| Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals – The final countdown |
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| Monday, 15 June 2009 07:39 | |||
 SCIP, the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, surprised its members at the start of May with a remarkable circular letter. It announced that there would be a vote to decide whether Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals should enter into a merger with Frost & Sullivan Institute, a non-profit organization, or whether Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals should cease its activities in the short term.
The member vote was conclusive. Out of the 700 members who voted (approx. 25% of the total number of members), 94% voted for the merger and just 50 members voted against it (around 2% of the total 2,800 members). According to the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals announcement on 22nd May 2009, there was a clear vote for the intended consolidation.Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals cited acute insolvency as the need behind the merger. The anticipated revenues for the Annual Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionalls Conference in Chicago (April 21st – 24th 2009) were way behind expectations. Since cooperation negotiations with other associations and financiers were unsuccessful, Frost & Sullivan Institute was the last option for a member vote. Frost & Sullivan Institute was introduced as a partner that would not get involved in the actual core areas of Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals but would take up two seats on the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals Board. Operational links, which were not explained in further detail, will help to resolve the financial issues and to push ahead with the intended internationalization. Since the result of the vote was disclosed, negotiations on the further details of the merger between the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals Board and Frost & Sullivan Institute representatives have commenced. The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals merger and the future of competitive intelligence in general are also being discussed, on the Ning Forum for example. In this context, the next dcif e.V. meeting on June 30th 2009 in Berlin will certainly be worthwhile to interested parties. One of the speakers at the event, Eduardo Flores Bermudez (Bayer-Schering AG) not only has many years’ experience in competitive intelligence, but is also currently an active member on the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals Board. As the designated Chairman of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals Board for 2010, discussions with him will most certainly shed some light on the current events and the future direction of Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals.
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