In this conversational segment, Fouad Benyoub argues that competitive intelligence (CI) has been confined to an analyst identity for nearly two decades, limiting its strategic impact within organizations. He contends that CI should evolve from merely gathering and reporting information to becoming a strategic influencer—an "eminence"—that actively participates in decision‑making tables. The discussion highlights three main obstacles: lack of dedicated budget, insufficient team resources, and limited attention from senior decision makers. Fouad emphasizes that repositioning CI as a strategic function, rather than a purely analytical one, is essential for leveraging its insights to improve decisions and avoid organizational mistakes.
And Paul, if you're still watching. So, and I'm gonna ask you, Fouad, so are we all eminence graces, or should we aspire to become ones, be that a silent person influencing the decision maker? Is that the role of CI?
Yes, short, short answer for CI and market intelligence. I really think that our role— and, and yesterday I was discussing this, and I was saying, as a community, maybe somehow we dropped the ball when it comes to making CI a strategic function and strategic role within organization, our organizations. Because in 20 years, nearly 20 years, it's still CI analyst, and people identify CI folks as analysts, not strategists, not leaders. And this is something that needs to change over time, obviously, because the influence we can have on the decision-making— not because we want to manipulate or anything— because we have more knowledge, we have more tools to analyze, and more methods, and we have ways to build those insights and recommendations that can help better decision-making, or help the organization to avoid some mistakes. We have it, but it's not leveraged. Why? Because we're stuck in that role of analysis, and it's, it's, it's really negative sometimes. Why? Because you don't get the budget, you don't get the team, you don't get the, uh, the— how to say— attention of, let's say, the decision makers everywhere. So that depends a lot on us and how we position ourselves within any organization, whether we want to position ourselves as analysts. So we will just find information, analyze, and ship reports, or sit in the decision table or participate via sponsors and make sure that the, the voice of competitive intelligence is heard and it's, it's included in the decision-making process. It impacts the decision-making. I think that's the best way to position competitive intelligence. So to your question, yes, definitely we have to be those eminences, great eminences for our organizations and to build our influence inside the organization.
Okay, so I wanted to go back to you as a writer. So that's
