Tracking Competitors through Patent Data

Technology is at the forefront of businesses, both products and services as well as the processes used to generate them. Businesses continually invest in strategic resources, such as research and development and marketing and advertising, along with realigning their organizational objectives to renew their competitive capabilities to stay ahead of the competition.

Analyzing competitors on a continuous basis, helps a business to gain strategic advantage, determine its weaknesses and identify threats and opportunities. The importance of obtaining sufficient competitive intelligence to gain and maintain a significant competitive edge is well established. There are various strategies and techniques to go about competitor analysis and gather competitive intelligence. One source that is often not leveraged enough, is analyzing competitors’ intellectual property or patent assets. Patent filings are usually the first indication of a new product or solution of any technological development or advancement.

Why Patent Data for Competitive Intelligence?

Patent data proves to be an indispensable source of competitive intelligence. Patent information can be used to gauge the present and future activities of the competitors, as well as understand where a specific industry is headed. A competitor analysis using patent data can reveal the following:

• The competitors with the strongest and weakest position in the market
• The competitors’ R&D direction and focus
• The competitors’ current technology developments and future direction
• Potential partnerships, alliances, and M&A among competing companies
• The geographical preferences and markets in which the competition is most active and where it intends to grow in the future
• Emerging technologies and companies in the area of interest

Analyzing complex patent data for multiple competitors along different dimensions is however an onerous task. The existing methods to study patent data and gather insights are laborious and require months of effort by subject matter experts. This makes it too expensive and ineffective for businesses to follow such approaches.

How to track competition in 3 simple steps?

Relecura addresses these issues and provides a solution that aids you in analyzing your competition and extracting insights within minutes. Our automated workflows enable you to gain the much-needed competitive intelligence and monitor your competitors on an ongoing basis. Watch the video below to understand how it works.