Competitive Analysis Vs Competitive Intelligence – The Distinguishing Factors

Competitive Analysis refers to the process of identifying the competitors within a segment and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses in reference to the company’s product or service line. It forms a fundamental factor towards development of the brand’s marketing agenda. It will aid the identification of unique characteristics of the company offerings and finding the weak spots which can be strengthened using proper measures.

Competitive intelligence refers to the activity of gathering and analyzing information related to customers within a market, products and services as well as competitors which is directed towards aiding management to perform strategic planning and decision making.

In many cases both these elements have been considered similar. But competitive intelligence covers more area than competitive analysis. While the former is associated with research across various components of a business like customers, products, behavioral pattern and such like, competitive analysis is restricted to analyzing major players within the same segment. Hence it is important to discuss the process of performing both which is beneficial for every business.

Competitive analysis initiates with professional market research which includes focus groups and questionnaires. This approach gives valuable information regarding their product profile and marketing techniques. Information can be gathered through advertisements, brochures, annual reports and such like. The next important step is analyzing the gathered information. It is directed towards gaining insight through product evaluation, understanding the market share of the competitors, their business objectives and goals and identifying their strengths and weaknesses. The last and most significant step is determining the own business position in comparison to the competitors. This should be directed towards understanding the product and services line and its attractive features along with the negative pointers.

Competitive Intelligence is a different prospect from the former process. It looks in to the information of the competitors, customers, market trends and such like in a logical manner to predict the future initiatives. It has a different style of approach and analysis. It starts with a research regarding the objectives of conducting the process. After determining the objectives it is essential to look in to the existing data collection strategies related to competitive intelligence. After that the new strategies are developed related to the process. Then the access and integration systems are set up to gain benefit from the practice in future as well. The analysis and the reporting processes are initiated and dissemination is planned. The entire information collected and analyzed is presented systematically.

Therefore, it is quite evident that competitive analysis is similar to a part of competitive intelligence. The latter covers more strategic areas. With this it is also essential to note that both these processes require a high level of expertise and management for conducting. Currently the HR consultancy has broadened its service basket and ventured in to such specialties. Partnering with such firms not only make these processes effective but also streamlines the outcome. The level of assistance in conducting both the processes can also be regulated as per the contract.

Hiring Millennial – The Benefits and Challenges

The Millennial generation, sometimes referred to as the Generation Y, are those who have reached their adulthood during 2000. They come after the “post peak boomers” or generation X. There has been a lot of discussion regarding the hiring of young talent coming from millennial segment. While some are inclined towards bringing in fresh outlook in to the workforce there are some who feel skeptical about this approach. Hence, we bring forth, the benefits and challenges associated with hiring and retaining millennial in the workforce.

The benefits are as follows.

• The majority of millennial generation are tech savvy in nature. They are the ones who are regarded as the early adopters of computer technology. In most cases it has been observed that, they remain up to date with the advanced technologies which are helpful towards content management and exposure on social media.
• They are regarded as the most cost effective generation in terms of recruitment. Majority of the employers have reported that millennial seek work life balance and flexibility in work environment the most. Compensation is regarded secondary in many cases.
• This generation has the most sense towards community and peer to peer relation build up. Hence they are the best team players. This is beneficial towards grouped mentality and collaboration among team members.
• They are self expressive in nature. This helps in bringing out the creative ideas and positive suggestion which becomes valuable for the business.
• They are aware of the high level competition in the corporate world. This drives them to perform to their highest abilities to ensure that they retain their position in the workforce. Their optimum productivity is useful for business processes.

While there are lot advantages of hiring millennial, staffing solutions may come in handy towards recruiting them. It is also essential to look in to the challenges of hiring and retaining them.

• Since compensation is not the primary deciding factor the millennial it acts as a down side as well. Their demands from the work environment like work life balance and flexibility becomes difficult to provide at certain instances.
• While working with the higher age groups, they tend to develop conflicts in terms of implementing new ideas and policies. Their advanced technology related inputs tend to become difficult for intake by baby boomers and generation x employees.
• They seek for rewards and recognition for their work. It becomes necessary to appreciate their efforts at regular intervals. If not, it grows in a sense of discomfort and aloofness.

Hence there are lot benefits as well as challenges associated with hiring millennial. The staffing solutions provided by recruitment firms look in to these aspects and short list the candidates accordingly. They can carry out the pre screening processes as per requirement and select candidates who can get along with the work environment of the company. Therefore it is essential to seek advice of such firms in this regard.

Women Participation in Technical Profiles - The Figures Does Not Look Promising

According to published sources, the percentage of technical positions held by women in many multinational firms does not look impressive. In case of Microsoft, women constitute around 30% of the entire workforce of the company. But women holding the technical positions are merely 17% and in leadership roles the percentage rises to 23%. In case of Twitter, women in technical roles constitute a mere 10% and in leadership positions it is 21%. In Google, women holding technical positions are 17% with 21% in managerial roles. The figures remain more or less similar for Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Intel and many others. These figures directly point towards the fact that women are least involved in the product development and business strategy formulation processes. Also, the 30% of women employment has a back story as well. Previously, the management and technical aspects were totally handled by men. After the rising concern for the need of workforce diversity, though women were lead in to such positions, the percentage has been stuck at low levels. Specifically it is commonly seen that there is on an average only one women in such teams and people are not paying attention to the issue.

