What is economic intelligence?

Economic Intelligence (EI) is information engineering. Also known as Business Intelligence, EI mainly focuses on information and its transformation into knowledge.

To do this, it integrates and applies the concepts, processes, techniques, tools, strategies and tactics used by state intelligence services to the world of economy and business, both nationally and internationally.

In this article our goal is to tell you everything you need to know about business intelligence. But before you begin, check out our guide on how to make a real estate business plan.

What is economic intelligence 

EI is an engineering of collection, interpretation, analysis, evaluation and the dissemination of strategically useful information. To do this, it uses all the resources of information and communication technologies, human resources and their influence, to give companies and organizations the means to be more competitive and efficient.

Thus, using IE allows any company or organization to positioning oneself in a globalized world and highly competitive. It also allows you to develop, anticipate changes, discover opportunities and influence your environment. When used well, it allows you to protect yourself against external and internal threats, either by defending yourself or by using countermeasures.

As a result, IE adds value and directly affects the income statements of organizations. In other words, its use is not an expense ; but rather an investment. It depends directly on the knowledge and skills that technicians and managers have of IE. The right training is therefore necessary.

We should not confuse economic intelligence and artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence refers to the use of technologies and robots in business management. We invite you to read our article on artificial intelligence.

What can it apply to

There is hardly any sector or area of ​​economic and commercial activity that cannot not benefit from employment insurance. Banking, tourism, health, food, film, television, agriculture or education are just a few examples. IE knowledge, procedures and tools are applicable to government organizations and businesses of all sizes in all sectors.

If economic intelligence appears as a high-tech material, which requires a permanent and continuous approach within the company, it is however not the reserved domain of large industries. Business intelligence is a toolbox but it is also an autonomous state of mind that the company must acquire. The fields applications of IE are very varied. Its usefulness is not limited to management. It extends to Innovations and Developments, Marketing and Communication, Human Resources, Legal, etc.

Who is interested in Economic Intelligence?

Business Intelligence (BI) attracts the interest of a wide range of stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors. Companies of all sizes are the first to be concerned by BI. They use it to remain competitive, anticipate market developments, protect their assets and seize new opportunities. Large companies often have departments dedicated to BI, while SMEs increasingly use it for their development.

Governments and public institutions rely on EI to develop economic policies, support domestic businesses and protect the country's economic interests. Some countries have even developed national EI strategies. International organizations, such as the OECD or the WTO, use EI to analyze global economic trends and advise their members.

The academic world is interested in IE as a discipline of study and research. Many universities offer specialized training in IE, contributing to its theoretical and practical development. Consultants and consulting firms have specialized in offering IE services, responding to a growing market demand.

Information and communication professionals find in IE a field of application for their skills in information management and analysis.

The objectives of economic intelligence

The objective of economic intelligence is to ensure the protection of the company's organization and all of its tangible and intangible assets. It allows to develop influence strategies, to control competition by managing information flows, to anticipate threats and to detect opportunities. IE is a mode of corporate governance that is broken down into operational specialties implemented by experts. It seeks to ensure the monitoring, protection and influence of the company in its environment.

🎯 the day before

The first objective of IE is to ensure organizational monitoring. In terms of economic intelligence, monitoring consists of acquiring relevant strategic information in order to master and use it. Everyone easily understands that it is useful for a company to obtain essential information about its competitors. Monitoring also consists, for the company, of identifying and understanding the fundamental rules of the market in which it is developing.

It is not only appropriate to collect this information but also to integrate them in order to better adapt to the environment. The time and resources invested for this purpose will also make it possible to anticipate any changes in the market, which has become hypercompetitive, in order to remain competitive.

🎯 Protection

The second objective of EI is the protection of organizational information. Protecting information is fundamental. Especially at a time when know-how and innovation can prove decisive in terms of competitiveness. The security imperatives, which have imposed themselves on the equipment, workforce or IT systems within each company, must be extended to information assets.

Such protection must be considered, initiated and disseminated within each structure. It must be based on its specificities and the imperatives with which it must deal. This will first allow the company to remain competitive towards its competitors, who are now watching over it. The protection of essential information will then ensure the sustainability of the company itself, which must in particular maintain control and freedom of action within it.

🎯 Influence

The third objective of EI is to maintain or increase the company's influence. This objective is important after specific rules regarding monitoring and information protection have been established in the company. The strategy thus developed must firstly be distributed internally. All company employees must be aware of the security policy adopted. They will thus be able to control it and all work, at their level, for its disclosure.

It is then necessary to take care to disseminate all the information that will promote the strategy chosen by the company, externally. Each company must know how to be persuasive, at a minimum, and whatever its involvement in Intel matters outside of any balance of power or commercial counterparty. The techniques are very diverse in terms of influence, in particular because it is sometimes a question of convincing an entire sector, sometimes of convincing the actors of a targeted territory.

The development of ICT has facilitated circulation information, which is now almost instantaneous and borderless. Companies that want to remain competitive must therefore communicate and master these new technologies. The power of influence can be even greater when the company manages to control the environments information, national or international, to serve its particular interests.

Summary

It is clear that economic intelligence is mainly based on the need to develop or adapt strategies set up within a company according to market developments, technologies or international exchanges, whether industrial or financial.

Before you leave, here is how to create a store of digital products on the internet. Click here to buy the training

Thank you for the trust, all your concerns in the comments