In the mid-market B2B software space, product management is often a balancing act between customer needs, competitive differentiation, and investor expectations. For private equity (PE) portfolio companies, that balance is even more delicate. Teams inherit fragmented product lines, diverse customer bases, and the mandate to create value quickly.
So how can product leaders decide where to focus, what to build, and how to win? The answer lies in the intersection of Voice of the Customer (VoC) and Competitive Intelligence (CI), two disciplines that, when combined, transform product management from reactive to predictive.
At its core, VoC means systematically listening to customers, not just their wish lists, but their context. The most actionable insights come from mapping workflows, observing behaviors, and understanding why users make the decisions they do.
Consider this case: An AI scribing software company engaged 10EQS to evaluate how their customers use automation tools. Through expert interviews and workflow analysis, we found that most healthcare providers preferred voice dictation after sessions rather than live transcription. This insight shifted the product roadmap toward better workflow fit, improving adoption rates and clinician satisfaction.
In another study, a scheduling automation platform identified no-shows and inefficient waitlists as the top operational pain points. Based on these findings, product leaders prioritized automated backfilling and intelligent scheduling, features that directly addressed ROI drivers.
VoC tells you what customers need. CI tells you what the market already provides, and where differentiation lies. In one software engagement, 10EQS benchmarked competitors’ AI-enabled solutions and discovered that automation was becoming table stakes, not a differentiator. The real edge was in ease of integration and user experience.
For product managers, such intelligence reframes strategic questions:
The most powerful insights emerge when these two approaches converge. In a commercial real estate AI acquisitions software study, combining VoC (interviews with REITs and brokers) and CI (competitive benchmarking) revealed that automated deal sourcing was the single highest-value workflow improvement.
This clarity led the client to focus product investment on the automation module, while repositioning the platform as an end-to-end AI-enabled acquisition workflow tool. The result: a sharper GTM message, higher buyer confidence, and a roadmap built around verifiable customer value.
For private equity operators, embedding VoC and CI into portfolio governance isn’t just about product improvement; it’s about value creation.
When every roadmap investment can be traced to customer-validated demand or competitive whitespace, portfolio companies achieve:
Structured intelligence programs also empower PE firms to identify cross-portfolio synergies where shared insights can guide pricing, positioning, or expansion strategies across multiple assets.
To justify investment in structured research, product teams can track metrics such as:
These indicators not only quantify ROI but reinforce a culture of evidence-based decision-making.
Product management today is no longer about intuition or internal consensus. It’s about building an outside-in operating system for decision-making. When Voice of the Customer and Competitive Intelligence are integrated, product teams stop guessing and start leading.
VoC tells you what to build. CI tells you how to win. Together, they tell you where to invest.
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