Hyperformance: An Excellent New Book On Intelligence In The Business World (Wiley.com)

I really liked T. J. Waters new book, Hyperformance: Using Competitive Intelligence For Better Strategy And Execution. I wasn't sure that I would (even though one of my former students is featured prominently in it -- more on that in a minute), but I do.

It is an excellent book in many, many ways. If you are looking for a book that explains the value of intelligence to your C-level, if you want to convince your clients or partners that intelligence can help them make better decisions, or if you just want to introduce a student to the broader world of intelligence in business, then this is the book.

Waters, who worked at the CIA and is perhaps best known for his earlier work, Class 11: Inside the CIA's First Post-9/11 Spy Class, covers numerous intelligence methods and practices that could just as easily describe national security or corporate work.

For example, he talks about networks but does so in the context of Apple's development of ITunes; he talks about analysis of competing hypotheses but does so in the context of detecting deception in new product launches; he talks about elicitation techniques but does so in the context of an industry trade show.

In fact, if there is a fault in the book, it is that Waters treats these subjects too lightly, that he does not spend enough time with any aspect of intelligence in business to do it justice. This is unfair criticism, however. Waters is not writing the book for seasoned intelligence professionals. The main purpose of the book seems to be to introduce many of the fundamental concepts of intelligence to corporate leaders who may be unfamiliar with them. In this, he is not alone. There are many books that have attempted to do the same thing -- but few have done it better.

Oh, and my student? It was Jeff Welgan. Jeff published the results of his research into using Search Engine Optimization techniques as an intelligence method last year. As a result, Jeff became something of an internet star (probably as much for the subject of his study -- Starbucks vs. Caribou Coffees -- as for his innovative use of SEO as a competitive intelligence methodology).

His research caught Water's eye as a perfect example of "new school" collection techniques. "The market implications are staggering...," wrote Waters. "He could start a business tomorrow offering this service to marketing departments, public relations firms, lawyers, press agents, journalists and political campaign managers across the nation."

My sentiments exactly.

Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools To Do Intel Analysis (Original Research)

In my Advanced Analytic Techniques class this term, we have been taking a quick look at a number of different intel analysis methods (with the results posted on our ADVAT blog) but we have also been examining some methods in a bit more detail.

One of the more interesting experiments was Jeff Welgan's attempt to do competitive intelligence analysis using free, online search engine optimization tools. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), for those of you new to the term, is basically about trying to make your website, blog, etc. easier to find.

Jeff noticed that there are many, many tools to help people do this on the cheap. His thought was that you could use these tools not to aid your own efforts but rather to gather data about a competitor company, organization or even a terrorist group through their web presence. This, in turn, might allow an analyst to gain insight into their strategies and, possibly, their next moves.

For his purposes, he focused on two competitors, Starbucks and Caribou Coffee for his case study. His site, however contains a good bit more data, however. He has included basic background material on SEO, a list of operational definitions, a fairly comprehensive list of online tools, and a concise section on how-to use these tools as an intelligence method.

I think Jeff would be the first to admit that relying on SEO analysis exclusively is kind of like relying on HUMINT exclusively when you have SIGINT and IMINT as well. That said, this approach certainly has the potential to add a rich, structured source of data to bounce off the anecdotal and unstructured stuff that makes up most of what is available to the intel analyst.