If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Like armies in battle, business organizations must have a thorough understanding of what they are facing if they are to succeed. Competitive Intelligence is the legal and ethical process of collecting and analysing information, converting it into intelligence and then using it to determine the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of the competition.

With data traversing the earth in nanoseconds, there is now an overwhelming amount of easily accessible information and consequently, the need to turn competitor information into actionable intelligence has never been greater. Competitive Intelligence professionals are pledged to providing their companies with the instruments needed to stay fast, focused, and flexible in the pursuit and maintenance of competitive advantage.

Competitive Intelligence has such a broad scope that it can use information related to almost any product or activity, or information on recent industry trends or issues or, about geopolitical indications. With effective use of Competitive Intelligence firms can outwit, outmanoeuvre, and outperform current, emerging and potential competitors.