Welcome to the Ascentys Piece

We would like to welcome you to the Ascentys quarterly news-letter. The news-letter will address topical issues that are common to many of our clients and to offer our insights into these issues.

In this issue we look at two separate issues:
1. Ascentys Competitive Intelligence
2. ICT Procurement - a root cause of technology failures

Ascentys Competitive Intelligence

What are your rivals' future plans? When will they launch new products? How profitable are they?
These are some of the questions you should be asking about your competitors.

The field of Competitive Intelligence (CI) aims to provide answers to these and other important questions about your competitors.
The challenge is to use investigative research to find out what your competitors are up to — and how it might affect your business.

Want to know what do you need to get started?

To formulate an effective corporate strategy, it's essential to understand two basic questions: What is your company doing; and what are your competitors doing?
Competitive intelligence is a field of strategic research that specialises in the collection and analysis of information about rival firms.
Competitive intelligence is also about adhering to a strict ethical code by collecting bits of information that are available either in the public domain or from other players in the marketplace.
The goal is to amass enough data to make meaningful comparisons between your firm and your competitors — and to make better-informed strategic decisions as a result.

Here's what you need to do:

Step 1:  Establish the Strategic Problem
Step 2:  Know what’s going On Under Your Own Roof
Step 3:  Follow Your Competitors’ Online & Paper Trail
Step 4:  Talk to People
Step 5:  Put Everything Together

ICT Procurement - a root cause of technology failures

The procurement and deployment of any new technology has a profound impact on a business and the acquisitions are often of strategic importance as they seek to deliver a means for some form of cost, or other, competitive advantage.

The selection and sourcing of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) poses a serious challenge for most organisations and countless bad decisions have led to failed projects. In fact, statistics show that almost 80% of ICT projects fail to meet the expectations of those areas of business that commissioned them.

We need to ask the question: Why is this so?

Procurement and financial departments are often unfairly tasked with procuring new ICT tools whilst being ill-equipped to do so. In addition, the selection of an appropriate technology tool is by no means a trivial exercise and without the correct mix of expertise in the selection team key issues are easily overlooked.

What is required for a solid technology procurement project is that it starts with developing an understanding of the various business and divisional strategies and the ensuing process and operational requirements.