Project Overview & Headline

The first centralized Market Intelligence function at Solaris was designed and implemented to transform how the company consumed market data. This new operation provided the C-suite and product teams with a continuous stream of actionable insights, directly influencing the strategic roadmap and leading to a measurable improvement in the company's competitive positioning.

 

The Context & Challenge

Solaris was operating in a fast-moving FinTech market but lacked a structured way to track external forces. Decisions were often made based on anecdotal evidence or siloed information. This led to several challenges:
 

• Reactive Strategy: The company was frequently surprised by competitor moves and market shifts.

• Wasted Resources: Engineering and marketing efforts were sometimes misaligned with true market needs.

• Missed Opportunities: Without a systematic approach to scanning the horizon, potential growth areas were being overlooked.
   

The leadership team needed a reliable source of truth to make proactive, data-informed decisions about company strategy, product features, and market entry.

 

The Process & The Role

The project entailed building this function from the ground up. The goal was to create a robust, scalable engine for intelligence - not just a series of reports. The process was structured in four key phases:

 

Phase 1: Stakeholder Discovery & Needs Assessment

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The process began with in-depth interviews with the C-suite and leaders from Product, Sales, and Marketing. The goal was to understand their biggest blind spots and define their "Key Intelligence Questions" (KIQs). This ensured that the intelligence gathered would be directly relevant and immediately useful.

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Phase 2: Designing the Intelligence Framework

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Based on the KIQs, a holistic framework was designed to monitor the three core areas of intelligence:

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1. Competitive Intelligence: Systematically tracking key competitors’ product launches, pricing changes, strategic hires, and client wins.

2. Market & Trend Analysis: Monitoring emerging technologies (like AI in FinTech), regulatory changes, new customer behaviors, and macroeconomic trends.

3. Voice of the Customer (VoC): Creating a process to synthesize feedback from sales calls, support tickets, and public reviews to understand customer pain points and desires at scale.
    

Phase 3: Implementation & Operationalizing

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A suite of tools and processes was implemented to automate data collection and create a centralized intelligence hub (e.g., on Notion/Confluence). This turned a manual, ad-hoc effort into an efficient, always-on operation, including listening dashboards, news feeds, and internal workflows.

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Phase 4: Creating the C-Level Briefing & Communication Cadence

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The cornerstone of the project was turning raw data into actionable wisdom by establishing a regular communication cadence. The key deliverable was the Quarterly C-Level Strategy Briefing.

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Each briefing presented more than just data; it provided:

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• Insight Synthesis: What does this information mean for the business?

• Opportunity & Risk Analysis: Where are the emerging threats and biggest growth levers?

• Concrete Recommended Actions: A clear "so what?" with strategic recommendations for the leadership team to debate and act upon.

 

The Results & Impact

The Market Intelligence operation became the central nervous system for strategic decision-making at Solaris. Its impact was felt across the company:
 

• Informed Strategic Planning: The C-suite used the intelligence briefings to greenlight a major investment into a new product line, directly responding to a competitive gap identified in the analysis.

• Data-Driven Product Roadmap: The analysis of customer demand and competitor offerings drove a significant reprioritization of the product roadmap, aligning development resources with the highest-impact opportunities.

• Increased Sales Effectiveness: Equipping the sales team with "battlecards" and real-time insights led to a measurable increase in their competitive win-rate and strengthened their confidence in the field.

• Proactive Market Positioning: A major regulatory shift was identified well ahead of the competition, allowing the company to proactively adapt its product and marketing strategy.

• Operational Efficiency: The new function eliminated redundant, siloed research efforts, freeing up valuable senior leadership time to focus on core strategic initiatives.