Companies in Romania will invest over 20% more this year for competitive intelligence services, in response to the lack of predictability they face, both economically, politically, in the workforce, and in the context of changes caused by the pandemic, the increase in fraud and cybercrime, according to an analysis by Corporate Intelligence Agency, a risk management company dedicated to the business environment.

According to Corporate Intelligence Agency specialists, the increase in budgets is also due to a decrease in companies' risk tolerance and their need for additional protection in a rapidly changing market, as well as to a greater awareness on the part of multinational companies' management of the added value that can be obtained through such services.

"The strategies that we will implement this year for our clients take into account budget increases for competitive intelligence services ranging from 28% to 110%. On a market-wide basis, we estimate an advance of 201TPTP3T in budgets invested for competitive intelligence services. The year 2022 has already shown us that it brings multiple challenges, in a period with a high degree of uncertainty, which interferes with the stability of the business environment as a whole, but also with the development of most companies in the market. We expect more requests from existing customers for specific, highly complex services and operations, as well as an increase in pilot projects with new partners who want to test a number of solutions they have not used before in order to determine, on the basis of the results obtained, whether they are suitable for them", says Gabriel Zgunea, CEO Corporate Intelligence Agency, noting that the notion of risk in business is inseparably linked to profitability, and that a company's results are most often influenced by the unforeseen events that accompany its activity.

According to the analysis, among the most frequent risks faced by companies in Romania are those generated by the human factor: incompetence / vulnerable or demotivated people in key positions, deliberate or accidental leaks of information generated by their own employees or even image problems with direct impact on the level of reputational risk. Fraud occupies a special place among the vulnerabilities and risks to which companies are exposed, in the context in which the number of fraud cases in Romania is on a constant upward trend, and certain types of fraud and cybercrime will continue to be high risk in 2022.

Experts say that in 2022, companies will be most interested in investigating complaints received through web reporting channels, the use of background check and profiling services when hiring people in key positions, occupational fraud investigations, support services in documenting the activities of employees whose actions may affect the company.

According to the Corporate Intelligence Agency analysis, in 2022, companies will be mainly interested in investigating complaints received through web reporting channels, the use of background check and profiling services when hiring people in key positions, occupational fraud investigations, support services in documenting the activities of employees whose actions may affect the company.

"Against this backdrop, an increased need for the use of specialized competitive intelligence services is anticipated, including in the Humint area, with a particular focus on complex undercover operations. At the same time, the Corporate Intelligence Agency estimates that the number of Enhanced Due Diligence, market intelligence requests for new and old players in the market will increase, along with the increase in requests for organizational risk analysis. Also, the share of Romanian companies accessing corporate intelligence services when they are involved in a transaction will increase, as they are increasingly interested in easily identifying, assessing and mitigating key risks and issues they might face as a result of the deals they might enter into. Moreover, the dynamics of the M&A market are also increasing," the source notes. Also, both the pandemic and Brexit have changed the investment appetite, redirecting to Romania even some investments planned for other countries. Thus, according to the Corporate Intelligence Agency, in 2022, more than 151TPTP3T of companies in Romania will access corporate intelligence services when they are in a transaction, be it a merger or an acquisition.