This discipline, previously known as “strategic intelligence,” has evolved to become an essential part of “Economic Intelligence.” The concept aims to go beyond traditional intelligence gathering by monitoring a company’s environment and transforming collected data into valuable strategic and operational information. Economic intelligence, as defined, involves collecting, analyzing, enhancing, disseminating, and protecting strategic economic information to enhance the competitiveness of a state or a company. Based on three pillars – strategic monitoring, asset protection, and influence – economic intelligence plays a crucial role in the competitiveness challenges faced by national economies. Understanding the geopolitical, economic, technical, and legislative environment provides a competitive advantage that must be safeguarded against intrusion, manipulation, and theft risks. Media monitoring plays a significant role in assessing the health of a brand or a topic. By analyzing conversations across various media channels, including traditional print media, online platforms, and social media, professionals gain a comprehensive view of the perception and sentiment surrounding the brands or the topic. For Influence professionals, it is essential to monitor all channels, even if they are not actively running campaigns or advertisements. This helps to identify brand and topic mentions that could potentially impact the positioning. Through media monitoring, professionals gain insights into how consumers, voters and stakeholders’ perceptions and understand whether these mentions are positive, negative, or neutral in sentiment. Political and legal monitoring is an ongoing activity aimed at staying informed about legislative, regulatory, case law, and doctrinal information. By continuously monitoring these domains, professionals can stay up-to-date and make informed decisions.
