What and Why:

Competition Analysis is the process studying and analyzing products and companies addressing the same or similar target market/customers. Predominantly there can be two types of competition i.e. direct competition and indirect competition. Direct competition offers products or solutions which are similar or identical to target customers; these are direct alternatives to the product/ IP solution offered by us. Indirect competition tries to address the same problem in a different manner.

Competition analysis helps to improve the odds of success of the product or solution; it is vital to know the competition. It includes the following key steps;

• Defining the objective of competition analysis
• Collecting information about competition companies and products/solutions
• Analyzing the information
• Anticipating the potential moves/trends of competition
• Recommendations for the product/solution

The typical objectives of competition analysis can include;

• To define product strategy which can be definition of most effective value proposition, differentiation/positioning of Capgemini IP solutions
• Support in sales/presales process with effective battle cards so that the sales team is provided with right information to face any questions from potential customers.
• To get inputs or inspiration for product roadmap / features.
• In some cases, it can also used for understanding the target market potential and for studying target acquisitions.

Who, How and Best Practices:

Product marketing manager shall be responsible for competition analysis. PMM shall initiate the competition analysis with a specific objective based on the request from Product head/strategist.

PMM shall prepare Competition Analysis document to report the output of competition analysis. Template provided in Product management method shall be used for the same. The various sections of this document include company details, product details, commercial models, customers, partners, strengths, weakness, recent developments/trends etc. A detailed analysis of each of these key sections is essential for a thorough competition analysis.

This document shall not be just collection information; it shall provide analysis/insights about the competition for the readers. For example no customer reference information related to any product press release or collaterals could mean that competition does not have any customer for the product.

Study of competition and tracking of developments in industry shall not be one time activity and it must be an on-going activity so that the right decisions for Capgemini IP solutions can be taken in a timely manner. However tracking competition can be very time consuming. So it is a good idea to sign-up with some news wire services covering the industry and competition.

Take support of development team for competition features study. Also ask technical teams to look at the new launches or specific products of the competition and to provide their views.

Notes:

• Product Marketing Manager (PMM) can seek support from MCOS team within Capgemini for competition analysis activity.
• Most importantly do not try to blindly follow the competition on any strategy or features (like adding missing features in your product). Always assess and deliberate before consider following what competition does. Following the competition without any analysis can only put you in catch up mode and most importantly it could be a wrong path, which competition might be considering changing!
• Do not just limit to the analysis of direct competition. Consider also looking at indirect competition that can significantly impact the target customer.
• Different sources of information for market study are – market research reports, company web sites, related industry or technology forums, blogs etc.
• Using tools like SWOT or Porter’s Five Forces Analysis helps in effectively structuring the analysis of the competition.
• PMM can also obtain guidance and support from Central IP team in the competition analysis process for the solutions in Ready2Series portfolio.

References:

• Check list (TBD)