What the heck is Competitive Intelligence anyway?

In a nutshell, Competitive Intelligence (CI) is an ethical and legal business practice where one gathers information and converts this information into actionable intelligence for business decision making. CI is not industrial espionage, lieing, market intelligence or business intelligence. CI professionals as myself follow a code of ethics as described and outlined by the The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).

How do CI professionals obtain information? Competitive information may be obtained from public or subscription sources, from networking with competitor staff or customers, or from field research interviews.

CI professionals are not hackers or social engineers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_(computer_security) though some people confuse us with these fields - we practice legal methods.

Life is a CI playground for Kristin. I gather CI everyday all around me purely by being observant, extroverted and highly OCD. You would be surprised what you can learn at Starbuck's, on an airplane, sitting at a bar, or my personal favorite - playing poker or blackjack at a casino by simply listening. People like to talk when they don't think anyone is around listening. Perhaps this craft is why some confuse CI with Social Engineering. A good friend of mine lent me a great book I'm currently reading that is all about Social Engineering - "The Art of Deception" by the most famous social engineer there is - Kevin Mitnick.

I've been a recruiter/headhunter and business development professional for several years now. Being highly trained in CI techniques gives me a competitive edge over my peers and competitors as I tend to know more about their own company then they do often as well as their customers. My aspiration on my blog is to share stories and knowledge on interesting topics that have CI foundations and that can help others learn how to be more observant in the world we live in.