About

The Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), formerly the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, is a global nonprofit membership organization for everyone involved in creating and managing business knowledge. Our mission is to enhance the success of our members through leadership, education, advocacy, and networking.

Specifically, SCIP provides education and networking opportunities for business professionals working in the rapidly growing field of competitive intelligence (the legal and ethical collection and analysis of information regarding the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of business competitors). Many SCIP members have backgrounds in market research, strategic analysis, or science and technology.

Established in 1986, today SCIP has chapters around the world, with individual members in nations around the globe. In addition, SCIP has alliance partnerships with independent affiliate organizations in many countries.

As an organization of individual CI professionals, SCIP is dedicated to providing you with the training and knowledge to pilot your company towards competitive success while maintaining the highest ethical standards. From educational seminars to networking opportunities, SCIP emphasizes the need for CI professionals to learn from each other and stay aware of the latest developments in information gathering, analysis, and dissemination. Through our special events and publications, SCIP members survey changes in the business environment and know, before anyone else, what lies ahead.

While some decision makers may attempt to sail blindly through the global marketplace, it is the duty of the trained CI professional to show them alternative courses that will avoid potential dangers, and to take advantage of the tactics and strategies that lead to bottom-line success.

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process of monitoring the competitive environment and analyzing the findings in the context of internal issues, for the purpose of decision support. CI enables senior managers in companies of all sizes to make more-informed decisions about everything from marketing, R&D, and investing tactics to long-term business strategies. Effective CI is a continuous process involving the legal and ethical collection of information, analysis that does not avoid unwelcome conclusions, and controlled dissemination of actionable intelligence to decision makers.

The pace of technological development and the growth of global trade mean that today's business environment changes more quickly than ever before. Executives can no longer afford to rely on instinct or intuition when making strategic business decisions. In many industries, the consequence of making one wrong decision may be to see the company go out of business.

Any employee who visits a trade show, reads a newspaper, or talks to friends in the same industry is doing research (one of the components of CI). However, other components of CI are often missing in businesses today. CI adds value to information gathering and strategic planning by introducing a disciplined system not only to gather information, but also to perform analysis and disseminate findings tailored to the needs of decision makers.