Competitive Intelligence Readiness Scan

Section 1 — Strategic Context

Q1. How do you currently monitor competitors and market intelligence?

"We don't really track it formally" 0 "Ad hoc — occasional Google searches, news alerts on names" 2 "Structured monitoring — feeds, quarterly reviews, some shared reports" 4 "Embedded intelligence function with regular briefings and action items" 5

Q2. What triggers your top management to act on competitive threats?

"When we lose a deal or customer (reactive)" 0 "When media coverage spikes or public announcements happen (slow reaction)" 2 "Through monthly competitive landscape decks with pre-flagged risks" 4 "Real-time dashboards and embedded CI in strategy meetings (proactive)" 5

Section 2 — Research Capacity & Quality

Q3. How thick are the dossiers on your top 5 strategic competitors today?

"We have contact info and a CRM profile — that's it" 0 "Annual financial summaries + basic SWOT analyses (public sources only)" 2 "Deep profiles with sourcing, verification, and gap analysis on key variables" 4 "Living intelligence files with traceable claims, confidence ratings, and source code" 5

Q4. How do you verify the sources behind your competitive claims?

"We mostly trust what's widely reported online" 0 "Senior staff check a few independent sources for major claims" 2 "We maintain source verification procedures and document provenance" 4 "Every claim is sourced with original references, confidence scores, and cross-checks" 5

Q5. When your team researches a company or individual, who can access the findings and how?

"If they took notes in a meeting, it lives in their head" 0 "Reports live in email threads or shared folders — searchable but scattered" 2 "Centralized wiki/CRM with structured profiles, versioned updates, and clear citations" 4 "Living knowledge base with full audit trail, role-based access, and API for downstream integration" 5

Section 3 — From Intelligence to Action

Q6. How often does a competitive insight directly change a strategic decision in your org?

"Almost never — decisions are made on intuition anyway" 0 "Sometimes — when the data is hard to ignore, senior leadership pays attention" 2 "Regularly — CI is a standing agenda item at strategy reviews and board meetings" 4 "Constantly — every new dossier triggers an action review with clear ownership and deadlines" 5

Q7. What's the biggest blind spot in your competitive knowledge today?

"We don't know what we don't know" 0 "Emerging threats from startups and adjacent industries we're not watching" 2 "The gap between public info and behind-the-scenes strategic signals" 4 "We have a strong handle on this — our intelligence function covers multi-layered sources consistently" 5

Q8. If you could send one person to investigate any competitor or market move, what would they deliver back?

"Something — I'm not sure what we'd use it for" 0 "A 2-3 page summary with public facts and a few insights" 2 "A deep dossier: verified profiles of key players, source-traced claims, identified risks and opportunities" 4 "A production-ready intelligence package — exactly what we need to brief leadership and mobilize the response team" 5

Q9. What does your next competitive win require that you can't get from public research alone?

"Maybe nothing — the public info is probably enough" 0 "Better data, but we'd manage with what's available (just slower)" 2 "Deep background on key decision-makers and non-obvious organizational dynamics" 4 "Sourced intelligence that reveals what competitors are genuinely planning — not their press releases" 5