The basic unit of competitive intelligence is the Intelligence Cycle. The four parts are:
Planning and Direction, the step in which management gets involved and decides what intelligence is required. This is also the part of the cycle in which the competitive intelligence practitioner decides which course he or she should take in fulfilling the task.
Collection, the phase that involves the actual gathering of raw information from which intelligence will be produced. The vast majority of collection materials are in the public domain. Collection also involves processing information so that it can be transmitted and stored electronically.
Analysis is the most difficult part of the cycle. Analysis requires great skill and confidence because it requires the analyst to weigh information, look for patterns and come up with different scenarios based on what was learned.
Dissemination is the last step and involves distributing the intelligence products to those who requested it. It's the time when the analyst suggests possible courses of action based on his/her work. Dissemination often leads management to ask more questions and thus becomes the first step of the next CI cycle.
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