working in the world of “decision support” career paths for business intelligence skills sets
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Working in the World of “Decision Support” Career Paths for Business Intelligence Skills Sets. Professor Paul Kinsinger. Some Background…. 29 years of professional intelligence experience in the public and private sectors First career was with the CIA’s analysis directorate - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
T H U N D E R B I R D
Working in the World of “Decision Support”
Career Paths for Business Intelligence Skills Sets
Professor Paul Kinsinger
T H U N D E R B I R D
Some Background…
29 years of professional intelligence experience in the public and private sectors First career was with the CIA’s analysis
directorate Eleven years consulting with private sector
and teaching business intelligence at Thunderbird
Course is GB 5712—Business Intelligence and Corporate Security…3 credit elective…taught every semester
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A Working Definition…
Business intelligence is…
a systematic, targeted and timely effort to collect, synthesize, and analyze information on the external operating environment in order to produce actionable insight. When combined with internal company information, it should give a manager as complete a picture as possible of the total decision making environment.
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The Focus Business
Intelligence
Industry Structure
and TrendsCorporate Security Threats
Political, Economic, and Social Forces
Markets and
Customers
Technology Developments and Sources
Competitors: Capabilities,
Plans and Intentions
The External Environment
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BI focuses on the “outside,” and should be seen as a company’s “radar” unit, scanning the external environment for opportunities and dangers
Introducing Business Intelligence
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“Good BI is broader in scope and more forward-looking than market research.”
It’s not just another term for Market Research….
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It’s also not Industrial Espionage!
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What Do Companies Use BI For?
1. Assessing Competitor(s) Strategies
response to new product launch or new market entrybenchmarking best practices predicting next movesevaluating a new entrantevaluating new leadership
response to new product launch or new market entrybenchmarking best practices predicting next movesevaluating a new entrantevaluating new leadership
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Assessing a Possible Merger for Merck
• Assuming that the merger materializes, assess the potential new company formed between partner A and partner B– Profile of new company– Determine synergies– Identify and assess strengths and
weaknesses • Analyze the impact of the potential new
company on Merck• Recommend course of action for Merck
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What Do Companies Use BI For?
2. Defining A Competitive Landscape
New business doesn’t really know what it’s up against…
others that do exactly the same thing
stronger players thinking of entry
threatening new technologies
New business doesn’t really know what it’s up against…
others that do exactly the same thing
stronger players thinking of entry
threatening new technologies
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What Do Companies Use BI For?
3. Discovering and Assessing Industry Trends
Who Else is Doing What, and Why?
Anything we can do, too?
Anything we can do to leapfrog?
Who Else is Doing What, and Why?
Anything we can do, too?
Anything we can do to leapfrog?
Anything we can avoid?Anything we can avoid?
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What Do Companies Use BI For?
4. Targeting Opportunities
Who are the best partner prospects for us?
Who are the best acquisition opportunities?
Who should we be trying to sell to/merge with?
Who are the best partner prospects for us?
Who are the best acquisition opportunities?
Who should we be trying to sell to/merge with?
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• Confirm financial due diligence
• Describe and assess target’s go-forward strategy
• Conclude whether target would be open to acquisition inquiry
• Determine how best to negotiate with target if/when opportunity arose
Scouting an Acquisition Opportunity for a Mexican Retail Company
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The Ingredients of BI
Information Insight
Business Intelligence
Find it out Figure it out
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• Web sites • The business press • Market research/investment bank reports • Financial statements • Sophisticated data bases• Trade journals• Papers given at conferences
Finding It Out: Leveraging Secondary Sources
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• Suppliers• Distributors• Customers• Industry experts/Market analysts • Current and former employees • Academics • Chat/user groups • First-hand observations
Finding It Out: Utilizing Primary Sources
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Competitive Analytical Tools:• SWOT’s• Value Chain Analysis• 5 Forces• 4 P’s• Strategy Chain Analysis• Wargaming• Personality Intelligence
Assessments
Figuring It Out: Closing Information Gaps and Developing Insight
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The Business Intelligence Process
Driving Decisions
Identifying Needs Collecting
and...
