Business intelligence, also know as competitive intelligence (especially when researching competitors), is the gathering of data to help a corporation understand its commercial context. Data can be gathered internally from transactions, financial statements, and other statistical data. Data can be gathered externally, ethically and legally, through deep web and database research. Businesses may employ research analysts, competitive intelligence agents, market analysts, or corporate librarian to perform this research. They may also contract out such work to an independent information professional.
Many of these resources were discovered at WebSearch University 2009 by Melanie E. Hughes, Associate Librarian and MBA Student.
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