01 — Challenge
Aptum Technologies (formerly Cogeco Peer 1) faced declining sales, competitive losses, and positioning confusion in a saturated IT solutions market.
While the cloud market was growing at 22% CAGR with companies recognizing the value of digital transformation, most enterprises couldn't fully migrate to cloud immediately. Major players like Microsoft, IBM, SAP, and Oracle were intensifying focus on hybrid IT. However, Aptum's sales approach wasn't aligned with this market shift. Sellers struggled to differentiate from competitors and position their hybrid IT capabilities effectively.
Without clear guidance on customer pain points, competitive positioning, or solution-selling methodology, the sales team defaulted to transactional selling that commoditized their offerings and failed to demonstrate strategic value.
02 — Solution
I conducted comprehensive market research through seller interviews and customer sessions to identify market opportunities and repositioning strategy. The research revealed four critical customer pain points: overwhelming technology options, difficulty keeping pace with changing technology, struggles understanding cost-effectiveness, and lack of internal IT capabilities for strategy development.
Based on these insights, I developed new positioning establishing Aptum as "your trusted partner, providing choice and flexibility to adapt solutions that fit your needs while simplifying decision-making and ongoing management."
I created four benefit pillars to differentiate Aptum: custom solutions with comprehensive, tailored hybrid IT portfolio; expertise through responsiveness and deep business understanding; performance at scale with flexible, agile infrastructure; and global coverage with local expertise.
The repositioning emphasized Aptum as frontrunners in hybrid IT who approach security comprehensively, develop flexible customized solutions, and simplify technology navigation.
Deliverables included a discovery document mapping market landscape and competitive analysis, a sales playbook with solution-selling methodology and customer personas, and a partner playbook enabling channel selling with the new positioning and messaging framework.
03 — Impact
The market research and repositioning drove a 43% increase in sales adoption rate within six months, transforming how sellers engaged customers.
By providing clear guidance on customer pain points and competitive differentiators, the research enabled sellers to transition from transactional to strategic advisory relationships, positioning Aptum as the trusted hybrid IT partner in an increasingly complex market landscape.
