Introduction

Intelligence is no longer just a sales tool; it’s more of a boardroom weapon.

Competitive intelligence has always been a vital sales ally, including battlecards, win-loss notes, and last-minute pitch decks. But in 2025, its role is much broader, extending to strategy, product, and the boardroom.

In 2025, that story has flipped. Intelligence now sits in the boardroom, shaping strategy at the highest level. It now shapes corporate strategy, product roadmaps, and M&A decisions. In my conversations with peers across industries, one theme keeps surfacing: intelligence has become the backbone of how fast-growing companies navigate an unpredictable world.

From competitive intelligence to market & competitive intelligence (M&CI)

Competitive intelligence traditionally zeroed in on direct rivals, tracking pricing shifts, product launches, and hiring moves. That was good to have for sales. Today, though, intelligence has expanded to include customers, regulators, suppliers, and macro trends.

Modern Market and Competitive Intelligence (M&CI) goes beyond competitors. It connects the dots across customers, regulators, suppliers, and even global trends. It doesn’t just look at rivals; it covers customers, regulators, suppliers, and even macroeconomic shifts. The questions leaders are asking today aren’t, “How do we beat this competitor in a deal?” They’re asking, “Which markets should we enter? Which risks could blindside us? Where should we double down?”

That’s why many now describe intelligence as a strategic cornerstone, not just a sales-specific tool. The market reflects it too: one estimate valued the industry at $50 billion in 2024, with projections topping $120 billion by 2033. Another forecast sees software platforms doubling from $8 billion in 2023 to $16 to $17 billion by 2030. The signal is clear that intelligence is becoming enterprise infrastructure.

Why 2025 is the turning point

The pivot didn’t happen by accident. Multiple factors converged simultaneously.

  • Evolution of AI: Artificial intelligence has matured from a back-office experiment to a frontline enabler. In many companies, AI now underpins how intelligence is gathered, analyzed, and delivered. In fact, 60% of CI teams are already using AI daily, and adoption has grown more than 70% year on year. Analysts are no longer just data collectors; they’ve become advisors to leadership.
  • The GenAI data surge: At the same time, generative AI has made it effortless to produce content, insights, and commentary at scale. That’s created a flood of unstructured information. The challenge for leaders is no longer access to data; it’s separating signal from noise fast enough to act.
  • Complexity everywhere: From new trade agreements to stricter privacy laws, the regulatory and market landscape is tougher to read. Blind spots are expensive, and executives want constant visibility.
  • Supply chain risks: Manufacturing, pharma, and retail learned the hard way how fragile global supply chains are. Intelligence now has to cover vendors, logistics, and geopolitics, not just competitors.
  • The consolidation push: With budgets under pressure, almost 70% of CIOs plan to reduce their vendor stack this year. Many are replacing fragmented point tools with integrated M&CI platforms.
  • The pace of competition: Launching a business has never been easier. Startups can disrupt incumbents overnight. Static quarterly reports are no longer sufficient; leaders require real-time alerts.

Market & competitive intelligence (M&CI) in action: industry examples

The impact is visible across industries:

  • Pharma: U.S. companies completed 14 licensing deals with Chinese biotechs in the first half of 2025, up from just two in 2023. That pace makes static trackers obsolete. One of the top 10 pharma companies even replaced 150 intranet sites with a single intelligence hub, saving $1.5 million annually and giving global teams a shared view of the market.
  • Manufacturing: Leaders aren’t just watching competitors anymore; they’re monitoring suppliers’ financial health, environmental regulations, and adjacent technologies like battery innovation.
  • Banking and Financial Services: Institutions now blend competitor data with macroeconomic signals, central bank policy, and even consumer sentiment to guide both strategy and frontline decisions.
  • IT and IT-enabled Services (IT/ITES): In IT/ITES, disruption is constant. A competitor’s new feature can reset customer expectations overnight. In 2025, leaders in this space use M&CI to track rival product launches, monitor sentiment across forums and social channels, and anticipate regulations like data residency laws. For them, intelligence isn’t a luxury; it’s survival.

Who drives intelligence today?

Ownership has expanded. Intelligence is still critical in sales and product marketing, but today it’s also embedded across strategy, R&D, procurement, and the C suite.

  • Strategy leaders and the C-suite use it to avoid being blindsided by competitive developments and industry foresight for strategic decisions.
  • Product and marketing teams rely on it for positioning and roadmap decisions.
  • R&D monitors patents and clinical trials to avoid being blindsided.
  • Procurement leaders track vendor risks and disruptions.
  • Sales teams still depend on it, but now through integrated feeds in their CRM or Slack, not static battlecards.

It’s no surprise that 90% of Fortune 500 companies now use intelligence tools, and most dedicate up to 20% of their budgets to it. They’ve realized reacting after the fact is too late.

Why leaders need market & competitive intelligence (M&CI) in 2025

Here’s the reality. Intelligence is no longer just a sales-side helper. It’s become a strategic necessity across the enterprise.

The companies that win in the next decade will treat intelligence as infrastructure, investing in unified platforms, embedding it into workflows, and making sure insights reach every corner of the organization.

Those who don’t will keep reacting after the fact.

In 2025, intelligence belongs in the boardroom. The companies that treat intelligence as core infrastructure will move faster, make better bets, and face fewer surprises. Everyone else will be playing catch up.