There are certain major adjustments required in terms of perspectives and attitude in this regard. Firstly, women who have MBA degrees do not go for highly technical positions. There is a mindset that the technical positions will be filled in by geeks who are believed to be working round the clock. This creates a lot of pressure on women which puts down the interest and they do not prefer this extra push. Secondly, the most talked about reasoning is the pay gap. In most cases it has been seen that female employees are paid way less than their male peers. The reasoning behind this discrimination cannot be strategically explained till date.

With all these hindrances it is high time that the issue be dealt with proper initiation.

• First and foremost, an in depth analysis is required in terms of women employee density within the workforce. Then a research concerning women in technical roles has to be done to look in to the current stand point. If the situation is on the lower end then, a job consultancy may be helpful in recruiting women candidates.
• It has to be kept in mind that just filling out positions with women candidates would not be helpful. Hence the job consultancy can be useful in short listing worthy candidates with appropriate skill set and professional experience.
• In certain cases an overhaul in the company policies may be required in order to make the work environment favourable for the women employees. This also increases the retention rate.
• Equal opportunity environment should be practiced within the organization wherein every employee irrespective of the gender, gets a chance to showcase his or her skills, creativity and share suggestions from time to time.

Creating a gender balanced work environment does not essentially refer to hiring women employees randomly. It requires high level of analysis and planning for the business benefit in the long run.

Executive Training - A Tool of Learning

Executive training also referred to as executive coaching aims at improvement of skill set or managing changes in business growth. It is considered as one of the most critical aspects of a company. Many companies are now days implementing executive coaching in their business process in order to upgrade the knowledge base of the workforce. It helps in understanding the upbeat market trends and crisis management at a significant level. There are certain prime benefits of executive coaching which are as follows.

• Increasing the knowledge base of the workforce in turn increases the productivity of the employees. This results in business and revenue growth in long term.
• It opens up the insight regarding the areas of improvement in terms of knowledge. It also helps in bringing out the skill set of certain employees to a great extent. 
•  Imparting knowledge through executive coaching helps in faster advancement of business process which gives better outcome in the long term. 
• The executive training can be used for the development of the management skill. It helps in developing decision making abilities and crisis management. The executives can then be considered for the managerial roles and strategic planning.
• It helps in professional growth which is facilitated with the help of feedback system. 
• The company can be benefited with increased brand loyalty and higher retention rate. Employees feel confident about their company and this builds up a dependable professional relationship.
• A well informed and knowledgeable workforce helps in attracting new clientele for the business.
• The executive training programs induces a positive attitude towards daily tasks and work environment.

With all these benefits there are certain factors which have to be kept in mind while implementing executive training within an organization.

• A thorough research has to be done at first in order to understand the current standing of the workforce in terms of skill set and at the same time latest market innovations. Based on these two factors the training program should be designed and developed.
• A consistent standard should be maintained in terms of coaching material, trainer and the entire system so that the process is beneficial both at the employee and the employer end.
• An assessment system should be in place in order to analyze the level of understanding and implementation of the executives. It also helps in recognizing any short falls of the program. 
• The feedback system should be in place in order to understand the executive opinion about the program and any other requirement for additions.
• The program should be intended towards individual knowledge gain rather than the overall impact. This helps in building of skill set at a micro level.
• The final evaluation of the training program should be done to understand the end to end impact on the workforce. 
• Since the executive training program design and implementation requires analysis and planning to a certain level, so an executive search firm can be appointed for the purpose.

Market Intelligence Influencing The Recruitment Process

The market intelligence refers to the information related to the business markets which are scrutinized and analyzed for the purpose of strategic planning and decision making. The area of research includes opportunities, penetration rate and development scope. In recent years, the concept of market intelligence has been combined with the HR segment in order to understand the trends and innovation to take up HR based decisions in a more accurate manner. Hence it is essential to put forth the advantages of combining market intelligence with recruitment process.

