# Competitive Intelligence Engine **What It Does:** Continuously monitors competitors, analyzes market movements, and generates actionable intelligence reports for strategic planning. **How It Works:** 1. Monitors competitor websites, press releases, and financial filings 2. Tracks pricing changes, product launches, and strategic announcements 3. Analyzes hiring patterns and leadership changes 4. Compiles industry trends and market share movements 5. Generates weekly intelligence briefings with strategic implications **What You Need:** - Web scraping tools and APIs - Financial data feeds (CapitalIQ, FactSet) - News monitoring services - Social media monitoring tools ## Step-by-Step n8n Setup 1. **Create Competitive Intelligence Workflow** - Start workflow called "Competitive Intelligence Engine" - Add "Schedule Trigger" to run daily monitoring 2. **Multi-Source Data Collection** - Add "HTTP Request" nodes for competitor websites - Connect "RSS" feeds for press releases and news - Use "API" nodes for financial data and job postings - Monitor social media mentions and sentiment 3. **AI-Powered Analysis** - Use "OpenAI" node to analyze collected information: - Categorize news by strategic importance - Extract key metrics and changes - Identify patterns and emerging trends - Compare against historical data for trend analysis 4. **Strategic Implications Assessment** - Analyze competitive moves for potential impact - Identify market opportunities and threats - Generate recommendations for client response 5. **Automated Reporting** - Compile findings into executive briefing format - Include market share analysis and trend charts - Send weekly reports to engagement teams - Create alerts for critical developments ## Alternative: Make.com Setup 1. **Create Intelligence Monitoring Scenario** - Name scenario "Competitive Intelligence Engine" - Add "Schedule" module for regular monitoring 2. **Data Aggregation** - Add "RSS > Get feed items" for news monitoring - Use "HTTP > Make a request" for website changes - Connect financial data APIs for market analysis 3. **AI Analysis and Insights** - Add "OpenAI > Create a chat completion" for trend analysis - Extract strategic implications and recommendations - Track competitive positioning changes 4. **Intelligence Distribution** - Add "Google Docs > Create document" for briefings - Send "Email > Send email" alerts for critical changes - Update dashboards with latest intelligence ## What You Get - Real-time competitive intelligence instead of quarterly updates - Automated trend analysis and strategic implications - Early warning system for competitive threats - Data-driven market positioning recommendations ## 💰 Monthly Operating Costs **Small Business (up to 250 employees, basic competitive monitoring):** - Automation platform: Free (n8n self-hosted) to $20/month (Make.com Standard) - Data feeds: $200-500/month (basic news, financial data) - Web monitoring: $100-300/month (scraping tools, APIs) - Analysis tools: $50-150/month (sentiment analysis, reporting) - **Total: $350-970/month** **Medium Business (250-1,000 employees, comprehensive intelligence):** - Automation platform: $50/month (n8n Pro) to $99/month (Make.com Pro) - Data feeds: $1,000-3,000/month (premium databases, real-time feeds) - Web monitoring: $500-1,000/month (enterprise monitoring, global coverage) - Analysis tools: $300-800/month (advanced analytics, custom dashboards) - **Total: $1,850-4,899/month** **Enterprise (1,000+ employees, strategic intelligence operations):** - Automation platform: $200+/month (enterprise n8n) to $400+/month (Make.com Enterprise) - Data feeds: $5,000+/month (enterprise databases, custom feeds) - Web monitoring: $2,000+/month (enterprise monitoring, global intelligence) - Analysis tools: $1,500+/month (enterprise analytics, AI models) - **Total: $8,700+/month** *Cost assumptions: Data feed complexity scales with business scope, enterprise intelligence requirements, global monitoring needs* ## 🔗 More Management Consultant Automations **Need different solutions?** - **[🏠 Management Consultant Overview](Management%20Consultant%20Overview.md)** - All automations for management consultants - **[🏠 All Automation Guides](../../AI%20Automations%20Guide.md)** - Main directory and getting started - **[🎯 Find by Problem](../../Automation%20Workflows%20by%20Problem.md)** - "I'm drowning in emails" or "My finances are a mess" - **[👔 Find by Job Role](../../Automation%20Workflows%20by%20Job%20Role.md)** - Browse by your profession - **[📚 Automation Best Practices](../../Automation%20Best%20Practices.md)** - Learn the fundamentals --- *Last Updated: 2025-08-03*