The longest-running and most successful intelligence system in history can be found in the military field - and the principles laid down hundreds of years ago are still applicable in the modern business environment. Conversely, advances in business information techniques are such that even the military is finding value in applying corporate data gathering and analysis techniques to its benefit.
A good example of early military intelligence can be found in the approach taken by French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. His intelligence about enemy forces was compiled by the head of his statistical office, and organised into a resume with a detailed report. All legations had secret instructions to record troop movements that they observed or heard about. Data was compiled and forwarded in a special bulletin to Napoleon, who kept a book of detailed information about every army in Europe.
On campaign this information was constantly updated, enabling Napoleon to know as much of the composition of foreign armies as his own. He studied the French muster rolls, spending a few hours each day digesting the facts recorded in 20 folio volumes. This enabled him to know the condition and position of all his units - no easy task with armies numbering several hundred thousand men. "I ... read them in detail and to note any changes in them," he explained. “If a commander cannot place all of the units in his army,” he contended, "then you haven't got an army."
Today, business intelligence (BI) professionals will find the Wikipedia definition of military intelligence (MI) familiar: Military intelligence is a service that uses intelligence gathering disciplines which informs the commander's decision-making process by providing analysis of available data from a wide range of sources including forecast environmental changes, and opposing force intentions. To provide that informed analysis, the commander's information requirements are identified and input to a process of gathering, analysis, protection, and dissemination of information about the operational environment.
In the military, intelligence officers index vulnerabilities and make this information available to advisors and line intelligence personnel; they in turn package the information for policy-makers and war fighters. A good intelligence officer will stay close to the policy-maker, anticipating information requirements, and tailoring the information needed. A good intelligence officer will ask many questions to help anticipate needs, perhaps even to the point of annoying the principal.
Where else are the stakes higher than on the battlefield? Arguably in business.
I worked in the Total Quality Management team at a German vehicle plant outside Pretoria and was tasked to gather the information related to defects in the cars. Each defect was captured with a relevant description on the production quality management system. Cognos reports were automatically exported to Excel files which would dynamically build charts. Measures to expose trends include defects per unit or minutes per unit.
Plant management, lead by the technical director, would meet every week to review production quality. Where initially there would be finger-pointing to assign blame for defects, leading to some interesting debates, soon the various departments amended their approach. The 'Right First Time' cars which left the plant without requiring any rework were occasionally celebrated. These achievements induced a unity and a type of fellowship similar to the brotherhood between soldiers in the military. An approach of 'Let's fight the defects instead of each other' was adopted. Defects were the enemy.
The 'Six Sigma' business management strategy can be applied in a manner similar to the 'intelligence process' used by MI. The five steps in the Six Sigma DMAIC method are define, measure, analyse, improve and control. These steps are applied to improve an existing business process.
By comparison, the MI process comprises collection, analysis, processing and dissemination. Affirming the veracity of a BI process for MI, the United States Armed Services recently adopted 'Six Sigma' with the goal of: "Making the business side of the Army as efficient as the war-fighting side is effective."
That's a great vote of confidence in the techniques which are being applied in the corporate world - and it highlights the contention that the business and military worlds have parallels and can learn much from each other.
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