CIRA: A Competitive Intelligence reference Architecture for dynamic solutions

Abstract

Competitive Intelligence (CI) solutions are the key to enabling companies to stay on top of the changes in today's competitive environment. It may come as a surprise, then, that although Competitive Intelligence solutions already exist for a few decades, there is still little knowledge available regarding the implementation of an automated Competitive Intelligence solution. This research focuses on designing a Competitive Intelligence reference Architecture (CIRA) for dynamic systems. We start by collecting Key Intelligence Topics (KITs) and functional requirements based on an extensive literature review and expert interviews with companies and Competitive Intelligence professionals. Next, we design the architecture itself based on an attribute-driven design method. Then, a prototype is implemented for a company active in the maritime & offshore industry. Finally, the architecture is evaluated by industry experts and their suggestions are incorporated back in the artefact.