Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive Intelligence is the ethical gathering and analysis of competitor and market information from open sources. This analysis is used by organizations to make better strategic decisions.
Competitive Intelligence offers a real strategic advantage for many businesses. Some of the largest corporate organizations have a dedicated CI department, while smaller businesses often practice CI on an ad hoc basis by informally collecting information from a variety of internal and external sources, such as the Internet, trade shows or conferences, networking meetings or even customers. Competitive Intelligence is of importance to any business that wishes to make better-informed decisions.
Competitive Intelligence is considered to be a “sub-set” of Knowledge Management. The volumes of data CI analysts must utilize means they must have good Knowledge Management systems. Consequently, a Competitive Intelligence Software usually is a derivative of a Knowledge Management system that has been tasked to more specifically address the unique needs of a CI analyst