Competitive intelligence is the process of gathering and analyzing information about your competitors and the competitive environment in which you operate. For software product managers, competitive intelligence is crucial because it can provide valuable insights that help inform product development, marketing, and sales strategies.

Here are five reasons why competitive intelligence is important for software product managers:

  1. Stay Ahead of the Competition: Competitive intelligence enables software product managers to stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and changes in the competitive landscape. This helps them anticipate competitor moves and stay ahead of the competition by identifying potential threats and opportunities.
  2. Identify Gaps in the Market: By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, software product managers can identify gaps in the market that their products can fill. This allows them to develop products that meet customer needs and are differentiated from the competition.
  3. Develop More Effective Marketing Strategies: By understanding how competitors position their products, software product managers can develop more effective marketing strategies that differentiate their products from the competition. They can also identify marketing channels that are most effective in reaching target customers.
  4. Enhance Product Development: Competitive intelligence can help software product managers identify customer pain points and unmet needs, which can inform product development. By analyzing competitor products, they can also identify features and functionality that their products may be missing.
  5. Improve Sales Performance: By analyzing the sales strategies and tactics of competitors, software product managers can identify best practices and develop more effective sales strategies. This can help them improve their sales performance and gain a larger market share.

Competitive intelligence isn’t only about features, it can improve your whole organization.  We are all really busy, but prioritizing market insights and sharing them with the team builds trust, credibility and an informed team as they engage the market.