Online Competitive Intelligence : Increase Your Profits Using Cyber-Intelligence

To me, the best aspect of this book was the suggested structuring of many standard competitive intelligence searches and reports. Ms. Burwell starts with the question, shows you what a report should contain, and details how to get the information. A typical question would be: What is company X doing in the following area?

With the outlines in this book, virtually anyone can use this book to create helpful information. If you are a small company or don't have a competitive intelligence unit, people in your company can use this book to get you the information you need in a timely and cost-effective way.

Another strength of this book can be found in the warnings throughout about when to be cautious in accessing or using information. These come from Ms. Burwell's many years of experience and will save you mistakes. For example, free information often isn't as good or as fast as information you pay for. Also, CD ROMs often provide more data at a lower price than on-line paid services do.

Another strength was help in evaluating the information you find. As we all know, the Internet is full of incorrect and misleading information. This adds a lot of value for the neophyte.

I was pleased to see that there were sections to help you probe anonymously, and how to use foreign resources in other than English.

Since much of what goes on here can come close to the line legally, lawyers will be glad to know that there are many warnings of when to consult counsel before acting.

You will also find helpful suggestions for keeping the information up-to-date where you have tracking needs. The suggestions for managing bookmarks was particularly helpful to me.

Having followed the competitive intelligence profession since 1974, I was pleasantly surprised to see the many resources now available. There are far more listed here than the professionals we hire typically use, or our internal staff can locate. As a result, I plan to reorganize how we acquire this information for our management consutling clients.

Before deciding how much competitive intelligence you need, check this book out. It may increase the amount of activity that you want to do, as you develop a better sense of what is possible.

After you have finished reading and applying this book, I suggest you also do some counterintelligence and learn what can be gleaned about your company using the same techniques. Chances are that you need to tighten up in some areas.

Keep ahead of the competition offensively and defensively!

Burwell Coasting on Her Laurels?   July 20, 2000
13 out of 16 found this review helpful

Helen Burwell does have credibility, given her credentials, but I have to admit that I was REALLY disappointed -- in reviewing recommended sites, I found myself often wondering why a site was included in a particular section, or why it was included at all, and why some wonderful sites weren't mentioned period. Perhaps this would be a useful starting point for a beginner, but if you consider yourself an experienced researcher, you'll do better to rely on your own set of bookmarks.