Capability
Competitive Intelligence
We build a clear view of your competitive landscape using public sources, channel and customer conversations, and structured benchmarking — always within ethical and legal boundaries.
Last reviewed by the Hoog research team
What is competitive intelligence?
Competitive intelligence is the ethical and legal collection and analysis of information about competitors — their offerings, strategy, pricing, capabilities and performance — to inform your own strategic and commercial decisions.
The business problem
Problems it solves
- Competitive knowledge lives in salespeople's heads
- A new entrant or price move caught the team off guard
- Win rates are falling and the reasons are unclear
- Battlecards are outdated or based on opinion
Questions we answer
What you will know
- How do competitors position, price and sell?
- Where are we winning and losing — and why?
- What are competitors investing in next?
- Which competitive moves require a response?
When to use it
When to commission competitive intelligence
- Entering a market with established players
- Responding to a new entrant or pricing pressure
- Improving win rates and sales enablement
- Annual strategy and portfolio reviews
Our approach
How we deliver competitive intelligence
- 01
Map
Identify direct, indirect and emerging competitors and define comparison criteria.
- 02
Profile
Build profiles from filings, websites, product documentation, job postings and news.
- 03
Validate
Interview customers, distributors and former industry professionals within ethical guidelines.
- 04
Benchmark
Compare offerings, pricing, channels and capabilities; identify implications.
Methods
Typical deliverables
- — Competitor profiles and battlecards
- — Benchmarking matrices
- — Win/loss insight report
- — Competitive monitoring briefings
Decisions it supports
What the evidence is for
- How to position and price against specific competitors
- Which competitive threats require a response
- How to improve win rates and sales messaging
- Where competitors leave gaps you can exploit
The Hoog approach
What’s different about how we do it
Ethical by default
Public sources and transparent interviews only — no misrepresentation and no confidential information.
Voice of the buyer
Win/loss and channel interviews show how competitors are actually perceived, not just how they describe themselves.
From profiles to monitoring
A baseline profile set becomes an ongoing, AI-assisted monitoring programme verified by analysts.
AI-accelerated. Human-validated. Decision-focused.
Applied by industry
How competitive intelligence is used across sectors
Specific engagements where this capability answers a sector question.
- Technology & SaaSChurn, retention & win/loss analysisWhich product, sales and customer-success changes will reduce churn and lift win rates.
- BFSIFintech competitive intelligence & market entryHow to respond to competitors, or where and how to enter.
- Healthcare & Life SciencesCompetitive landscape & market entryWhether and how to enter, and with which partners.
- Industrial & ManufacturingCompetitive intelligence & benchmarkingHow to respond to competitive pressure on product, price and channel.
- Mobility & AutomotiveCompetitive & product benchmarkingHow to position products against competition.
Often applied in
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does a competitive intelligence study include?
A typical study maps direct, indirect and emerging competitors; profiles their offerings, pricing, channels and strategy from public sources; benchmarks them on agreed criteria; adds customer, win/loss or channel interviews; and ends with implications and recommended responses. Many clients then move to ongoing monitoring.
What is the difference between competitive intelligence and market research?
Market research studies the market as a whole — demand, customers and trends. Competitive intelligence focuses specifically on competitors and the competitive environment. They overlap and are often combined: for example, a market entry study includes both.
What is competitive intelligence?
Competitive intelligence is the ethical, legal gathering and analysis of information about competitors and the competitive environment. It relies on public sources, customer and channel perspectives and structured analysis — never on misrepresentation or confidential information obtained improperly.
Start a conversation
Have a market, customer or competitive question?
Tell us about the decision you are facing. We will come back with a clear view of how research can help — and what it would take.