able to gather information quickly about a
prospect or competitor if you need to.
Created: 2000
Reviewed: 2/15/03
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