Product Marketing Alliance

Key talking points<ol><li>🚀 Discover the two AI-driven techniques Adobe employs to monitor competitors effectively.</li><li>🕵️‍♂️ We reveal a unique approach to using AI to distilling actionable insights from mountains of data.</li><li>🤝 Uncover how Adobe's CI expert harnesses AI to enhance his day-to-day output and impact.</li></ol> Episode summaryIn this episode of the Complete Clarity Podcast, Alex Walton chats with Ben Hoffman, Senior Manager of Competitive Intelligence at Adobe, exploring the transformative impact of AI on competitive intelligence (CI). Hoffman shares insights on how AI not only streamlines the immense task of data analysis but also serves as a vital tool for strategic planning, without overshadowing the irreplaceable value of human intuition and decision-making.&nbsp; They delve into the nuances of AI's application in CI, the importance of security in its deployment, and Adobe's forward-looking approach to leveraging AI for future innovations in competitive strategy.

Ben Hoffman

Senior Manager, Competitive Intelligence @Adobe

Blueprint for Tomorrow: AI's Emerging Role in Competitive Intelligence | Ben Hoffman

Competitive Intelligence Alliance

New to competitive intelligence? Struggling to make an impact with limited resources? Brought to you by Competitive Intelligence Alliance, Compete Clarity is the show that aims to make some sense of competitive intelligence, bringing CI pros the actionable advice they need to make an impact. Each episode, we sit down with a different competitive intelligence expert to learn how they do it today, what they'd do differently if they were to start over, and how you can replicate their success.

The Compete Clarity Podcast

No one goes to school for competitive intelligence.If you’ve hung out with other CI pros, you’ll know that, despite their diverse professional backgrounds, most end up saying the same thing: “Well, I kinda just fell into it.” But what if that’s not you? If you’ve got your sights set on CI, do you have to hope and pray you ‘fall into it’ too? Not according to today’s guest. Farhan Manjiyani is Senior Manager of Commercialization and Pricing at Grafana Labs, a tech company with over 1200 employees responsible for a lot of popular open source projects, including its namesake, the Grafana data visualization platform. Today we discuss:<ul><li>Farhan’s transition from product marketing manager to full-time competitive intelligence pro.</li><li>His advice for those looking to make a similar transition.</li><li>What it’s like working on open source projects.</li><li>The impact having the very DNA of your products open for the world to see has on your competitive intelligence efforts.</li></ul> ...and much more. Grab this year's edition of the Competitive Intelligence Trends Report: https://pmmalliance.co/47XJabi

Farhan Majiyani

Sr. Manager, Commercialization & Pricing, Grafana Labs

The open source problem: challenges of competing in a tech space where nothing’s secret | Farhan Manjiyani

Back when the Competitive Intelligence Alliance first launched, one of the first topics we explored was Competitive Positioning. Now, a year later, we wanted to revisit the topic, and brought an expert on board to help: today’s guest, Fiona Finn. In a previous role at Unbounce, Fiona oversaw the platform’s repositioning from landing page builder, to conversion intelligence platform, while navigating two pricing changes in one and a half years. Now Director of Product Marketing at Jane App, Fiona joins us on the show to talk us through how competitive intelligence fits into the very important puzzle that is positioning. Expect to learn:<ul><li>What role competitive intelligence should play in your positioning campaigns.</li><li>How dedicated CI folks can best support their product marketing colleagues with positioning-related intel.</li><li>How to use SEO and SEM data to exploit unique competitive advantages.</li><li>The advantages of your positioning being a set of values that permeates your company culture, rather than just a strategy.</li></ul> …and much more Want to be a guest on the show? If you've more than five years of CI experience and nothing to sell, email contribute@competitiveintelligencealliance.io and we'll be in touch to discuss next steps.

Fiona Finn

Director of Product Marketing, Jane.app

Crafting killer competitive positioning by putting the customer first | Fiona Finn

Building a competitive program from scratch is a topic that’s been covered before. But what about rebuilding one? Coming into a business with the remnants of a failed CI program and turning that situation around is something that poses unique challenges. You’re walking into something where people are jaded, where their expectations of you and your program aren’t necessarily positive. David D’Aprile, VP of Global Product Marketing at Onapsis, joins us to share how he does it. Expect to learn:<ul><li>The five step process for rebuilding a CI program from scratch.</li><li>The biggest challenge you’ll face when doing so.</li><li>Which three pieces of content are foundational, reliable, and essential in any competitive program.</li><li>Why it might not be the best idea to try to build out a tech stack while doing a rebuild.</li><li>How to build momentum by getting wins early.</li></ul> …and much more Want to be a guest on the show? If you've more than five years of CI experience and nothing to sell, email contribute@competitiveintelligencealliance.io and we'll be in touch to discuss next steps.

