Because of the extensive information gathered by competitive intelligence tools, some users may be concerned about the possibility that these tools and platforms are sourcing their data illegally. However, competitive intelligence tools only gather information that isn’t protected by confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements. Their data-gathering processes comply with local and international regulations for acquiring data.
With competitive intelligence approaches, the sources are publicly available and published by your competitors. End-of-year reports, public quarterly earnings, and other public disclosures can all be used as sources for competitive intelligence gathering. This can yield even better insights the more advanced your tools are, as Forbes found in its report about AI-powered CI tools.