This survey shows the "State-of-the-art" of Business Intelligence (BI), discussing its importance in Strategic Planning, Decision-Making Process, Total Quality Programs Implementation and Competitiveness. This work analyses several required organizational configurations and available technological resources for a succesful BI activity achievement. Emphasizes the importance of the Information Sources, pointing out that it is vital their correct scanning. At last, broader issues are discussed such as: legal and ethics implications for BI, differences between BI and Espionage and BI role in Globalization Strategies.
Intelligence; Business Intelligence; Strategic Planning; Decision-Making Process; Competition; Competitiveness; Total Quality; Organizational Change; Informatics; Information Sources; Environment Scanning; Ethics; Espionage; Globalization