It may be that many of you readers have had a cat. Even if you have not had one, you are undoubtedly aware of how important the whiskers are to the cat. Suppose your cat woke up tomorrow morning to find its whiskers had mysteriously fallen off during the night! How do you think the cat would behave? Yes, you are right! Probably somewhat erratically – indecisive when it comes to narrow passageways or jumping great heights – clearly more unsure of itself. To sum it up you would be forced to conclude that the cat’s judgment was impaired. After all, the whiskers are the cat’s primary sensing system to its external environment.

An organization is really no different! Without an integrated, effective, efficient, comprehensive, almost real time sensing system which is continuously feeding intelligence into all those who need it about new emerging trends, evolving technologies, changing consumer taste, competitive actions and other potential...