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53 Law Libr. Lights 1 (2009-2010)

handle is hein.journals/lll53 and id is 1 raw text is: Using Competitive Intelligence to Your Economic Advantage Margaret Krause, Reference Librarian, Georgetown mmaherOl@law.georgetown.edu Wliga law school dean wouldn't like strate- gic updates on his peer institution's best prac- tices? What managing partner wouldn't like to know the pending cases of the firm next door? Competitive intelligence professionals seize these projects, and then collect and analyze the publicly available information to produce high- impact synthesized reports for these decision makers. The recent instability of the economy has had an impact on all types of legal entities- from law firms to academic institutions to gov- ernment agencies. As a result, these enterprises continue to look for ways to streamline their business practices and make smart manage- ment decisions. The use of competitive intelli- gence (CI) is just one of the tools being used to transform this decision making process. CI has often been a cost center for legal organiza- tions, but that doesn't have to be the case. It can and should be used to reap economic advantages for all professional organizations. With the insights gained from CI, firms, educational institutions, and even government agencies can make more cost efficient use of their resources. So where do librarians fit in this endeavor to provide competitive business analysis for the benefit of their patrons? The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) claims its members have backgrounds in mar- ket research, government intelligence, or science and technology, but more and more librarians University Law Library, are clamoring for the opportunity to actually engage in competitive intelligence activities. Just look at the recent programs presented at the 2009 AALL Annual Meeting. Law firm li- brarians are joining forces with the marketing department to produce trend analysis on emerg- ing litigation, as well as intelligence on prospec- tive clients and new hires. CI professionals can also monitor mergers and acquisitions, study the legal environment of a prospective location, track emerging practice areas or identify a spe- cific locale for an expanding law school. Librarians need to be proactive in identi- fying ways to use competitive intelligence as a cost savings method for their patrons. As the organization's chief information professionals, librarians must be conversant about CI when meeting with their superiors. CI need not be a costly venture today with the prevalence of valuable information available at your finger- tips. A little bit of forethought, curiosity, and persistence can uncover a goldmine of infor- mation, while keeping database expenditures to a minimum. It's important to understand that competi- tive intelligence is more than just locating the information, though. CI involves analyzing and distilling the facts into strategic research for the organization's decision makers. By coordinat- ing with others in the office, librarians can work with marketers, human resource profession- als, practice area leaders and the organization's continued on page 3 Th~ ~#tt if Ifr has hcd Mr~ Ew~pad qn tzil types o~ begqI entit~osArom 1gw tlrms to a~gdemit inst~tiQt~Qfls to g*verni n*nt ngenciss As a ~asult, theie enterprises ~orI~jt to bolt far w~iys to streamline tkeir bu'tire'~ prartke and make trnar? mana~e~nent dacns. ' rL I olnil 2Y9 J

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