In today's fast-paced business environment, adaptability is a competitive advantage. As global enterprises navigate the challenges of a dynamic market, fluctuating prices, and unexpected disruptions, your company cannot afford to continue relying solely on internal data for business-critical decisions.

You can, however, empower your business to move from reactive to proactive decision making by harnessing the symbiotic power of Decision Intelligence and open source intelligence (OSINT). Leveraging this technology helps leading enterprises stay ahead of the competition, minimize risks, and seize unexpected opportunities.

Unleashing proactivity with Decision Intelligence and OSINT

Decision Intelligence platforms, exemplified by solutions like Aera Decision Cloud™, adeptly analyze internal data in order to generate automated actions and recommendations. However, the game-changer lies in the integration of OSINT, which enables businesses to anticipate changes by leveraging external signals.

OSINT is often the domain of security or communications teams who scour news, the dark web, or social media for threats to their brand or assets. This has traditionally required specific teams and resources to monitor feeds of data for insights — all of which is labor-intensive, particularly when done at a global scale. The reality is that, in complex operations, companies barely have enough time and resources to react to their in-house data, let alone do much more than read the daily news.

However, the rewards of integrating OSINT can be great. Planners can anticipate trends in their industries and risk specialists can see disruptions foreshadowed ahead of the competition.

What if you had a four-month lead on key industry trends? We were recently at a procurement workshop where a VP of procurement saw an article on CNN and immediately stopped the meeting to try and investigate the impact of the global event on his company’s supply chain. This kind of consequence should not be left to luck and the coverage of one news outlet.

Fortunately, artificial intelligence, particularly the use of Large Language Models (LLMs), has made extracting precise and tailored insights from an ocean of OSINT possible at a global scale. Integrating OSINT into Decision Intelligence systems was difficult, as intelligence sources (such as news coverage, social media posts, and other public sources) are inherently unstructured and hard to extract insights from without a team of manual analysts.

This is how Overwatch Data changes the landscape: Picture an AI-driven sentinel, scouring publicly-available data in real time for events and information that could impact your specific business. This unstructured information is then translated into actionable insights, seamlessly integrated into your Decision Intelligence engine, paving the way for automated, real-time responses.

From crisis management to opportunity identification

This integration allows you to shift from mere reactions to proactive scenarios, such as:

1. Early Warning System: Detect potential crises or regulatory changes affecting locations where you source or process goods or where the original materials are produced, then proactively respond with actions like preemptive orders to prevent supply shortages.
   - E.g. Panama Canal Blues: Predict potential traffic slowdowns due to drought signals in Panama, prompting your Decision Intelligence system to activate contingency plans, reroute shipments, or adjust delivery schedules.
2. Market Intelligence: Anticipate industry trends, major increases in demand, and actions taken by key customers or competitors
   - E.g. Indonesian Expansion: News of a major new electric vehicle factory in Indonesia allows your Decision Intelligence platform to automatically plan a new, optimized supply chain route to meet the needs of this new potential customer.
3. Commodity Price Fluctuations: Respond strategically to temporary commodity price spikes by deferring purchases and leveraging existing inventory.

Navigating challenges and considerations

While the integration of AI-powered OSINT presents exciting possibilities, acknowledging and addressing potential challenges is crucial:

1. Data Overload: Carefully configure OSINT systems to filter and prioritize relevant signals from the vast pool of available information.
2. Information Quality: OSINT systems should implement robust verification techniques to counteract false information spread by malicious actors.

Next steps for transformation

1. Discover real-world success stories of companies integrating Aera and Overwatch Data for a deeper understanding of potential benefits.
2. Design a tailored solution that meets your specific business needs.

Remember, the future belongs to those who can wield the power of information. Start integrating OSINT into your Decision Intelligence strategy today and gain a decisive edge in the ever-evolving global marketplace.

To learn more about Overwatch Data and the Aera Decision Intelligence platform, join our webinar on March 19th at 8 AM PDT/11 AM EDT and 15:00 GMT by registering now.

Arjun Bisen is CEO and co-founder of Overwatch Data, the most comprehensive open-source intelligence platform. Overwatch is a SaaS tool that helps enterprises monitor data streams for real world events that impact their businesses. Learn more at https://www.overwatchdata.ai/.