While it may seem competitive intelligence (CI) and market intelligence (MI) are the same and they serve a similar purpose i.e., aid decision-making, but they are different in practice and make a great equation for the success of any business. In today's rapidly changing market dynamics, no business is unaffected from the developments happening in its connected ecosystems. The business world has turned into a big web with interconnected markets that are impacting each other, and it is likely to get more and more complex in the future. With the increasing complexity and competition among industries, it has become more than necessary to keep a track of not only your competitors but also where the market is headed. So, will it be okay to say that CI and MI are slowly converging? Let’s find out.

Every task comes with its own set of challenges. Creating a competitive intelligence (CI) plan can be daunting, even for experienced CI professionals. In Crayon’s SCIP report, it was found that 95% of CI professionals struggled with at least one of the following areas –

Competitive intelligence (CI) has a huge contribution to a company’s growth when implemented and executed correctly. The three key areas in which it contributes the most is revenue growth, ability to quickly adapt to market changes, and the ability to holistically impact the company. As per the SCIP survey, the foundation of CI does matter. The companies having defined KPIs for CI were more than two times as likely to see an increase in their revenues as a result of CI efforts as compared to those without defined KPIs. And the companies that saw revenue increase as a result of CI were 63% more likely to increase CI headcount and 66% more likely to increase CI budget.