David D'Aprile

VP, Global Product Marketing, Onapsis

How to fix broken competitive intelligence programs | David D'Aprile

Jayde Phillips is Senior Strategy and Market Intelligence Manager at Egencia, part of American Express GBT (Global Business Travel).With eight solid years of experience in product marketing, CI and strategy behind her, Jayde is well-placed to lead the competitive intelligence function as a solo practitioner in a business with a headcount in the thousands. Jayde joins us on the show to chat insights, past wins, and best practices. Key talking points:<ul><li>The practical differences between competitive and market intelligence.</li><li>The easy, quick way to identify your top three threats amongst your primary competitors.</li><li>How to use a win/loss initiative to drive win rates higher, and how Jayde implements this herself. </li></ul> <a href="https://www.competitiveintelligencealliance.io/ci-by-industry-ebook/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Check out the CI-by-Industry eBook.</a> Interested in being a guest on the show? <a href="mailto:contribute@competitiveintelligencealliance.io" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Click here.</a> <a href="mailto:alex@competitiveintelligencealliance.io" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Offer Competitive Intelligence Alliance your feedback and suggestions.</a>

Jayde Phillips

Senior Strategy & Market Intelligence Manager, Egencia

How a solo CI practitioner succeeds in an organization of thousands | Jayde Phillips

Work smarter. Not harder.We've all heard the phrase, but what does that actually involve? Clint Sprauve might have the answer.Clinton Sprauve is Director of Product Marketing at Delphix. A business offering solutions in data governance, including DevOps test data management (TDM), application recovery, and analytics. His is a small team, but Clint's approach is all about making the most of the limited resources he has, and making every minute invested in a project countJoin us for the fifth and final episode in this CI-by-Industry mini-series to learn how Clint does more with less. Key talking points:<ul><li>How to make the most of limited resources as part of a small team.</li><li>The special process Clint uses to deliver value to stakeholders FAST.</li><li>Why being a perfectionist hurts you more than it helps you in CI.</li><li>Why you don’t need a huge budget, or a lot of tools, to do a tremendous job with competitive intelligence.</li></ul> 5 experts. 5 different industries. 5 case studies. Almost 50 years' combined experience. Uncover their tried and tested methods for success.Learn more about the <a href="https://www.competitiveintelligencealliance.io/ci-by-industry-ebook/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CI-by-Industry eBook here</a>.

Clinton Sprauve

Director of Product Marketing, Delphix

How to work smarter, not harder: DevOps TDM with Clint Sprauve | CI-by-Industry Series 5/5

Ever wonder if your colleagues are too smart for their own good? When you’re a tech company like Akamai, with tech talent coming out of your ears, it’s easy to let your messaging creep into ever more technical territory. Eventually, of course, your prospects, and even your salespeople, struggle to understand what they’re buying and selling. That’s a challenge Mimi An took on and won. Mimi An is Director of Competitive Intelligence at Akamai, a tech business with a product line spanning CDNs (content delivery networks), cloud computing, and security. She joins us on the show today for the penultimate episode in our CI-by-Industry series to share how she solved this problem at Akamai, as well as how she scaled hers into the largest competitive intelligence team of any business represented on the show so far. Key talking points:•&nbsp;How to make a technical product line comprehensible to your salespeople (and their prospects).• How to build a business case for scaling your CI team (where to start, what to focus on, and how to earn your seat at the table).•&nbsp;Mimi's unique method for figuring out your priorities and critical goals, even if you're brand new to the business. 5 experts. 5 different industries. 5 case studies. Almost 50 years' combined experience. Uncover their tried and tested methods for success.Learn more about the <a href="https://www.competitiveintelligencealliance.io/ci-by-industry-ebook/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CI-by-Industry eBook here</a>.

Recent Episodes

SEASON 1

The open source problem: challenges of competing in a tech space where nothing’s secret | Farhan Manjiyani

Crafting killer competitive positioning by putting the customer first | Fiona Finn

How to fix broken competitive intelligence programs | David D'Aprile

How a solo CI practitioner succeeds in an organization of thousands | Jayde Phillips

How to work smarter, not harder: DevOps TDM with Clint Sprauve | CI-by-Industry Series 5/5

How to tackle a technical product line: Cloud computing with Mimi An | CI-by-Industry Series 4/5

About The Show

The Compete Clarity Podcast

Alex Walton

Content Lead, Competitive Intelligence Alliance