At the SCIA General Assembly meeting February 16th, 2010, the SCIA board was orderly dismissed after audit approval and board reviews.

Due to new professional challenges, Jens Thieme has resigned from the Board. The Board thanked him again for his outstanding dedication and contributions. Replacements have been elected.

It is with great pleasure that we can announce that Christian Frey and Monika Giese have accepted the unanimous vote to fill the vacant position at the board for an indefinite term. Please join me in welcoming Christian and Monika as board members to SCIA.

Kurt Kobel
President SCIA - Swiss Competitive Intelligence Association



"From Firefighters to Futurists - Developing World Class CI" by Jens Thieme, Lonza, November 24, 2009

SCIA Education Day 2009

"World-class CI Organizations: Academic Model vs. Reality" by Monika Giese June 25, 2009

"Integration of CI into key business processes" by Hans Hedin, GIA, May 20, 2008

"ABB’s Business Intelligence Program", by Daniel Niederer, ABB, March 24, 2009

Please continue to tell your friends and colleagues about SCIA and our exciting 2009 program:

http://www.swisscia.org/scia-events/

SCIA Photo Gallery

Photos from March 24, 2009 event

At the SCIA General Assembly meeting December 9, 2008 the SCIA board was orderly dismissed after audit approval and board reviews.

Due to intercontinental relocation of our board member Silvia Dragic which results in her departure from this position the General Assembly voted for a replacement.

It is with great pleasure that we can announce today that Robert Lazzarotto has accepted the unanimous vote to fill the vacant position at the board for an indefinite term.

Robert is currently CI manager at Siemens Buildings Systems and possesses a broad range of intelligence experience in various intelligence functions for the past 15 years both in Switzerland and abroad.

Please join me in welcoming Robert in his role as a board member to SCIA and in wishing Silvia fun, excitement and success in her new life overseas.

Kurt Kobel
President SCIA - Swiss Competitive Intelligence Association

Among the elected new members of the SCIP board is our very own Jens Thieme, member of the board of SCIA.

I am pleased and hopeful that Jens will represent the Swiss CI community well at the global level in times where SCIP is eagerly developing towards a truly global association for all CI practitioners, academics, consultants, students and other CI professionals.

Find the official SCIP announcement here.

Join me in congratulating Jens for this fine achievement and in wishing him energy and fun with this exciting role.

Kurt Kobel, President SCIA

This new title in a series of other important CI works from a wide range of Competitive Intelligence practitioners, consultants and academics deals with all areas of setting up, maintaining, promoting and succeeding in a CI function.

The following main questions are answered within the 406 page thick collection of CI expertise:

• What do I need to know before I start developing a CI function?
• What basic resources are needed and what alternatives do I have to obtain them?
• What skills are needed for CI and how can I obtain them?
• Where should the CI function be placed in the organization?
• Who should my CI clients be and how do I identify them?
• Does my specific industry require a different approach to building a CI function?
• What are my options in developing a CI budget?
• If I have to hire staff, how do I work with Human Resources to develop job descriptions?
• How do I develop an effective CI analytical team, either dedicated or ad hoc?
• What processes need to be in place for a CI function to work and what best practices can I leverage to create them?
• How do involve management in CI development and how do I develop a CI champion?
• How do I develop needs assessments and determine if they are accurate?
• What is the best way to distribute and communicate CI products in my organization?
• What is the role of consultants in designing and developing the function?
• How can I organize or structure the CI function to support decision-making?
• What infrastructure linkages do I have to have with other departments?
• What internal resources already exist that I can use to support the CI function and how do I find them?
• How do I build effective internal networks to exchange information and analysis?
• What is the functional relationship between CI and other corporate functions?
• How do I identify appropriate CI output/deliverables and what are my options for communicating them?
• How do I develop and distribute a set of legal and ethical guidelines?
• What are my outsourcing options and when should I use them?
• How can I use technology to support my CI practices?
• How should the success of my CI effort be measured?

Jens Thieme, member of our board, has contributed one chapter to the book which you can order via the SCIP web store (http://scip.org/) or directly by following this link.

The election process will take place between October 28 and November 14. With SCIP aiming to serve the international competitive intelligence community better and to become a truly global organization this is a very good opportunity for European SCIP members to find a strong ambassador to SCIP at their footsteps, right here in Switzerland.

Please find the slate of candidates here including Jens' proposition and vision how the European CI community could benefit from his eagerness to serve you and consider to cast your vote between October 28 and November 14 at the SCIP web site.

We will update you on the progress and outcome of the election process in due course here at swisscia.org.

Please feel free to offer your personal insights in the matter or simply recapture the discussion at that event. In order to participate in the discussion you need to be a SCIA member with a members subscription to the SCIA site.