Blog / 2026-10-22
Account signal intelligence vs. intent data: what is the difference?
B2B teams hear three phrases that sound alike: intent data, buying signals and account signal intelligence. They describe different kinds of information. Here is how each one works, in the words of the companies that sell them, and where each fits for defense and space teams.
Intent data: who is researching a topic
Bombora, a major intent data provider, defines intent data as data that "reveals when buyers (accounts and buying-group members) are actively researching topics across the internet, based on the content they consume."1 It separates first-party intent, collected from engagement with a company's own or paid experiences, from third-party intent, which is licensed data collected elsewhere.1
Bombora says its Company Surge product scores elevated intent by comparing an account's most recent three weeks of activity against a 12-week historical baseline.2 In other words, intent data is an estimate built from behavior.
Buying signals: what happened
Signal-based ABM tools describe their data differently. Amplify, for example, defines a buying signal as "an observed business event with a date and a public source," such as a funding round, a layoff or a new executive, and contrasts it with intent data, which it describes as a probability inferred from anonymous content consumption.3
Account Signal Intelligence: where the account fits
Account Signal Intelligence (ASI™), also called Account Super Intelligence, is the Trihelix approach to connecting the signals around an account with the industry it operates in. Instead of asking only "is this company researching us?" or "did something happen at this company?", ASI asks how the account is connected: to agencies, contracts, capabilities, incumbents and competitors.
In defense and space, many of the most useful signals are public contracting records: who holds a contract, when it may recompete, and which NAICS codes define the work. Our guide to federal contracting data sources covers where those records live.
Side by side
| Intent data | Buying signals | Account Signal Intelligence | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Who is researching this topic? | What just changed at this account? | How is this account connected to the industry and the pursuit? |
| Typical inputs | Content consumption across publisher sites | News, filings, hiring, funding, website visits | Contracts, agencies, incumbents, NAICS codes, your own data |
| Nature of the data | Modeled estimate | Dated event | Relationships between records |
Which one do you need?
They are not mutually exclusive. Intent data can help prioritize accounts that are researching. Buying signals can time outreach. For capture and marketing teams pursuing federal work, the starting point is usually the pursuit itself: the contract, the incumbent and the agency. ASI keeps that context connected so both teams can work from the same picture. Refraction is the Trihelix platform that puts it to work.
Sources
- Bombora, What is intent data?
- Bombora, Company Surge.
- Amplify, ABM Intel.