Tag Archives: Work Planning

99-Applying business intelligence, business databases, library research

Conducting Competitive Intelligence Market Research

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As part of my MP project this semester, I am focused on learning how to conduct competitive intelligence market research and tips and tricks on how my work team and I can to do this more effectively and efficiently. On About.com, I came across a 7-step, detailed breakdown of how to conduct Market Intelligence Research. See below.

  1. Determine Your Research Objectives
    • First you must determine your primary and end goal based on audiences who will be utilizing the information
  2. Evaluate Existing CI Data Collection Strategies
  3. Determine CI Data Collection Strategies
  4. Set Up Access and Integration Systems
  5. Establish Analysis and Reporting Processes
  6. Plan Dissemination
Planning
    • Planning for getting your information to the correct audiences – for example, how often will you report?
  7. Write the Story
    • Most market research is best presented to audiences in the form of a story and to do so, your CI audiences should understand how the data was collected and be made confident of that data through corroboration processes.

These were some good tips that I have already started and will continue implementing with my team at work as we continue conducting market research.

http://marketresearch.about.com/od/market.research.techniques/ht/How-To-Conduct-Competitive-Intelligence.htm

03-Planning the work of a team, work plans

Breaking Down the Work

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Do you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed by an upcoming project and don’t even know where to begin? Planning the work of a team, let alone yourself, can be difficult. The planning portion sometimes seems like another project of its own. So what can we do to help manage and streamline this process?

Solution: Create a work plan.

While creating a work plan involves a few extra steps, the planning and organization involved actually makes more efficient use of your time and keeps you on track to the completion of the project. Without a proper work plan, it’s all too easy to lose focus along the way.

In Shelley Frost’s article How to Plan & Organize Work Activities and Maggie McCormick’s How to Create a Work Plan, they each break down the planning process into simple steps to help you stay organized and ensure you meet your deadlines. A summary of these steps is included below:

1) Record your goals and outcomes of the project.

2) Set an end date/deadline.

3) Break down larger tasks into smaller steps and prioritize them.

4) Schedule tasks into a daily and weekly plan. This involves creating a timeline.

5) Make sure you are regularly sending out updates and scheduling meetings to solicit feedback.

All of these steps can be tailored and applied both to a project for a whole team or individual. I’m going to try to implement this in my daily work routine to see how it affects and/or improves my organization and project outcomes. Has anyone else tried something similar and seen results?

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/plan-organize-work-activities-10000.html 

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/create-work-plan-4599.html