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What is Competitive Intelligence?
Home » Careers » Competitive Intelligence » What is Competitive Intelligence?Posted by Your Guide on January 18, 2006 3:56 PM
As businesses continue to grow and evolve, they use many different techniques in order to provide themselves with the best possible information upon which to base their decisions. A business may consistently engage in financial forecasting, closely monitor its cash flow management, or develop innumerable strategies that weigh employee productivity. Within the midst of those decision-making models, however, one technique in particular has experienced an upswing in popularity over the past decade: competitive intelligence. In the not too distant past, competitive intelligence (CI) was defined almost exclusively as competitor analysis; whether in-house or through a CI provider, companies used as many available sources as possible to gather information about their competitors. Competitor analysis still occupies pride of place within most CI strategies, but proponents of CI also point to a number of other CI tools that can benefit almost any business.
Loosely defined, CI involves the collection of information about competitors and the specific market of a business – information that is used to enlighten decision makers and drive company policy at many different levels. Information is collected, organized, and disseminated in many different ways. It’s not unusual for large companies to possess their own CI departments or employees, but many small businesses make use of less complicated CI strategies. Perusing the website of a competitor, for example, can provide a small business with important information about the products, prices and demographic targets of a business competitor. In the current business climate it’s important to understand the basics of CI. The fact that CI isn’t a priority for your business doesn’t mean that its importance is lost on your competition.
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