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Glossary

Weak signals

Subject areaData and infrastructure

Also known asweak signal

Weak signals are small, scattered and often ambiguous clues of a change that is coming, in the market or inside the company.

Taken one by one they look like noise; read together they anticipate what the main figures, such as revenue or market share, will show later.

An observation in the articles on the site explains why they are so often missed: marketing sees the weak signals, sales sees the strong ones, and they usually look at them at different times and with different numbers. A company that keeps the two readings apart notices the change when it is already in the results.

Reading the weak signals of an organisation is the work of Signal Intelligence™, the method Enrico Giubertoni applies in consulting.

An example

At a chemical additives manufacturer two sales reps report, weeks apart, that a customer is asking for more detailed safety data sheets. Revenue is stable. Read together, the two episodes are a weak signal: the customer is preparing to switch supplier for regulatory reasons.

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cc$BY-NCEnrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com

Spotted an inaccuracy or something that needs updating? Write to info@enricogiubertoni.com and help make this glossary a better place.

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