Having a team dedicated to competitive intelligence is a strategic move for Sopra Banking Software. It allows us to maintain a clear vision of the financial services market, guides tactical decisions, and ensures the competitiveness of our product offering. As a result, we’re able to improve customer satisfaction in a constantly changing landscape.
Abantika Chatterjee’s job focuses on keeping SBS teams informed, centralizing data collection and dissemination to optimize resources, and helping make informed decisions.
With seven years of experience in business and strategic intelligence, Abantika joined SBS in 2022. From the beginning, she was “very keen to learn about new strategies adopted by our competitors”. Today, as Head of Competitive Intelligence, Abantika explains her job, the issues at stake, and the challenges she faces on a daily basis.
You’re responsible for competitive intelligence: Can you tell us what your job involves?
Abantika Chatterjee: As Head of Competitive Intelligence, my job, along with my team, is to collect and analyze information. The goal is to pinpoint the strengths, weaknesses, and positioning of our competitors. Monitoring the competition is essential: It allows us to identify growth strategies, trends, and emerging technologies. We also track market developments, and opportunities, plus customer activities, needs, and preferences.
Finally, the team conducts country and product research. This allows us to inform our stakeholders of the latest political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal developments in the country in question.
Overall, my goal is to provide strategic information and recommendations to ensure the long-term success of Sopra Banking Software.
Who benefits the most from these strategic insights and recommendations?
Abantika Chatterjee: Sales teams, product marketing, supply chain, account managers, and management.
How do you deliver strategic recommendations?
Abantika Chatterjee: We gather information about our customers and competitors on a digital platform, and share it with employees in the form of news feeds, summaries, and specialized studies. We use two methods for sharing information with stakeholders: Disseminate it in the form of “Push” instant alerts, competitor and key account digests, and distribute it on demand via a portal for dedicated competitive research requests.
How is your team composed?
Abantika Chatterjee: The Competitive Intelligence (CI) team consists of myself and two analysts. We’re part of the Market Intelligence team, and of course, we have the support of the Digital team for our collaborative tools.
Does the CI team handle all of SBS’s business intelligence?
Abantika Chatterjee: Yes and no. To ensure our competitive intelligence work is effective, we collaborate with the sales and marketing teams, as well as the product and offering teams. That way, we’re sure to keep up with industry trends, helping our teams meet their customers’ needs.
What do you like about competitive intelligence?
Abantika Chatterjee: Competitive intelligence is fascinating. The changing landscape of the banking world and the arrival of new technologies, players, and challenges means we’re always learning.
In addition, my job allows me to use my analytical skills and creativity to process and present information from complex and raw data. The information is then analyzed and delivered to our stakeholders, helping them make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. That’s something I really enjoy!
What do your colleagues think makes you good at your job?
Abantika Chatterjee: My colleagues can answer that better than I can! That said, from a purely statistical standpoint, I can proudly say the demand for our services continues to skyrocket, meaning the quality of our work is appreciated by our clients. Our team even has pending requests from existing and new stakeholders.
What challenges does competitive intelligence present to you?
Abantika Chatterjee: Competitive intelligence is a complex process. It requires a significant amount of research, analysis, and critical thinking. Often, I’m confronted with an abundance of information, and filtering out what’s relevant becomes a challenge. There are also times when data is lacking, making it difficult to analyze accurately.
Then I have to work on verifying the authenticity of the information sources. It’s a challenge! Competitive intelligence is a dynamic environment, so it’s easy to miss information. To avoid that, I have to make sure my team stays on top of the latest news.
What solution have you found to overcome these challenges?
Abantika Chatterjee: I have a well-defined and structured competitive intelligence process. It helps me overcome the challenges of identifying and validating information sources, selecting information, and analyzing data. I also keep up with the latest information and use various sources to ensure accuracy.
You’re based in New Delhi. What’s the main challenge you experience working in an international team? And can you tell us something about the newly opened space?
Abantika Chatterjee: An international team means working in different time zones. But everyone benefits, because a lot of the work we do is shared the next day at noon, which is the morning for our European colleagues. It’s like having an extra half a day. However, that means we have to adjust our working hours to make international calls.
The new building is state-of-the-art and its design echoes the SBS brand image. It’s spacious, with industrial interiors and lots of greenery.
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