During the past two decades, there has been increasing interest and activity among many corporations in creating separate CI units. At first, this was the result of the reported actions and presumed successes of firms which had operated Cl-type units for years. As time passed, however, the interest began to reflect a growing appreciation of the benefits of CI.

Over these years, we have learned that there are many ways to set up and then run a CI system. However, there are a couple of core steps that are common to them all:

• dealing with customers

• identifying likely targets

• establishing feedback and review processes

When deciding if your firm should have a CI unit, before setting up the unit, you must consider whether you can deal with these steps.