2.

Strategic monitoring and economic intelligence:

Every company needs a business intelligence approach. In the century of globalization and
competition, economic actors must be more competitive and more efficient.
Business intelligence allows the identification of the company's know-how. It comes down to
the knowledge and power to mobilize relevant information at the right time and for the right
person, while protecting yourself from risks and possible attacks.
Business intelligence is a state of mind, a managerial approach to creating value. Its goal is to
build the basis of key elements of monitoring and protection to act. Thus, constitute the
typology of monitoring to be organized, taking into account the activity of the company.
Monitoring allows you to enrich what already exists. According to AFNOR, monitoring "is a
largely iterative, continuous activity aimed at active monitoring of the technological and
commercial environment... to anticipate developments."

2.1. The typologies of the monitoring:

Depending on the information to be collected, analyzed and disseminated, monitoring is
classified into broad categories:
- Competitive monitoring: Study of the evolution of the company's direct and indirect, current
and potential competitors, choice of suppliers, pricing policy, means of communications.
- Commercial monitoring: Monitoring of information relating to customers, distributors, market
developments, etc.
- Marketing monitoring: Take an interest in the evolution of a market, consumer behavior,
identify new markets, offer new products, etc.
- Reputation monitoring: It refers to the positive or negative image conveyed by a brand. It
includes the notoriety of leaders. Its goal is to anticipate the signs of a future crisis and prevent
image misappropriation.
- Opinion monitoring: It makes it possible to identify consumers' expectations, needs and
positive or negative reviews, discover new markets, offer new products, etc.
- Legal monitoring: Allows you to monitor legislation, case law, counterfeits, new texts,
decrees, etc. to be in compliance with regulations.
- Technology monitoring: allows you to collect information on the evolution of standards and
technologies (patent filing, new processes, etc.). Do not confuse with industrial espionage.
- Societal monitoring: Allows you to monitor developments in society, including social
developments (climate, social), cultural developments (changes in morals), demographic
developments (aging of the population), economic developments (crises), political
developments (political opinions)..
Other monitoring can be added, such as sectoral, event, pricing, scientific monitoring, etc.
Strategic monitoring is based on the search for information. It makes it possible to monitor the
company's overall environment in order to anticipate opportunities and threats.

The SWOT method is the most cited among the best known in the analysis of information needs
(monitoring plan). This analysis consists of analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats of the business environment. It allows you to identify your strong points and weak
points, hence the areas of monitoring to be prioritized.
SWOTs are often organized in the form of a 2 by 2 table or matrix; with internal performance
enhancing factors classified as strengths and internal inhibitors as weaknesses. In turn, external
enhancing factors are classified as opportunities and external inhibitors as threats (Leigh, 2010).

Forces Weaknesses
a. a.
Internal

b. b.
c. c.
… …
Opportunities Threat
a. a.
External

b. b.
c. c.
… …
Conventional SWOT Matrix (Leigh, 2010)

By listing favorable and unfavorable internal and external issues in the four quadrants of a
SWOT analysis grid, planners can better understand how strengths can be leveraged to realize
new opportunities and understand how weaknesses can slow progress or amplify organizational
threats.

2.2. The means of monitoring:

The monitoring activity consists of permanently and systematically examining the company's
environment in order to anticipate its developments. It is mainly technological and competitive,
but can also be legal or financial.
The means of monitoring are the sources of information:
a- Located outside the company:
- official or professional organizations (universities, ministries, chamber of commerce,
professional unions, etc.);
- the national and foreign specialized press
- data banks (databases relating to a particular area of knowledge, etc.)
b- Located inside the company:
- company databases or files making it possible to monitor changes in demand and customer
characteristics.
- reports from representatives providing information on customer reactions to the product.

Furthermore, information is useful (effective) when it is reliable (accurate), relevant (adapted

to needs) and available (at the right time). Added to this is the quality of confidentiality.
The different forms of information in the company are, according to:
- their support: oral, written or visual information;
- their origin: information external and internal to the company
- their role in management: control or command information
- their level of elaboration: basic information and that elaborated…

2.3. Plan and monitoring cycle:

1. Analyze your information needs:
Certain information needs are common to all organizations (competitors, calls for tenders, etc.).
Beyond that, each organism has its own needs, hence the need to take stock of itself and its
environment.
The SWOT method is the most cited among the best known. It consists of analyzing one's
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from one's environment. From this follows the
areas of monitoring to be prioritized.
2. Take stock of what exists:
Every structure has internal resources that can be good to use. Resources can range from simple
magazine subscriptions to mini monitoring units.
3. Target and configure your monitoring:
Once the areas of monitoring have been identified, all that remains is to know where to look for
the right information, the most relevant sources for each monitoring.
4. Define a budget and choose your schedule:
The possible costs of a monitoring strategy are based on the time spent on people searching for
information; and also the tools used (free, very affordable, affordable, expensive.

1. Expressions
of needs
4. Dissemination of
2. Information 2. Expression information
collection des besoins
3. Information
Collecte des
processing
informations

Monitoring Cycle