What does augmented business intelligence mean?

"He who knows little thinks he knows, whereas he who learns constantly becomes aware that he is ignorant" (Luca Lefèvre, computer scientist, France, Lille)

This quote is a good illustration of how I feel about waking up. The more I learn, the more I become aware of the different perspectives, nuances and above all the complexity of intelligence.

I remember, back in 2008, when I first became interested in intelligence, my definition boiled down to:

• Trying to foresee what might happen;
• Trying to interpret how things are evolving;
• Be proactive by keeping an eye out for trends.

In fact, it was my partner Guillaume who created this curiosity in me. I remember it was even the first training course Guillaume and I had collaborated on. At the time, I already had this vision that strategic intelligence was THE thing for any organization, since it enables:

• Make strategic decisions;
• Maintain a competitive edge;
• Adapt to change;
• Update knowledge;
• Create opportunities;
• Reduce risks;
• Establish a vision.

At Phar, this vision has been transformed into augmented strategic intelligence, and is defined by:

• Weak signals via electronic and human monitoring
• Contextualization to explain to readers of a watch bulletin why a piece of information has caught their attention and requires action. For example, calling on expert curators in a specific field would be essential, as this often leads to a better understanding of the information and subsequently to better decisions.
• Integrating specific sources, identifying and tracking communities of interest in order to capture key information before it becomes trendy.

"By the time you embrace a trend, it's already too late" (Rob Salmon, L'Oréal)

• The dissemination of information and collaboration between members of organizations' teams using collaborative tools and principles of collective intelligence.
• Performance indicators to ensure that the information transmitted within organizations is always strategic and relevant to decision-making.

Throughout time, my definition has well evolved. Doing business intelligence isn't about knowing what everyone else knows, but about positioning ourselves as the scouts, seeking to detect the unexpected, to divine the unpredictable... to anticipate!