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Business intelligence is one of the fastest growing disciplines in corporate America. To many, however, the words conjure up images of trench coats and meetings in back alleys. Unfortunately, recent events only serve to reinforce these fears. Earlier this year, for example, Volkswagen agreed to pay $100 million to General Motors after the U.S. firm alleged that VW used documents pilfered by an ex‐GM executive to its competitive advantage. More recently, Johnson & Johnson and Boehringer Mannheim settled out of court after trading accusations of improper activities, including infiltrating company meetings and taking confidential documents. Even more unsettling to some may be the passage of the Economic Espionage Act in 1996.

The study was to develop and test a new technology-aided program to support basic communication and leisure of people with extensive neuro-motor and speech impairments.

The study was carried out according to a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three participants. During the intervention, the participants used the new program. This relied on a smartphone, a tablet, and radio frequency identification tags, and allowed the participants to make communication and leisure choices via small hand movements. Communication choices involved the possibility of sending messages or making telephone calls to preferred persons. Leisure choices involved the possibility of accessing preferred music, comedy, and sport or television shows.

During the intervention, the participants were highly successful in activating communication and leisure events independently. They had mean cumulative engagement times of about 7–8.5 min per 10-min session.

The new program is easily accessible and affordable in terms of the technology components involved and appears highly suitable and friendly for individuals who have only limited hand movement.