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Steve Hurley interviews Nina Hargus, VP of Global Services at EMC Corporation on some of the difficulties in enabling the channel to sell solutions

Defining a "Solution"

"Solutions" is one of those slippery words that can mean anything and everything. Working with some of the world's top technology companies, ITSMA has developed a useful definition:

"A combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on a specific business problem that drives measurable business value. The solutions components can be from either the vendor and one or more partners, and the solutions implementer can be the vendor, the partner, the customer itself, or a combination of the three."

It's a bit dense, and doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Nevertheless, we have found that it clicks with both buyers and sellers given its emphasis on solving specific business problems with measurable business value. Understood as such, the "S" word can get beyond the hype and provide important direction to business strategy and operations.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 8:54 AM
8:54AM

New Point of View on "Four Steps to Solutions Growth"

I'm pleased to announce the launch our new Point of View series.

Over the next several months, we'll release a series of short, research-based perspectives on how companies can improve performance in their solutions businesses.

Our first Point of View, Adjusting to the New Reality: Four Steps to Solutions Growth, is available now. It outlines four initiatives companies can take to accelerate solutions growth through the rest of 2009 while also repositioning their organizations for longer-term success.

Based on new research with our partner ITSMA, the Point of View highlights findings from a survey with more than 30 B2B solutions providers on four critical initiatives:

  • Improving the solutions development process
  • Reorienting value propositions and messaging
  • Enhancing customer connections
  • Better equipping the sales force to sell solutions

For example, we see that companies are looking mostly to develop more packaged and "mass-customized" solutions rather than relying mainly on fully customized, one-off solutions. Only 16% of the companies surveyed are looking to increase the number of highly customized solutions.

You can download the Point of View pdf here. We'd love to know what you think.

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Reader Comments (1)

Wonderful post... Very informational and educational as usual!

Acai Optimum

March 15, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJay B.

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