1. Functional Process

Process Overview

The workstream Competitive Insight is part of ‘Sales Strategy’.  A Competitive Insight summarizes the market intelligence gathered from business interactions with the accounts. It helps building the business context in order to better define value propositions to the market.

The purpose of the workstream Competitive Insight inside the CRM is to improve the process by allowing all stakeholders to enter and review data inside a single tool. This avoids multiple Excel files shared across teams.

Sub processes

• Competitive intelligence non customer related: the aim of the this process is to collect the maximum of information on competitors, competitors products hierarchies, and their capacities.
• Competitive intelligence customer related: the aim is to collect market competitors information for a combination Customer/Product.

2. Detailed Process: Competitive intelligence non customer related

2.1 Data Model & security

Salesforce object model

All objects are custom objects:

• Competitor

This object is dedicated to build a competitors hierarchy as we have for accounts. The hierarchy has two levels: parent competitor/competitor site (as we have corporate group/account). Each type has its own record type. The competitors are shared among GBUs, as we do for accounts.

• Competitor Product

This object is dedicated to build a competitor product hierarchy as we have for Solvay product. The hierarchy will have 4 levels:

• 1. Competitor Product Level 1: GBU
  2. Competitor Product Level 2: Solvay product level 2
  3. Competitor Product Level 3: Solvay product level 3
  4. Competitor Product Level 4: Solvay product level 4 or Competitor product (depending on GBUs)

Competitor Products levels 1 to 3 are not linked to competitors. Competitor Products level 4 are linked to a parent competitor. 

• Capacity

This object makes the link between a competitor site and a competitor product to store competitive information on Marketable capacity, capacity variation, etc.

Data Model

Competitor Visibility and Rights

Competitor Product Visibility and Rights

Capacity Visibility and Rights

2.3. Specific rules & automation

Validation Process 

Competitor and competitor product creation can be done by any user. De-duplication rules are set on the name and on the city, and will notify the users in case of any duplicates found but do not block the competitor creation. 

Once the competitor/competitor product is created, it is sent for approval to the Data Steward of the GBU:

A picklist “Status” is available on the Competitor page in order to define the status of the Competitor. Following values are available:

• Requested for approval
• Approved
• Rejected

Once validated, the record is locked, and only GBU data steward or system admin can update.

Competitor Email trigger

Saving a new Competitor record after creation triggers a validation workflow and a request email sent to the GBU Data Steward (Queue defined based on the field “GBU”). The email will contain the following text, and will be sent in the formal Solvay template:

4. History

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