At a time when competitive rivalry has never been more intense, managers are worried. They are hearing words such as decision paralysis, over-analysis, death-by-committee and risk adverse used to describe their staff. It’s not sitting well. Add to the mix “…but that’s the way we’ve always done it” and they get the message — the ability to make informed decisions and take timely action will determine success (not to mention job security).
Profitable topline growth defines success. Competition defines markets.
Look at the competitive fray shaping today’s healthcare sector. Regional health plans are doing battle with deep-pocket national mega-plans. Health insurance companies own banks and banks have healthcare business units. The pharmaceutical industry is forever juggling brand and generic pricing while using PBMs to manage formularies. And for the last few years they’ve been looking over their shoulder at Canadian drug reimportation.
On the provider side, community hospitals are going head-to-head with academic medical centers that are spending big bucks on expansion – locally, nationally and internationally. On top of that, there’s a growing buzz about medical tourism. Physicians are moving to pay-as-you-go business models letting patients deal directly with insurance companies. Others are embracing concierge medicine, requiring annual patient membership fees. At the same time, retail clinics in chain department stores, groceries and pharmacies are stealing routine office visits from local doctors.
It’s tough out there!
Going head-to-head in today’s markets means having intelligence to understand your customer, an ability to turn intelligence into implementation, and swift execution of an action plan.
Intelligence
Competitive intelligence is an integral part of any organization. Gathering, analyzing and communicating intelligence is a systematic process. It allows you to see a total business environment and group data (qualitative or quantitative) to reveal the “big picture”. The result increases your probability of making a sound decision.
Intelligence cuts across stakeholders and strategic drivers that influence every level of your business. There are three distinct phases of intelligence:
- Data is raw material. Its numbers or facts presented in a vacuum. It’s discrete, scattered, and has no larger meaning.
- Information is data in context. It’s the result of analysis that suggests action, strategy or decision-making.
- Intelligence is actionable. It’s grouping data to reveal a larger view of the marketplace so it has more meaning.
A learning organization is able to put intelligence to work. For example, using intelligence to understand your customer base helps shape product differentiators, messaging and buyer/non-buyer sales predictions. Competitive intelligence is also important. This creates a "snapshot" of your competition by defining key characteristics about their business. It dissects an adversary’s leadership, operations, market position and financial structure. Understanding your competition reveals how they make decisions, implement strategies and ultimately, position themselves against you in the market.
Having complete intelligence to support internal decision‑making sets the stage for a business to take action.
Implementation
Turning intelligence into action is the most critical and most difficult stage of executing a business or marketing plan. Avoiding problems that get in the way of implementation can go a long way toward guaranteeing success. A study of private sector CEOs identified these top five implementation pitfalls:
- Time commitments and resources were underestimated
- Competing activities and crises distracted attention
- Training and instruction for lower level employees were not adequate
- Key tasks and activities were not defined in enough detail
- Information systems used to implement and monitor were inadequate
Implementation starts with intelligence and is embodied in a well-defined, well-communicated plan of action — great implementation of a poorly conceived strategy doesn't get you anywhere. Successful implementation means dedicating sufficient resources (money, time, technical, human), and planning sequenced action steps built around specific responsibilities and measures (who does what, when and where).
In competitive markets simply surviving requires a basic ability to evaluate customer needs and wants, adapt best practices, understand vulnerabilities and learn from your competitors. Moving from survival to success means a capacity to take action — be nimble, be quick…be successful.
© Lindsay Resnick
Comments