Appetite for Competitive Intelligence Grows
Law Firms Show Growing Appetite for Competitive Intelligence, Though Top-Level Support Lags, According to New Survey of 119 FirmsCambridge, MA - Press Release - September 6, 2005 - Increasing numbers of law firms have begun to actively apply competitive intelligence (CI) to track competitors, even without gaining full support from the senior partners at the firm, according to a new survey of 119 firms.
The survey was authored jointly by Leonard Fuld of Fuld & Co., a consulting firm specializing in competitive intelligence and Mark Greene of the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, and co-sponsored by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, and the Legal Marketing Association (LMA).
More than three-fourths of the responding firms say they use competitive intelligence in some form, with CI being defined as "knowledge and foreknowledge of the competitive environment refined to the point that it can be used in making a business decision."
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The survey suggests that law firms tend to use competitive data on a tactical rather than a strategic basis. The most common application of competitive data - by more than 80% of the firms sampled - is in business development activities. And more than two-thirds say they use competitive intelligence to make decisions about expanding business and practice areas.
While business development is a strategic activity, it tends to be treated tactically within law firms, says co-author Leonard Fuld. "For many law firms today, CI is merely information gathering and customer assessment. Law firms may be confusing 'customer information' and 'win-loss information' with intelligence, which is only part of the picture."
"Most respondents do not know what true competitive intelligence is," says Mark Greene, co-author.
The survey also suggests that law firm leaders are less committed to employing CI than marketing professionals and non-partner lawyers. Fewer than one-third of the respondents report that firm leaders perceive that CI has produced more than a break-even return on their investment in CI. Moreover, 69% don't even have a formal CI budget.
The survey indicates that law firms have a considerable way to go before they are on a par with many corporations in applying competitive intelligence techniques. Most of the firms sampled do not refer to the competitive data they gather as "competitive intelligence," and only 35% reported more than a "modest familiarity" with the full scope of a CI program of the type used by many large corporations.
"These firms are by-and-large using pieces of competitive intelligence techniques," says Fuld. "They have begun to grasp the importance of monitoring competitors, but they are still doing that in the context of marketing activities like business development. They tend not to engage in the depth of analysis - such as via the building of early-warning systems, or conducting war games or competitive analysis exercises. - that would suggest a more strategic commitment to competitive intelligence."
"This study suggests that while competitive intelligence tools readily are available to the legal sector, law firms still are not leveraging them to full advantage," said Mike Walsh, senior vice president of large law and national law at LexisNexis. "This presents a great opportunity for innovative law firms to pull ahead and differentiate based on the aggressive and strategic use of competitive intelligence."
About LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell (www.martindale.com) is the leading client development company for the legal profession, partnering with its law firm customers to meet their practice development goals. The company offers opportunities to speak at industry conferences, publish legal articles and showcase expertise through a wide range of online products. The Martindale-Hubbell database of more than 1 million lawyers and law firms, accessible at www.martindale.com and www.lawyers.com, is the number-one lawyer directory on the Internet (as measured by Nielsen//NetRatings). The company provides lawyers, business executives and consumers with detailed information to help them identify, evaluate and select legal counsel.
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis® (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leader in comprehensive and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored applications. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] (www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide. In addition to its flagship Web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, the company includes some of the world's most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew Bender, Butterworths, JurisClasseur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.
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