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Defining a "Solution"

"Solutions" is one of those slippery words that can mean anything and everything. In the context of B2B companies, however, the term has taken on a specific meaning.  A council of leading solutions marketing professionals, sponsored by ITSMA, developed the following definition:

"A solution is a combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on a specific business problem that drives measurable business value."

While we like and agree with this definition, we believe that it's missing s few important elements, so here is our definition:

"A combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on a specific business problem or opportunity that drives measurable business value and can be significantly standardized. 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 longer, and doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but we nevertheless have found that it clicks with both buyers and sellers given its emphasis on solving specific business problems with measurable business value.  Also, the value is determined by the amount of the solution that is delivered by each of the parties involved in creating the solution. Understood as such, the word "solution" can get beyond the hype and provide important direction to business strategy and operations.

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Recent Engagements

  • > Assisted a large IT solutions company to strengthen its messaging to the market
  • > Rebranded a non-profit organization in the economic development sector so that it reflects its new mission and services areas, including the development of real solutions
  • > Helped a large telecommunications firm redesign its customer reference program to integrate it across the company and ensure greater value to marketing, sales, and participating customers
  • > Built a much stronger key account planning program for a large systems integrator
  • > Trained the sales force of a large semi-conductor company on how to articulate the value of their solutions 
  • > Redesigned a marketing metrics system for a large software company to better understand their success in selling solutions
  • > Broke down the silos between Business Units of a large professional services company to allow for better communications and resources-sharing to be able to develop solutions

 

For more examples of our work:

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Insights

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to what experts have to say about critical solutions issues. Leading professionals in both the private sector and academic community have commented on such topics as the impact of cloud computing on solutions development, the role of social media, and how solutions marketing differs from product and services marketing. Watch videos of solutions experts.
 

 

Solutions Insights has written a series of thoughtful papers on key solutions issues. These expert perspectives, called Point of View articles, address a range of important topics that companies need to deal with as they move from a product, inward focus to a more solutions, customer-centric model. The POVs will help you better understand how to develop, market, and sell your complex solutions sets. Go to our point of view articles.
 

 

Look through our collection of publications on solutions-related issues. Some of these thought-provoking items have been written by Solutions Insights staff, while others have been written by outside experts and industry leading professionals. Read a case study or report.