Business and Competitive
Intelligence: Revealing Strategy
Within Data
Cyndy McCollough
Chris Emerson
Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Bryan Cave LLP
Mark Greene
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis
#PSPG5
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Panelists
Cyndy McCollough
Sr. Manager of Marketing Technology
Dickstein Shapiro LLP
Chris Emerson
Director – Practice Economics Group
Bryan Cave LLP
Mark Greene
Chief Business Development Officer
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis
#PSPG5
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Agenda
• Overview of BI and CI
• Key Intelligence Topics
– You need good questions before you can go find answers
• Technology
– It’s not how much technology you have, it’s what you do with it
• Setting Expectations
– Manage expectations and explain deliverables
• Challenges of More Demands than Resources
– Get at the heart of what is really needed
• Making an Impact
– Sharing examples and ideas
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History of Law Firm
Competitive Intelligence
In the beginning. . .
As early as 1985:
• Analysis of firm financial data
• Client satisfaction surveys
• News clipping services
• A few primary market research studies
• I, for one, had never heard the term “CI”
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1986
•First law firm marketer attended a SCIP
conference
1990s
•Under names other than CI, a few of us
conducted studies that we now might call CI
•Unsubstantiated rumor had it that the Society for
Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) had
its first law firm members
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Our Benchmark
• First program on law firm CI given by
Ann Lee Gibson, Ph.D. to the Bay Area
LMA Chapter in 2002
• ShiftCentral had its first law firm client in 2003
• First national conference on law firm CI in 2004
• Led to 2005 survey to assess situation
2005 survey bottom line:
“Although every firm is constantly involved in CI activities, they
aren’t necessarily familiar with the term ‘CI,’ and they don’t have
the integration processes in place to make it ultimately effective.
What should be an elegant integration of information from
various sources is often haphazard.”
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Competitive Intelligence
For the 2005 survey, CI defined as:
“Knowledge and foreknowledge of the
competitive environment that has been refined to
the point that it can be used in making a business
decision.”
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2005-2009
• A handful of law firm marketers and consultants
enrolled at the Academy of Competitive Intelligence
• The first law firm employees with CI in their titles &
job descriptions appeared
• The topic became a staple at industry conferences
– The annual Ark Law Firm CI conferences began
• A small number of firms began actual war gaming
and scenario planning
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And in 2010…
Ann Lee Gibson,
Ph.D., wrote the
book on the subject.
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CI and Firm Strategy Today
CI must have focus
• Every partner will place demands on CI
• Strategic Plan should be the touchstone for prioritization
– Development of the plan
– Implementation of the plan
• Distinguish “wants” from “needs”
• Relentlessly ask:
– “What decision will this support?”
– “What action will this drive?”
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CI Frameworks
Ways of organizing data and analysis
• SWOT
• Porter’s Five Forces
• Many others
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SWOT Analysis
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Porter’s Five Forces
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You don’t know what you don’t know
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Key Intelligence Topics
What should we track on an ongoing basis?
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Competitors
Clients
Key prospects
Legal industry trends
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Client industry trends
Macroeconomic trends
Legislative initiatives
Etc., etc.
Triage based on Strategic Plan is essential
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Technology only gets you so far
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Great
expectations
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Reveal the strategy within the data
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Make an impact
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Market Your Magic
• Collaborate across administrative
departments
• Keep mental talking points that answer
“What have you done for me lately?”
• Work to the competitive ego
• What is the end result: 10 page analysis
or summary chart presented in person?
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Visual Scooby Snacks
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Questions?
Cyndy McCollough
Sr. Manager of Marketing Technology
Dickstein Shapiro LLP
mccolloughc@dicksteinshapiro.com
Twitter @lawmktggeek
Chris Emerson
Director – Practice Economics Group
Bryan Cave LLP
cemerson@bryancave.com
Mark Greene
Chief Business Development Officer
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis
mark.greene@wallerlaw.com
#PSPG5
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