Intelligence Sources

Listen to an audio clip of sample business intelligence used to win a tender, or read the transcription.

This is a clear example of the three types of information source in Business Intelligence:

• White Sources. These cover all sources of written information - the press, administrative documents, internal and on-line databases, Internet, etc. There is huge quantity of this type of information, but it is of little value. Anything published has also been read by the whole world and provides little comparative advantage. Professionals relying on white sources are documentalists and computer specialists.
• Grey Sources. These are all the sources of informal information. It is the unwritten information carried around in people’s minds. It is the more or less explicit knowledge contained in the minds of your staff (internal networks) and the knowledge stored in the minds of players in the "trade village", like customers, suppliers, regulatory bodies, academics, competitors and so on (external networks). There is less information but it is extremely valuable. Professionals relying on grey sources are networkers and specialists in interview techniques.
• Black Sources. These are illegal sources, like theft, computer pirating, wiretapping, corruption, blackmail, staff infiltration, confidence rackets and so on. This information is of little value, diminished as it is by carrying a legal liability. Black source professionals are spies using hardcore methods in the service of the reason of State, former spies now pursuing their activities on behalf of individuals or private companies and company security officers, trying hard to avoid their company losing industrial or business secrets.

White Sources Quantity=80% Value=15%	Grey Sources Quantity=15% Value=80%	Black Sources Quantity=5% Value=5%
Documentalists Computer specialists	Networkers Interviewers	Spies Security Officers

Egideria works with grey sources by building up human source networks and mastering interview techniques. It never uses black sources.