SCIP Summit Europe November 2009: Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals

This conference is recommended attendance for people with an interest in applied intelligence and strategy:

The conference was more than just a shelter from the actual storm (the weather was awful) and the perfect virtual storm of the credit crunch. There was a feeling of tranquility, arising from the client-side (large-co Pharma and industrial clients in the main), who are budget constrained but sheltered from eye of the credit crunch (so far).

There was also a feeling of optimism – Intelligence professionals are clearly benefitting from clients having to look at companies and markets on a case-by-case basis

Sentiment shows a perceived lack of reliable information in context.  I don’t know how this happened, as the first keynote speaker – Stephane Garelli (Professor at IMD and the University of Lausanne) painted a bleak picture, although punctuated with a lot of laughter, about the length and shape of the recession and its children - taxation, scarcity and vested sovereign interests in competition globally. Prof Garelli’s economic weather forecast mapped out a difficult environment for business, with the race to serve the emerging markets consumer.

For practitioners worrying about today’s markets rather than tomorrow’s, the key theme was “How to make intelligence actionable and effective through empowering the whole enterprise”

I heard evidence of executive demand for more intelligence in an uncertain world, providing more opportunities for practitioners entrepreneurial enough to grab a good chance. The common goal for corporate practitioners is to be able to understand “the size of your client’s wallet and what share you can win”. But how many practitioner’s can actually answer that sort of question today, and with accuracy?

Overall, I arrived at the SCIP Summit expecting weak attendance but was pleasantly surprised by a strong showing – attendees numbered fewer than in a glut year, but all with a sense of purpose. 

There was a strong sense of camaraderie, even amongst competitors. Surely this is against nature for CI professionals, but it made for some strong interactive sessions, and gave the conference a constructive spirit – something which has been lacking in years where the numbers of attendees have been higher but the climate inside the conference colder. 

In a nutshell – worth battling for budget for, for 2010.        

 

 

Julia Hordle
Director of Corporate Intelligence

TFPL Intelligent Resources