Establishing your business area of operations (where it will conduct operations) and its area of interest (areas outside the business area of operations) that can influence your business operations is vitally important.
Doing so focuses your internal or outsourced intelligence functions on providing your business the information and intelligence it needs to make fully informed decisions. Many may overlook the importance of the area of interest and its ability to positively or negatively impact your business in its area of operation. The key to obtaining the best information and actionable intelligence is by maintaining a close and constant communication  flow of information between senior leaders or staff sections and the intelligence section that supports them.

Robert D. Jenkins

     As a business, it is vitally important to develop an intelligence capability either internally or through outsourcing, and to ensure that it is focused on answering the most important pieces of information that are needed by senior leaders in order to make decisions. When done correctly, integrated and layered intelligence provides situational awareness that supports and unifies every aspect of a business toward a common operational picture and situational understanding of the business environment in which the company seeks to thrive. It provides not only advanced warning of threats, but advanced warning of opportunity as well. The application of intelligence and analytical principles to provide the necessary information and intelligence is as much an art as it is a science. It helps to develop sound and feasible strategic and operational plans that are feasible and suitable, with risks mitigated as much as possible. 

Robert D. Jenkins