Turn talent pool data into insights for strategic advantage

THE CHALLENGE

Gaining deeper insights into competitor organizations to inform strategic positioning within a dynamic treatment landscape

A leading global medical devices company required comprehensive and deep insights into selected competitors to inform their own strategic moves and investment decisions – focusing on their strengths/gaps in global resources and skills, organization designs to maximize efficiency, and process workflows that enable competitive advantage. To supplement this information, they also sought insights into the strategic thinking and rationale underlying key decisions made by competitors to understand the benefits and risks of following some of those actions.

But there were some hurdles: they had limited visibility into competitor organizations, human resources data, or process workflows to decipher their capabilities, strengths, and gaps.

The goal was simple: Gather and benchmark competitor data to uncover strategic insights, without inquiring the company using non-confidential information, to gain clarity and guide their next steps.

OUR SOLUTION

A comprehensive and granular assessment of competitor organizations

Using our unique and proprietary methodology, REVEAL, we developed extensive and detailed data lakes for each competitor in scope using multiple data sources – some of which were partially complete, while others were highly unstructured. These data lakes included information on talent pool, product portfolio and pipeline, end market customers, financial performance, and past strategic moves. This information was then systematically curated to create structured datasets that are easy to analyze. These datasets were then processed using customized frameworks based on client hypotheses and questions to unearth patterns and trends that validated or clarified our client’s understanding of their competitors.

Our approach combined curated data from secondary sources with first-hand information from expert interviews to:

• Develop a deep understanding of the talent make-up and distribution (e.g., by geography and technical skills)
• Understand resource allocation and investments in capability building
• Map the organization structure and its evolution over time
• Understand leadership dynamics
• Identify trends in hiring and attrition mapped to key events
• Understand the ways of working that influence company culture
• …and many more insights

Each of these dimensions were benchmarked across select competitors to develop a robust picture to shape strategic decisions and improve competitive positioning.

THE RESULTS

A confident path forward backed by robust data

Over a period of seven months, we delivered REVEAL assessments for four key competitors in a sequential manner, enabling application of new learnings to improve subsequent assessments. For each competitor, our client gained a data-backed view of their talent footprint and skills, capabilities and gaps, organizational maturity, sales approach, innovation pipeline, customer perspectives about the products, and access challenges, along with relevant metrics benchmarked to their organization. These rich insights enabled our client to test and validate key hypotheses they had about their competition.

These data-driven insights gave the client the confidence to act decisively. The insights not only supported immediate decision-making but also offered a broader perspective on potential growth areas and optimization opportunities.

At a-connect, we help clients navigate complexity with clarity. Whether you’re entering a new market, preparing for M&A, or reassessing internal capabilities, REVEAL delivers the insights you need, quickly and with real impact.