Using external information to gain insights is becoming increasingly important in today’s knowledge based economies. However, from both research and practice it is somewhat unclear how organizations manage these activities. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to explore how four different organizations manage their insight creation process from external information. To do this, a literature review about insight creation is done to create an analytical framework. Based on this framework, the insight creation process is analyzed within the organizations to find characteristics of each process. Next, a cross case analysis is conducted that reveal the main differences between the organizations. The results indicate two main styles of managing the insight creation process that can be differentiated with regards to formality. As such, this paper complements previous research within the area of competitive intelligence and knowledge management in the sense that it increases the understanding of the insight creation process.