KIPP offers a number of strategic and competitive services:

Competitive Intelligence Projects

Businesses will routinely have intelligence needs that either cannot be done in-house, or are more effective done through outsourcing.  Big projects, especially involving extensive primary or secondary research, may easily exceed organic resources.  KIPP, and its network of strategic partners, can provide critical services or augmentation needed for a variety of competitive intelligence projects that may involve Prioritization and Direction, Collection, Fusion and Synthesis, Analysis, Dissemination, Utilization, and Feedback support or process improvement consulting.  Many times, intelligence projects will find that effectively engaging senior management into the process the biggest hurdle. KIPP provides subject matter expertise in how this can be done while also truly being an outside consultant helping to overcome so many of the corporate culture issues that too often hinder progress within a company.  KIPP has a long history developing and managing leading edge intelligence programs, and can help your firm in variety of ways from building an intelligence operation from scratch to significantly improving the return on investment of a current functional area.  KIPP also can provide leading experts in competitive intelligence as needed for various specialty needs, and has an array of training courses in competitive intelligence functional areas that can transform your CI shop from an also run to  best in class.

Trade Show and Conference Intelligence Operations

Companies and public agencies spend a great deal of money annually on trade shows and conferences.  When all the normal costs are added up such as registration fees, travel and time away from the office, the investment is substantial, especially so if it also involves running a booth or other promotional activities. However, too many managers find the traditional approach to be too unstructured (or ill-prepared).  Conference goals and objectives may not match operational or strategic objectives.  The less organized and prepared manner in which this is done minimizes the opportunity of achieving the real return on investment, the reason your company sent a team.  The essential value of a conference or trade show is twofold, gathering valuable information and influencing key people (i.e., such as buyers, suppliers, distributors or vendors).  Ironically, companies rarely invest on preparing their team of attendees to effectively conduct these essential tasks, and this oversight too often makes these events lost opportunities. For a company team attending a trade show or conference, there are both offensive and defensive actions that should be undertaken, and if this is a managed process it requires skilled “quarterbacking” and “linebacking” support for the team.  KIPP provides training with tools for gathering information without “showing your hand,” while at the same time preventing competitors from gathering from your firm’s “crown jewels” of proprietary trade information in exchange. Learning how to most effectively approach, converse and “network” with other attendees is the key to turning any trade show or conference into an intelligence and influencing bonanza.  KIPP provides its clients with a range of services from training to active involvement with company/agency teams on-site, especially detailed preparation and planning.  For firms attending trade shows or conferences in Southern California and the Southwest, Washington DC, Atlanta, and other key cities, KIPP is ideally suited to augment your competitive intelligence team by providing skilled, cost-effective operatives from the local area as needed.

Business Strategy Development

KIPP teams with top-notch consulting firms like Kappa West to provide clients a range of engagement options for developing, refining and improving strategy or long-range plans.  Bringing together a broad array of variables, factors and inputs into the business strategy development process, KIPP’s approach is often twice as effective as traditional senior management directed strategy, and applies a methodology that builds consensus in the management team across disciplines and functional lines – which is often the biggest hurdle to making change.  KIPP can provide research and analysis support, facilitate meetings and discussion groups, conduct tabletop exercises and even full business wargame sessions.

Business Wargaming

KIPP is proudly associated with Inc., one of the world’s premiere consulting firms in developing and conducting business or executive wargaming and scenario-based planning services.  Going well beyond traditional black hat vs. white hat approaches, KIPP uses a halo or rainbow team approach, having designated role-playing teams for direct and indirect competitors, market and technology inputs, regulatory influences and government, and other teams as needed in addition to the Home Team and umpires.  This approach ensures an optimal deliverable by maximizing the number of inputs and considerations needed for real world planning and decision-making.  All wargames and planning sessions are built on strong competitive intelligence projections and analysis, forcing decision makers to determine realistic allocations of their limited resources in the marketplace in ways that maximize future growth and revenues.  In many cases, wargames provide needed to catalyst for changing the direction of a company by allowing players to “die in the wargame” but then equally realize that failure to implement major changes will ensure death in the marketplace.