...Analyzing the data
Delivering Conclusions
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Key Resources:• The Society of Competitive Intelligence
Professionals (SCIP)…@scip.org• 27 US chapters and 3 in Canada• 13 in Europe• 3 in Asia• 3 in Latin America• 1 in South Africa
• Competitive Intelligence Magazine • SCIP.online
Careers in Business/Competitive Intelligence
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Core Careers in BI/CI…Two Tracks
Corporate in-house Consulting
Horizontal VerticalFTE PTE
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Companies where T-birds are doing “in-house” BI/CI
•Ernst&Young
•Unilever
•American Express
•Microsoft
•Merck
•ING
•Flowserve
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“What do I like most about my job?”
“The best part of my job is the constant learning, the ability to stretch my brain on a regular basis…With the dynamics inside the professional services industry currently, as well as the overall business environment, there's tons of thought-provoking situations and opportunities…another aspect of my job I enjoy is access to the top layers of the organization and feeling like I can make a difference by helping our leadership think differently or more broadly about their decisions.”
Michelle Settecase, 1995, Ernst&Young
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“In reality CI is only one of many things I do”
“The CEO, when I first started doing this back about three and a half years ago, implored me to give my reports some added value in the form of recommendations (“what does this all mean?”). Since then, I always add actionable conclusions and recommendations. Ain’t always easy, but at the end of the day, I hear he loves it and that he thinks it’s some of the most important work we do. So, if for no other reason, it’s to assuage the concerns of the CEO, who worries that there could be a “2X4” coming out of nowhere to knock us on our ass.”
Chris Kenny, 2001, ING
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Consulting firms where T-birds are doing “in-house” BI/CI
Proactive Worldwide
Navigate International
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“I love learning about new industries, companies & countries and I love the variety. I never get bored with the research because I'm constantly learning something new. I love the fact that no two projects are ever the same, even if they are for the same client or within the same industry.” --Ingrid Lee, 2003 Navigate Int’l
“The diversity of the work; no two projects are the same. Having input on the decisions that executives make. When you’re on the phone with a division president or in the room with a client's executive committee and they begin to discuss how they are going to make changes based upon your research, it’s a thrill.” --Chris O’Neill, 2000, Proactive Worldwide
“What do you like most about your job?”
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SCIP Salary Survey Results
Average annual base salary for CI professionals in year 2003 was $78,064 (16% increase from 2000)
Average annual bonus for CI professionals in 2003 was $13,989
CI professionals work 46 hours per week on an average
Median budget for CI activities was $200,000 for the 2003 fiscal year
42% of the participants reported that they are in CI or Analysis, and 27% of the respondents are in Market Planning, Research or Analysis
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Industry Sectors
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Leveraging BI Skills Sets in Other Decision Support Fields
BI Skills Sets
Core BI
In-house Corporate
Outsourced Consulting
Horizontal Vertical
Consulting
Market Research
Entrepreneurship
Public Sector
Corporate Security
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Consulting
• Capgemini Ernst & Young• KPMG• Accenture• Deloitte Touche• PriceWaterhouseCoopers• IBM Global Services• Mercer Management Consulting
Consulting
Global Consulting
Management Consulting
• McKinsey
• Bain
• Boston Consulting Group
• Booz Allen
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“With regard to research and analysis skills, there is a more than relation here. Consulting firms perform regular competitive analysis. Any person that has worked in a CI setting caneasily sell themselves as great researchers for consulting companies. I, for one, have done a lot of this kind of research.”
Luis Marin, 2001, CapGemini
Consulting
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Market Research
• Gartner
• Frost & Sullivan
• InStat/MDR
• Dataquest
• Forrester
• Yankee Group
• IDC
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“What do you like the most about your job?”
