Competitive Intelligence (CI) is a vital activity in any business.  It is a given fact that with growing competition in Asia, CI is the most crucial tool for surviving and thriving in a competitive environment.  These challenges and risks will increase significantly in the future, thus monitoring competitors is of utmost importance if organisations desire to sustain their competitive advantages.

The most common problem faced is lack of knowledge and accurate data input to implement a full CI programme effectively. The process of disseminating information within an organisation is also a concern. However this is rapidly changing, as more companies are becoming aware of how beneficial CI is as well as the need to adopt and implement a strategic CI approach in their working culture.

Competitive Intelligence is extremely crucial as it is part of an organisation's core business objects and classifications that describe overall business information. The establishment of business processes to manage the creation, amendment and harmonisation of "shared" data is not something that can be driven by technology alone but it is something that can be made effective and intelligent through appropriate training and guidance.