Methods of gaining Intelligence of Competitors



Executive Summary

Smooth Electronics Inc. is a technology manufacturer. The company has decided to launch an innovative product related to 3D storage medium. The product is a holographic drive that has been named HOLD. The product name is carefully selected to illustrate its capacity of “holding” a large amount of data in an efficient way. HOLD is going through the quality testing phase. Smooth Electronics are determined to capture a large segment of technology market. Smooth Electronics have planned to launch the product campaign in the next year. Currently, the holography technology is in the stage of evolution. Smooth Electronics can take advantage of the situation to be the first in introducing this rugged and robust product. HOLD is low power consumption drive that can offer capacity equal to 1000 CDs. Holostealers is the biggest rival firm. They have invested a huge a big amount in R&D of holographic drives. The rival firm can disturb the market for Smooth Electronics. For that matter, it is essential to devise methods to gain competitive intelligence. In today's world, Internet is the largest bank of data. The second generation of World Wide Web presents multiple tools that facilitate data collection process. The report projects methods for obtaining information about Holostealers. In this regard, Push & Pull methods have been discussed in detail. The report projects the estimated cost. During the implementation phase, the cost may change.

The task will benefit Smooth Electronics in framing marketing & business strategy. All methods have been presented in order to determine competitive edge for Smooth Electronics.

Background2

The Challenges of “Deep Archiving”2

The project HOLD: Introducing Revolutionary Technology of HDSS2

Working Principle3

Smooth Electronics Inc.4

Competitive Intelligence6

External Environment Factor7

Task Objectives9

Competitive Intelligence: Methods & Procedures10

Push & Pull method or World Wide Web12

Meta Search Engines14

Micro Level search15

Searching through competitor's online resources16

Investigating Partners17

Investigating Online Activities17

Spy Tools & Drawbacks18

Financial Information of HoloStealers20

Investigating Social Media presence20

Online News Group & Magazines21

Push Methods22

Drawback & Solution22

Non-Internet Methods23

Intelligence Concerns23Methods of gaining Intelligence of Competitors

Background

The Challenges of “Deep Archiving”

In today's world, managing large data has become a challenge. Business world needs reliable means of maintaining archival storage that supplements the compliance requirements. Moreover, the biggest challenge is to maintain Terabytes of data in a way that offers greater security, reliability, and ease of retrieval. Further, the storage device must exhibit a life of at least 5 decades to justify its implication for archiving functions. Traditional means of storage have their limitations, which serve as a prime concern for “deep” archiving. Tape is a secure storage device, but it has its short comings in terms of readability & reliability (Savioz, 2004). Moreover, it does not provide long-term storage solution. Also, tape storages are prone to external damages, resulting in data loss. The optical storage technology is emerging as a solution, addressing the enterprises' needs for “deep archiving”. The technology would present storage devices, capable of handling large amount of data. The technology world has expected holographic storage to offer long-term offline storage medium, which would introduce a combination of ...