CHETEK, WISCONSIN - 14 May 1999 - Chetek, Wisconsin based Competitive Intelligence (CI) firm, Aurora WDC, has announced the appointment of its Managing Director, Arik R. Johnson, as Chair of the 13-session Competitive Intelligence Track at the upcoming KMWorld '99 Conference and Exposition. Mr. Johnson will also become the contributing editor on competitive intelligence topics to KMWorld Magazine, who are also organizers of the event, to be held in Dallas Texas, September 20th to the 23rd.

"KMWorld Magazine and the KMWorld Conference and Exposition have become the de facto standard to beat in the incredibly dynamic knowledge management space with regard to thought leadership and objective reporting in the field," Johnson said. "Business and technology leaders, as well as vendors, of some of the world's most influential organizations are recognizing the importance of knowledge management and competitive intelligence. I'm honored and excited to be a part of the world's largest KM event and find it an important statement that we're helping to elevate and shed light on the CI profession in such a powerful venue."

Competitive intelligence, as a critical sister discipline to knowledge management, has earned the respect and attention of both strategic planners and tactical managers alike as they harness the power of their organizational intellect to formulate countervailing business initiatives to competitor activities and objectives. Competitive intelligence or "CI" is the study of one's competitors in business and the application of analytical techniques to that raw information in order to help formulate improvements in competitive and market strategies. Knowledge management is more concerned with the flow of organizational knowledge and corporate memory from both electronic and human sources through enterprise business information systems, which may be considered a broader topic of thought. Many contemporary thinkers on the subject of the modern business enterprise have recognized the similarities and synergies between the two disciplines, and what the separate subjects might learn from one another.

"In modern business, there is no greater asset or competitive advantage than the collective knowledge and intellect of the organization, whether that's the uncatalogued experience of its employees or data in an electronic document, and firms both large and small must apply tried and true techniques to leverage that knowledge in order to survive in any marketplace," Johnson commented. "I'm really excited to be welcoming such a prestigious Conference Faculty to the CI Track -- we've got some of the most influential leaders in the CI field on deck to weigh in on their successful real-world applications of CI in the knowledge enterprise."

While Johnson will present the pre-conference workshop and tutorial on the track theme, "Competitive Intelligence as a Driver of Enterprise Intellect and Corporate Strategy Planning", speakers on the conference faculty will include a number of leaders in the field of CI from many of the most pioneering firms, including: Kirk W.M. Tyson of Kirk Tyson International; Guy Kolb of Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals; Kent Potter of Fuld & Company; Kenneth Sawka of Deloitte Consulting; Mark Gembicki of WarRoom Research; Peer Boerner of Manning & Napier; Owen L. F. Wilson of CMG; Tim Powell of TW Powell Company; Cynthia Allgaier of Pine Ridge Group; Jack Bryar of NewsEdge Corporation; Bonnie Hohhof of Intelligent Information; Gary Smaby of Cartia; and Dave Lobo of GTE.