•  The primary benefit of the market intelligence in recruitment is to make better planning in a more informative manner. It gives organized data on the job posting portals and their market reach. This aids in better choice of the platform. If a company plans to outsource the recruitment process to an external agency, then it helps in analyzing the reach and performance of the agency. A research on their client profile and industries served gives a fair idea about the performance matrix.
•  It helps in locating the target area for candidate search. Often, companies look for location based profiles for a particular position due to financial terms or communication ease. Market intelligence can be helpful in this kind of search. It essentially does not mean rejecting the rest. In certain cases, it helps in determining the recruitment approach. Out station candidates can be identified who cannot appear for a face to face interview can be opted for video interviews. This approach helps in streamlining the entire process bringing down the costs.
• It may not directly contribute towards candidate selection but it helps in understanding the client requirements and linking it to the workforce requirement as well. Sometimes, a certain project requires additional workforce or a professional with a different skill set than the existing employee base. The primary skill set of the existing workforce of the company can be identified. It can also be used to take the decision of hiring a full time resource or contractual hiring or going for the outsourcing.
• The market information also includes the workforce information as well. It can help in understanding the density of professionals for a particular skill set within a market. It gives the information related to the freshers and experienced professionals, job iteration rates and the possible reasons behind the same in order to handle crisis management better.
• The market intelligence in the HR segment helps in reaching out to other HR executives and consultants who have valuable suggestions regarding the recruitment process which helps in finding the right candidate for the job within a specific budget.

Market Intelligence Influencing The Recruitment Process

The market intelligence refers to the information related to the business markets which are scrutinized and analyzed for the purpose of strategic planning and decision making. The area of research includes opportunities, penetration rate and development scope. In recent years, the concept of market intelligence has been combined with the HR segment in order to understand the trends and innovation to take up HR based decisions in a more accurate manner. Hence it is essential to put forth the advantages of combining market intelligence with recruitment process.

•  The primary benefit of the market intelligence in recruitment is to make better planning in a more informative manner. It gives organized data on the job posting portals and their market reach. This aids in better choice of the platform. If a company plans to outsource the recruitment process to an external agency, then it helps in analyzing the reach and performance of the agency. A research on their client profile and industries served gives a fair idea about the performance matrix.
•  It helps in locating the target area for candidate search. Often, companies look for location based profiles for a particular position due to financial terms or communication ease. Market intelligence can be helpful in this kind of search. It essentially does not mean rejecting the rest. In certain cases, it helps in determining the recruitment approach. Out station candidates can be identified who cannot appear for a face to face interview can be opted for video interviews. This approach helps in streamlining the entire process bringing down the costs.
• It may not directly contribute towards candidate selection but it helps in understanding the client requirements and linking it to the workforce requirement as well. Sometimes, a certain project requires additional workforce or a professional with a different skill set than the existing employee base. The primary skill set of the existing workforce of the company can be identified. It can also be used to take the decision of hiring a full time resource or contractual hiring or going for the outsourcing.
• The market information also includes the workforce information as well. It can help in understanding the density of professionals for a particular skill set within a market. It gives the information related to the freshers and experienced professionals, job iteration rates and the possible reasons behind the same in order to handle crisis management better.
• The market intelligence in the HR segment helps in reaching out to other HR executives and consultants who have valuable suggestions regarding the recruitment process which helps in finding the right candidate for the job within a specific budget.

Candidate Centric Approach For Hiring

The candidate centric business model is on the rise in recent times in the corporate world. It refers to the candidate as the point of recruitment, job order conduct and sales for an organization. Previously, the whole concentration of the business model was centred on clients. But as the number of clients increased, the employees and candidates became neglected. This resulted in the drifting away of potential candidates from the companies. But when the businesses concentrated on the candidate centric approach, the clients were benefitted eventually.

The major activities related to the candidate centric model are interviews, organization chart based on prospects and references. The major outcomes expected from the activities are job order, job order leads, active and passive candidates. The business related benefits of the candidate centric approach are as follows.

• The empowerment of the recruiters is the key take away in this model. The recruiters are majorly satisfied about their job role and more confident in performing their responsibilities in the candidate centric model. They get the optimum scope to build their own candidate network to bring in rich talent pool for various profiles. This also helps in finding out the best candidates within the familiar network. The recruiter also form part of various events and discussions related to the company which helps in valuable contribution in terms of suggestions and ideas.

• The contribution of the hiring managers becomes more evident in the recruitment and selection of the candidates. Their role is no more restricted towards giving instructions for the recruitment just by informing the requirement. Their job role becomes much more productive. They share a beneficial relationship with the recruiters. They help in maintaining the talent pool and keeping the relationships in the right place. They help in sustaining the Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) system for the reliability of the recruitment process.

• The candidates feel a sense of respect during the recruitment and selection. The mistakes and slip ups related to the selection process is minimized to a great extent. Previously there were a lot of cases wherein the candidate details were not checked in properly by the recruiters. This resulted in the last minute cancellations and rejections. With this approach, outreach has become personalized. The candidate details are accessible to the every required professional at the same time.

The hiring process of the candidate centric business model is a bit different than the other models. In this, a candidate is hired after a technical screening and one who is compatible to work within a team. Then the candidate is on boarded in to the system. The final choice of joining a particular team lies with the candidates itself. They get to pick the team they will work in. This has resulted in a higher productivity rate till date. The feedback from such candidate end is mostly on the positive side with a higher retention rate.

Hence the candidate centric business model contributes greatly towards employee engagement and optimum productivity in the long run.