“I like the professional autonomy it offers, both in terms of information collection/analysis and business development. Instead of being a small cog in a large corporate machine, as an analyst I get to examine a market, select my research topics, determine how to collect and analyze information about the topic, and produce a final product. Then I have to find and acquire customers for my research, something that's often overlooked in the decision support world.”Mike Paxton, 1997, InStat/MDR
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“Pattern recognition, highly conceptual thinking, the ability to digest large volumes of information rapidly, and the ability to project forward and extrapolate current conditions into likely future scenarios are the most important core personal characteristics needed, along with a strong sense of intellectual curiosity. Obviously, strong research skills are a must, such as being able to establish industry contacts and effectively utilize a wide range of information sources. A strong understanding of competitive strategy and how businesses and industries "work" is also a requisite skill.”
Sam Lucero, 2000, InStat/MDR
“What skills sets are the most important for your job?”
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“A high degree of analytical ability, a high degree of comfort with financial analysis coupled with vertical industry expertise. The "soft" skills (and I would classify them as being as important as the "hard" skills) would be presentation skills, as much of our job entails presenting to large audiences or C-level execs. Relationship building (brings in repeat business if the project is executed well) and last but not the least - diplomacy!”
Arun Rao, 1996, Gartner
“What skills sets are the most important for your job?”
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• “Good interviewing skills and ability to "soften up" the interviewee so he/she shares more sensitive information
• Good writing skills and ability to write a paper of about 50-150 pages that clearly defines concepts and ideas and presents a logical and coherent analysis of the current and future state of a certain market
• Ability to generalize and draw conclusions about market characteristics and trends based on secondary sources and facts and opinions shared by market participants
• Ability to extrapolate and develop unit and revenue forecast models based on current market size estimates and qualitative factors such as challenges, drivers, restraints, and market and technology trends
• Ability to correlate trends across various market segments”
Elka Popova, 1999, Frost & Sullivan
“What skills sets are the most important for your job?”
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The World of Corporate Security
Private Security Forces/
Armies
Kidnap & Ransom
Specialists
Crisis Coordinators
Active Due Diligence &
Risk Investigations
Transport Security
(Armored Vehicles)
Protective Details (Body
Guards)
Executive Self-
Defense Training
Building Security
Data Cyber
Security
Proactive Due
Diligence & General Security
Awareness
In-House Security
Personnel
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Companies in this field where T-birds work:
KrollControl Risk GroupHill & AssociatesSpinelli Coprptation
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“What the forensics experts and investigators like most about their jobs would probably be developing investigation strategies to help resolve a client's problem or working with business people to develop solutions to their business issues. The most important skill sets in our companies are some technical expertise (e.g.. accounting, specifically a CFE designation or computer technology-an Encase certification), strong analytic skills, strong communication skills (much of the process is reiterative and the end product is either a written or oral report), and an ability to creatively approach problems.”
Helen Fenlon, 1983, Spinelli Corporation
“What skills sets are the most important for your job?”
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The Foreign Service (Foreign Ministry)US Commercial Service (Int’l Trade ministries)National intelligence agenciesMilitaries and the Department of Defense (Defense Ministry)Department of EnergyDepartment of Homeland Security (Interior Ministry)
The Public Sector
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Final Thoughts…
“Your BI class,although one of the most challenging classes I took, turned out to be one of the most relevant to my professional experience since graduation. I have found to be very useful the basic approach to gathering relevant information, analyzing and making recommendations or decisions. As a financial professional, it may not be clear how BI interfaces with my everyday activities, but it is actually quite simple-financial analysis is only as good as the assumptions used to arrive at the outcome; therefore, I have to constantly check the plausibility of these assumptions by engaging myself within the competitive environment, form opinions about trends, and most importantly, ask the right questions of my business partners.”
Valentine Aganbi, 2001, Unilever