The Situation
A leading software company wanted a deeper understanding of a key competitor’s Human Resource Management offering, including product capabilities, go-to-market strategy, messaging, pricing, and market positioning. The company needed actionable competitive intelligence to better evaluate competitor strengths and weaknesses, refine internal strategy, and strengthen positioning in a highly competitive market.
The Solution
Sedulo designed and executed a tailored competitive intelligence and strategic analysis program focused on uncovering validated insights across the competitor landscape. The engagement included:
- Program Kickoff & Stakeholder Interviews: Sedulo led a kickoff session and conducted stakeholder interviews to align objectives, strategic priorities, timelines, and key research questions.
- Secondary Research: Sedulo leveraged open-source intelligence, industry research, competitor materials, customer feedback, job postings, and market analysis to build a foundational understanding of the competitor landscape.
- Competitor Primary Research: Sedulo conducted one-on-one interviews with active and former competitor sources across product, sales, and marketing functions to gather insight into product strategy, differentiation, roadmap priorities, and customer targeting approaches.
- Competitor Buy-Side Research: Sedulo entered the competitor’s sales process, capturing first-hand insights into:
- Customer Observation Sessions: Through virtual observation studies, Sedulo gathered additional insight into competitor workflows, product usability, and customer use cases.
- Strategic Analysis & Reporting: Sedulo synthesized findings using feature benchmarking, sales journey mapping, threat analysis, and competitive positioning frameworks to develop executive-ready reports and sales battlecards.
The Impact
The engagement provided the client with a clearer view of competitor strategy, product positioning, and market differentiation. Armed with validated competitive intelligence, the company was able to:
- Refine go-to-market and competitive positioning strategies
- Identify messaging and differentiation opportunities
- Strengthen sales enablement with competitor battlecards and sell-against insights
- Improve alignment across product, sales, marketing, and leadership teams
- Support strategic planning and roadmap decisions with greater market context and confidence
The program ultimately helped the client make more informed competitive and strategic decisions while strengthening its ability to compete in active market opportunities.