Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of application programs and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. It is the process of gathering information in the field of business. It can be described as the process of enhancing data into information and then into knowledge. Business intelligence is carried out to gain sustainable competitive advantage, and is a valuable core competence in some instances.
Competitive Intelligence is researching the business environment a (usually private) firm operates in, in order to influence its emerging strategy for business development.
Loosely defined, a competitive intelligence scenario would entail scoping the market vis-a-vis industry trends and analysis of the verticals the organization operates in; and further finding opportunities that exist in those verticals thereby shaping the company ‘focus’ and formulating the future course of action. However, Business Intelligence becomes a broader term, which deals with the paradigms and factors that shape up the future course of action by evaluating the “competitive intelligence”, using information research techniques to garner data that supplements competitive intelligence, and evolving a multitude of strategies related to business development in a broader perspective.
The two are often confused. Just my two cents :-).
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