LEAF Advisory

Intelligence Unlocked

Decision intelligence consulting. We work with your teams to answer specific questions, drawing on relevant data from authorized sources, analyzed with AI assistance and verified by analysts, with every finding traced back to where it came from.

What It Is

Sourced evidence, turned into decisions.

Intelligence Unlocked is a consulting capability of LEAF Advisory. Every engagement starts from a question we frame together with your strategy, innovation, security or management team: a partner to evaluate, a market to enter, a technology to track, an exposure to understand.

We can collect data from authorized sources relevant to that question: web and social media, news, forums, documents, public registers and filings, publications and patents, commercial and licensed databases, technical sources and security feeds. We then analyze it, share interim findings with the people involved and work with them on an assessment that states its sources, its confidence and its gaps, and on what it means for the decision. Where the question is about technology landscapes and competitors, it works alongside Market Strategy & Intelligence.

Sources

Four source categories, kept distinct

Not everything is open-source intelligence. Each finding we share is labelled with its source category, because reliability, terms of use and how the content may be shared differ between them. Acquisition and use depend on authorization, licence conditions, source terms and the applicable legal basis. Access to closed databases or breach data is not promised.

Category 1

Public OSINT

Publicly accessible information and sources: websites, news, public registers, company filings, publications, patents, standards and public social media content.

Category 2

Licensed sources

Commercial databases and information legitimately licensed for the engagement, used within the terms of each licence. These are not public sources and are never presented as such.

Category 3

Specialist threat intelligence feeds

Threat intelligence feeds from specialist providers, used when the question concerns security exposure, threats or incidents, subject to provider authorization and licence terms.

Category 4

Client-provided sources

Documents and datasets your organization is authorized to share for the agreed purpose, with access and retention scoped together.

Use Cases

Questions we help answer

Competitive and market context

How competitors and new entrants position themselves, what they announce, hire for and patent, and what that suggests about their direction.

Due diligence support

Background research on prospective partners, suppliers or investment targets, focused on organizations and proportionate to the decision at hand.

Technology and research monitoring

Following publications, patents, standards and early products in a defined technology area, so relevant developments reach the right people.

Reputation and narrative context

Understanding how an organization, product or topic is discussed in public sources, and where that discussion originates.

Security exposure context

Where applicable, working with your security team to combine threat intelligence feeds with public information and understand an exposure, alongside the tools they already use.

Research for strategy teams

Structured, sourced research on a specific topic, carried out with leadership, strategy or innovation teams that need evidence rather than opinion.

How We Work

Scoped together, verified by analysts

01 / Scope

Frame the question together

Agree with your team the purpose, the entities in scope, the source categories allowed, the legal basis and the outputs.

02 / Gather

Collect what is relevant

Retrieve information from the agreed sources only, recording where and when each item was obtained.

03 / Analyze

Structure the material

Use AI tools for translation, entity extraction, clustering and summarization, so analysts can work across more material.

04 / Verify

Verify and discuss

Analysts cross-check key findings against independent sources and assess reliability; we then discuss the conclusions with your team and agree the next steps.

Boundaries

Sourced, verified, traceable.

Intelligence work is only useful if it can be defended. Every engagement is scoped with you, and every finding can be traced back to where it came from.

  • Scoped with you: each engagement has a defined purpose, and the legal basis for any personal data is assessed with you under the GDPR.
  • Analyst verification: analysts verify findings against independent sources and assess their reliability.
  • Traceability: each finding is linked to its source, its source category and a stated level of confidence.
  • Working environment: where sensitive material is involved, we can agree with you to carry out the analysis in environments designed to support specific regulatory, security and data-residency requirements, including on your infrastructure through Confidential AI.
Outputs

Agreed per engagement

We define the outputs with you, based on the decision they support, and review them with your team as the engagement progresses. Typical examples:

  • Intelligence brief: a focused answer to the question, with key findings and confidence.
  • Sourced research dossier: the underlying material, organized and referenced.
  • Due diligence summary: relevant findings on an organization, with open points to clarify.
  • Entity and relationship map: organizations, people in public roles and their documented connections.
  • Monitoring summary: periodic updates on a defined topic or set of entities.
Limits

What intelligence can and cannot tell you

  • Public and licensed information can be incomplete, outdated or deliberately misleading. We state confidence and gaps.
  • The absence of information is not proof that something does not exist.
  • AI output is a starting point for analysts, never a finding in itself.
FAQ

Questions & Answers

Common questions about Intelligence Unlocked.

Ask Us Anything

Intelligence Unlocked is the decision intelligence consulting capability of LEAF Advisory. We frame a specific question together with your team, collect relevant data from authorized sources, analyze it with AI assistance, have analysts verify the findings and discuss the resulting assessment with you, so it can be turned into decisions and next steps.

We work with the teams that own the question, typically strategy, innovation, security or management. We frame the question and the scope together, share interim findings as the work progresses, discuss options and open points with you and help turn the analysis into decisions and next steps inside your organization.

Not exactly. Public OSINT is one of four source categories we work with. The others are licensed sources, specialist threat intelligence feeds (where authorized) and client-provided sources. We keep the categories distinct because they differ in reliability, terms of use and how their content may be shared.

Public OSINT covers publicly accessible information such as websites, news, public registers, company filings, publications, patents and public social media content. Licensed sources are commercial databases and information legitimately licensed for the engagement, used within their licence terms. Specialist threat intelligence feeds are used only where access and use are authorized by the provider and the engagement scope. Client-provided sources are documents and datasets the client is authorized to share for the agreed purpose.

Relevant data from authorized sources: websites, social media, news, forums, documents, public registers and company filings, publications and patents, commercial and licensed databases, technical sources and threat intelligence feeds, in any language. Acquisition and use depend on authorization, licence conditions, source terms and the applicable legal basis. We do not promise access to closed databases or breach data.

The GDPR is the legal framework we operate within, not a certification. Each engagement has a defined purpose, we assess the legal basis with you, and we limit the collection of personal data to what is necessary and proportionate to that purpose. Retention and deletion of engagement material are agreed with you.

AI tools help with search, translation, entity extraction, clustering and summarization across large volumes of material. Analysts decide what is relevant, verify findings against independent sources, assess reliability and write the conclusions.

Outputs are agreed with you per engagement and reviewed with your team as the work progresses. Typical examples are an intelligence brief, a sourced research dossier, a due diligence summary on an organization, an entity and relationship map or a periodic monitoring summary. Each finding is linked to its source, its source category and a stated level of confidence.

Public and licensed information can be incomplete, outdated or deliberately misleading. We state confidence levels and gaps, and the absence of information is never treated as proof that something does not exist.

Where sensitive material is involved, we can agree with you to carry out the analysis in environments designed to support specific regulatory, security and data-residency requirements, including on your own infrastructure through Confidential AI.

Have a question that needs evidence?

Describe the decision you are facing. We will frame the question with you and propose a scope, the source categories involved and how we would work with your team.

Discuss an intelligence question