The best way to say this is to 'start small'. As a small company your competitive sensors are already finely tuned. Moving from using the Internet for your basic research, you will get the most from gathering information at tradeshows and conferences. Don't go without a plan though.

Attend with a small group and assign individuals to monitor certain booths and seek answers to specific lists of questions. Leonard M Fuld offers more detail on intelligence gathering at tradeshows in his book, 'The New Competitor Intelligence'.

Again, these shows or conferences are where the latest news or development activity bubbles to the surface - way before you read it in the press. Don't forget to share information across the company. You will be surprised what colleagues will pick up from customers and suppliers.

In the recent past, Business Intelligence has come to mean data warehousing. Software companies use this "new" term to address database management and so it has moved from its original meaning of business competitiveness.

Competitive Intelligence however is not just about your competitors, but about your own competitiveness. It is the organisational process that guards a company's competitive advantage.

Competitive Intelligence is used to identify what it is that you need to know about your environment and organisation that will enable you to compete more effectively, as well as how competitive you are and how you can compete more efficiently and effectively in the future.

The Competitive Intelligence process involves the gathering, analysing and interpreting of publicly available information to serve as the basis of strategic decisions, and as input into the development of competitive strategy.

To put it more succinctly, Competitive Intelligence considers the potential effects of, and opportunities created by, all external elements of the competitive environment (regulatory, technical, economic, etc). Competitive Analysis is an element of CI that focuses primarily on current and potential competitor-created forces.

Remember that CI is not market research, abstracts nor news articles, thick reports of facts, nor is it found. CI is processed, actionable information used for minimising strategic decision risk. It is created for a specific purpose.

Software will not produce intelligence; it cannot read and understand your questions or supporting materials, not now, not ever! The human brain is still the only software that can make sense of and analyse information to produce meaningful intelligence for decision makers.

Having said that, CI software does enable the CI process. As a tool it can play a number of roles: data collector, filter, and repository; it can move the information to the right customers; and it can make the whole intelligence process more user friendly allowing more people to participate in sharing vital knowledge.

The Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) has published a study on software (see Fuld & Co "Intelligence Software Report") which is an excellent resource. However, the appropriate software will depend on your organisational requirements and existing IT systems.

Just remember, without the analysis and understanding, and using only a software system, all you are doing is moving information around your organisation. No intelligence has been created.

The first step in establishing any CI program in a company is to ensure that you are able to deliver some value at the end. By starting with a small project and working with your client, your chances of success increase.

I recommend that you join the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) based in the US for further information on the CI process, or simply Contact Us to discuss your CI endeavours in more detail.