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Open Innovation: A Source For Strategic Intelligence

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Open Innovation: A Source For Strategic Intelligence
BY IAN SMITH – MAY 21, 2012

A web 2.0 culture has provided companies an avenue to engage individuals in an efficient manner. Whether it is via a survey on Facebook or a tweet, companies’ social media platforms are sources of strategic intelligence and crowdsourcing platforms to promote open innovation are not an exception. For competitive intelligence researchers who wish to take a proactive approach to gather strategic information on their competitors via the social web, crowdsourcing sites must be monitored frequently. Comments made by community members on these platforms can offer strategic details that can aid in adjusting respective competitive initiatives or fuel new product ideas. Below are two examples of companies that have selected to put a crowdsourcing platform on the web where it is easily accessible. Each associated screenshot will illustrate the pieces of competitive intelligence that are made available thanks to the level of engagement between the company and its community members. Starbucks – My Starbucks Ideas One of the most often referred to best practice of crowdsourcing for open innovation, My Starbucks Ideas , provide insights into the coffee house’s strategies in terms of products and in-store experiences. Without being a community member, one can access various sections of the platform including “Product Ideas” where Figure 1 was taken from regarding the idea of offering almond milk along with coffee and espresso drinks.

Figure 1: Product Idea - Almond Milk

Along with the idea, the community member highlights the need for a substitute for soy milk due to the needs from the vegan segment of Starbucks clientele. From a competitor’s point of view (whether it be a Second Cup or a small local coffee house), the idea could be a strategic option to target individuals who are vegans or would like the choice of almond milk at their favourite coffee place. P&G Connect + Develop The Proctor & Gamble crowdsourcing platform (P&G Connect + Develop ) is aimed to collaborate with stakeholders in the manufacturing process of the company’s products. At its core, the platform has two databases (P&G Needs and P&G Assets ). Figure 2 is a sample of the current listing of P&G Needs.

Figure 2: Sample of The Current Listing of P&G Needs

Accessing such a listing can provide competitors a peek at what P&G is working on and looking to bring to market in the short term and long term. Figure 3 is a screenshot of the further details on their “Rinse Suds Control Technologies for Detergent Powders” need.

Figure 3: Details On "Rinse Suds Control Technologies for Detergent Powders"

The description field highlights P&G’s objectives of finding a partner to manufacture a product that will “suppress rinse suds without wash suds and/or cleaning negatives for detergent powder”. Along with the description, competitors may download a MS-Word document where more strategic intelligence can be obtained such as: Objectives Key success factors Other evaluation criteria This post has just provided a quick look at what two companies which have embraced open innovation via crowdsourcing. Even though these corporate entities are comfortable in providing platforms to engagee, promote collaboration and sharing, relevant information for competitors is available on crowdsourcing sites. In order to benefit from these sites strategically, it is important to identify if industry players have adopted to use the web 2.0 application and what type of strategic details can be extracted from posts made by the company and community members.

Summary A web 2.0 culture has provided companies an avenue to engage individuals in an efficient manner. Whether it is via a survey on Facebook or a tweet, companies’ social media platforms are sources of strategic intelligence and crowdsourcing platforms to promote open innovation are not an exception.

Description For competitive intelligence researchers who wish to take a proactive approach to gather strategic information on their competitors via the social web, crowdsourcing sites must be monitored frequently. Comments made by community members on these platforms can offer strategic details that can aid in adjusting respective competitive initiatives or fuel new product ideas.

Tags: Crowdsourcing, Facebook, Open innovation, proctor and gamble, Social Media, Starbucks, Strategic intelligence, tweet

Posted by Jayne Ann

May 22, 2012 11:54 am GMT Viewed 602 times

Author: IAN SMITH Source

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