Workflow
Daily Competitive Intelligence Agent
Automates daily competitive intelligence research by generating targeted search queries, analyzing web and internal data, and delivering a comprehensive report via Slack.
Tags
Competitive IntelligenceMarket ResearchData AnalysisAutomated Reporting
Enterprise Competitive Intelligence Agent
This workflow automates deep competitive intelligence research on a defined topic. Every day at a scheduled time, it generates targeted search queries, gathers data from the web and internal sources, synthesizes findings into an executive report, creates a Google Doc, and sends a Slack notification with highlights.
It accomplishes the following steps:
- Triggers daily at a scheduled time to start the workflow.
- Uses an AI agent to generate highly specific search queries covering different angles of the research topic.
- Normalizes and organizes these queries for targeted investigation.
- Performs comprehensive web research for each query, including searching, browsing, and extracting content from top authoritative sources.
- Searches an internal knowledge base using the same queries to complement external research.
- Merges external and internal findings and uses AI to write a detailed, executive-ready deep research report with multiple structured sections.
- Creates a Google Doc containing the full report and sends a Slack direct message summarizing key findings and highlighting the top gap.
What you need
- Access to the Needle platform with the ability to create workflows.
- Access to a capable AI model for text generation and reasoning.
- Connectors for Google Docs and Slack configured with proper authentication.
- Access to the relevant internal knowledge base collection.
- A Slack workspace and Google Drive account for notifications and document storage.
How the flow works
| Step | Component | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scheduled Trigger | Starts the workflow automatically every day at 8 AM UTC. |
| 2 | AI Query Generator | Crafts targeted search queries for the current topic, covering unique angles like breaking news or academic research. |
| 3 | Query Normalizer | Processes the AI output to structure queries with consistent metadata such as angle labels and index. |
| 4 | Web Research Agent | Executes each query by searching the internet, visiting top URLs, and extracting key findings, data points, and expert quotes. |
| 5 | Internal Knowledge Search | Runs parallel searches in the internal document collection to find complementary insights. |
| 6 | Merger Node | Combines web and internal findings into a single dataset for synthesis. |
| 7 | AI Report Writer | Generates a comprehensive research report with an executive summary, market data, case studies, internal alignment, and gap analysis. |
| 8 | Google Docs Creator | Creates a Google Document containing the complete deep research report. |
| 9 | Slack Notifier | Sends a Slack direct message summarizing the report date, critical findings, the key market gap identified, and a link to the document. |
Output
At the end of the workflow, you receive:
- A detailed, executive-ready deep research report stored securely as a Google Doc.
- A Slack notification featuring a concise digest of the most important insights and direct access to the full report.
Notes
- Ensure query prompts are updated if the research topic changes.
- The workflow handles web page load failures gracefully by skipping problematic URLs.
- The gap analysis section in the report is designed to highlight internal blind spots and opportunities, so pay close attention to it.
- Slack message formatting relies on the Google Docs step providing a document URL. Connector issues may disrupt this formatting.
- This setup can be easily adapted to other competitive intelligence topics by adjusting the initial prompt and your internal knowledge base collection.
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