Corporate Intelligence is a broad term covering both Business Intelligence and Competitive Intelligence as well as those elements that are inherent in global operations, such as Corporate Security and Counter-Intelligence.

Business Intelligence is any combination of Data, Information, and Knowledge concerning the Business Environment in which a company operates that, when acted upon, will confer a significant Competitive Advantage or enable sound decisions to be made. Thus, for practitioners, the term encompasses both Competitive Intelligence and Knowledge Management. Involvement in business intelligence operations will enable the organization to, among other things:

The term is also widely accepted as being concerned with Information Technology solutions for transforming the output from large Data collections into so-called Intelligence; usually through the integration of sales, marketing, servicing, and support activities. Also loosely referred to as Customer Relationship Management, it covers such activities as Data Mining and Enterprise Reporting, and the associated software. Those involved in this form of business intelligence tend to regard it as simply one aspect of Knowledge Management.
Systems based on such software have replaced the term Executive info rmation systems.

Competitive Intelligence is a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing, and managing Information about the external Business Environment that can affect a company’s plans, decisions, and operations. Although narrower in scope, it is commonly employed as a synonym for Business Intelligence.

Competitor Intelligence is a subdivision of Business Intelligence that concerns the current and proposed business activities of competitors.