Discussion on SCIP Name Change

Ken GarrisonJune 8, 2010 · SCIP 

On Thursday May 20, 2009, the SCIP Board of Directors met to continue the process of developing a strategic plan to grow SCIP. One critical element of their discussion was whether or not to change the Society’s name. The name change consideration supports two goals of the organization:

  • Expand the SCIP membership in both depth and breadth to increase the impact and exposure of competitive intelligence (CI) membership, and to expand the sponsorship opportunities and attendance at our events on a global basis.
  • Develop a wider membership community to include CI clients as well as CI practitioners.

The SCIP Board has proposed changing the organization’s name:

From: Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals
To: Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals

The board has asked that we explain the basis of this change you, our members, and invite comments. The proposed name change and reasons for it are noted below. We would like to hear your views on the proposal.

Pros:

  • Significantly expands and broadens our membership reach beyond individuals who are identified as CI professionals.
  • Reflects the reality of our members’ operational titles. The majority of our current membership already does not include “CI” in their title. A review of the SCIP 2010 conference attendees (the largest annual gathering of CI professionals) found that less that 20% had CI in their title.
  • Supports a CI focus on supporting strategic decisions, one of the Society’s principal goals.
  • Includes individuals who both work with and are customers of CI practitioners.
  • Increases the connection of senior decision makers with the competitive intelligence effort.
  • Emphasizes that CI goes beyond competitors (a perception of many people, both our members and non-members).
  • Keeps the SCIP trademark and brand identity built over the last 25 years.
  • Emphasizes both the tactical and strategic orientation of our members.
  • Supports an emphasis on CI’s strategic support, which has been a long-standing goal of many senior CI practitioners, including some of the leading writers on the subject such as Michael Porter, Ben Gilad, and Liam Fahey.
  • Bridges the perception gap between business intelligence and competitive intelligence.
  • Combining Strategy and CI creates a unique value proposition that will appeal to our members in all Countries
  • Removes “Society”, a non-value added word, and substitutes a description of our membership.

Cons:

  • Creates change which is sometimes difficult in its initial stage. (Note, SCIP’s original name was the Society of Competitor Intelligence Professionals), and it was changed to Competitive Intelligence Professionals to better reflect the community it was serving at that time.

I look forward to your commentary on this important issue. My contact points are noted below.


Ken Garrison
CEO SCIP
kgarrison@scip.org
703-739-0696 Ext 105

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