Competitive Intelligence
Competitive Analysis
Best of Breed Analysis
Competitive Value Chain Analysis
Technology Road Maps
You need to be aware. There are others out there that offer the same or similar products or services today, or could do so in the future. Scarier yet, there may be others that could completely remove the need for your product or service through disruptive innovation.
By knowing your competition and being aware of the environment around you, you may be able to predict your competitor's behavior and not be blind-sighted by their actions.
Competitive Analysis
Karlamar Associates can help you to assess the capabilities of current and potential competitors, and help you answer questions such as:
- Who are your competitors? Are they the same on a local, regional, national and global level?
- What are the similiarities and differences between the products and services you offer as compared to your competition?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings as compared to your own?
- What are key their differentiators? Opportunities? Threats?
Best of Breed Analysis
When performing assessments of current products, Karlamar Associates go well beyond the typical comparison of product specifications. Spec sheets present the product attributes and features that vendors want to promote, and often do not adequately represent how well the product satisfies actual customer needs.
Linking competitive product analysis directly to the needs articulated by the customer helps you to:
- Assess how well your competitors currently satisfy customer needs for the total offering
- Identify needs that are currently unmet by competitors, which could become potential areas for differentiation
- Identify the level of performance considered "Best of Breed" today, in order to project what it will be in the future
- Identify which competitor provides or has the capability to provide the largest percentage of the total desired offering
Competitive Value Chain Analysis
In addition to comparing product and service offerings, it is also important to keep a watchful eye on your competitor's organization, identifying core competencies, and determining their capability to operationalize key strategies. Some areas to monitor include key technologies and manufacturing processes, distribution channels, marketing and sales strategies, partnerships and alliances, management culture, critical skills, infrastructure and financials. This information is valuable when trying to predict future competitive behavior.
Technology Road Maps
To stay competitive, it is important for you to track relevant technologies, including what needs they satisfy, how they are applied, who is applying them and how they change over time. This not only provides a current and historic perspective of the technologies, but may also provide insight to predict future competitive behavior and trends. Technology roadmaps help us to envision the possible futures available to decision makers. The roadmapping process also provides a means to identify, evaluate, and select technical alternatives.