Competitive Intelligence research and the future of the internet
I did a quick review of the Competitive Intelligence Management field. I'm happy to share with you some elements of my study and probably a bit more.
First, I was "shocked" by the amount of money moving in & out in this field. Some large companies have hundreds analysts working full time competitive intelligence. And the truth is, I can understand why; for them getting reliable information on opportunities and threats for their business is not only vital but priceless. If you can propose the truly right solution to those companies, they will be ready to pay you millions...
The competitive intelligence notion is not clear to you? I will try to explain: Competitive intelligence is a in fact a kind of industrial espionage but using "only" legal and ethical methods. It helps organization to detect the upcoming threats and opportunities based on a large range of information available.
This field was completely transformed by the creation of the world wide web where the information where made available to anyone around of the world, and huge amount of data were then documented. The UGC (user generated content) and the Web 2.0 evolution have also deeply transformed this area.
Several software companies already propose solution to collect, filter, and present the information gathered by a bunch of automatic agents.
During my research, I've studied some of the solutions available in the market.
One of them was a solution called Evolution from Digimind.
Please find bellow a quick summary of my personal conclusions on this product/company:
General
- French company focused on CIM software, consulting and training.
- Point of presence in
- Years of experience in the field + mature products (first impression ~ To be confirmed).
- More than 200 customers (based on their site).
- Covers many sectors.
Software Products
- Main products:
- Digimind Evolution. Comprehensive Integrated solution for competitive intelligence automation.
- Digimind Prism. Framework on which Evolution is based.
- Several awards of excellence
Achilles’ heel
- The main products are based on obsolete technologies: Win NT/2000, IIS, C++, and COM
- Licensing cost: Very expensive compared to the competition.
- Doesn’t have the best software solution in the market anymore.
- Need to invest more in R&D
Those days, many company involved in this field work hard on the preparation of frameworks that will be capable to support high level application for "search", customized to respond specific organization's needs.
If the buzz world is currently "framework", the next ones will "advanced artificial intelligence" and "data visualization".
I personally think the latest developments on this field will cross and be reused with/for the mass market (web users) in a couple months, years... and you know what... I feel this is Holy Grail of the internet... Web 2.0 is already obsolete, long live to Web 3.0 ... A web where the information will be "touchable" with your own fingers, where the transition between different pieces of informal will be logical and smooth. Before that, we must be able to "teach" the machine how to rethink and truly understand the information, and then in order to take advantage the new information processing methods, the UI of the web will also need to be rethink to allow the navigation in a 3 dimensional environment. I personally see it as a kind of Second Life-like navigation into the information...
In short, if web 2.0 was 2D, web 3.0 will be 3D. If web 2.0 was SD in our view to the content, web will be Full HD...
The organization that will be able to turn this prophetical vision to reality will become the richest and the most powerful one in the planet.
It may sound mad but this is it... Rendez-vous in a couple of months...
Yohan
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