Evaluation of CI analytical software (Cipher and Traction software) Research Paper

Evaluation of CI analytical software (Cipher and Traction software) - Research Paper Example Companies that are operating with highly competitive markets such as automotive industry or telecommunications industry would like to use Competitive Intelligence software that provides consistent information about the market like innovations, new products, prices, competitor activities, etc. Cipher is example software that provides information. On the other hand, multinational companies that have offices in all around the world would like to use software that facilitates communication among the employees especially if they conduct simultaneous projects. Traction is example software of that kind. Competitive intelligence involves gathering data about opponents; evaluate the data and using the findings to increase a cutthroat benefit in the marketplace. Competitive intelligence software makes simpler the procedure by giving templates for entering information and using models, forecasting tools, and online research to analyze competitive data. INTELLIGENCE CYCLE Five consecutive steps are involved in the Intelligence Cycle, and every step is linked with the other. We can also say that we should plan step one of planning and direction in order to plan second step, and so on. Elimination of any step will not give us the desirable results or the misguided results. The following are the steps of the Intelligence cycle, 1. Planning & Direction 2. Published Information 3. Primary Source Collection 4. Analysis & Production 5. Report & Inform We evaluated the software packages on the basis of Competitive Intelligence by keeping in mind these five intelligence cycle steps. We believe it is more accurate to note how well the software scored in the categories it fulfilled than to consider just the total score. Even then, the score reflects how comprehensively the product assisted that step of the cycle, more so than the quality of the package itself. Organizations or their CI technology users need to select the package or packages that best address their unique needs, as no two CI processes are alike. CIPHER Introduction As Cipher (2011) specifies, the business was recognized in 1996 by The Future Group. It is a consultancy firm that provides technologic solutions by putting stress on planned market study. It has two software products: Knowledge.Works and Intel Assist. Knowledge.Works Knowledge.Works is award-winning competitive intelligence product of Cipher. It is a web-based application built with a Microsoft SQL server back - end. As VIP Magazine (2010) said, Cipher’s Knowledge.Works is a relational record result that can assist a company in several componenst of the competitive intelligence cycle: data collection, aggregation, indexing, searching, analysis, reporting and collaboration. Knowledge.Works can be fully customized by each user and it is designed to meet an organization’s unique needs. It has the aptitude to focus on precise competitors or gather competitive benchmarking actions in chosen market sectors. It can also analyz e competitor activities based on the regions. Knowledge.Works can track product pricing and advertising on provincial or nationwide basis. A company who uses this software has also the option to choose the sources to be searched for specific subjects. It also offers keyword tag cloud which allows the users see the hot topics, filter the ones that are more interested. It also allows the users to categorize the sources from the web, newsfeeds and internal sources. Information is also delivered at