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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:

Services: Strategic Alignment

Aligning the Organization Around Solutions Strategy


The Challenge

Solutions continue to be an enigma to many companies. They want to be seen as a “solutions company,” but have yet to think through the organizational and operational implications.  

Some are comfortable with simply adding solutions language to their marketing and sales vernacular. Others are driven to make sure that every part of their organization is tailored to be able to provide real solutions – offerings that resolve complex business needs and provide tangible, measureable results.

We find companies face a range of strategic and organizational challenges around solutions, including:

  • Building consensus around a common definition of “solutions” and a taxonomy that guides solutions management and operations
  • Determining how much of the offering portfolio should be allocated to integrated solutions vs. discrete products and/or services
  • Changing the organizational structure to facilitate solutions development, marketing, sales and delivery
  • Establishing the right metrics so that solutions initiatives can be accurately evaluated
  • Creating a culture by which both product and services-based Business Units understand what they need to invest in the company’s solutions business

Our Approach

Before charging down a solutions-focused path, we recommend you pause and make sure you select the right path. There is no “one size fits all” approach to building a profitable solutions business. Rather, you need to select, develop, and build alignment around a solutions business model based upon your particular product and services mix, corporate culture, competitive position, geographic footprint, and a number of other variables. 

At Solutions Insights, we help companies work through these issues in several ways, including: 
  • Business Case Analysis: Developing credible financial models that provide the costs and benefits of enhancing your solutions capabilities, including projected investment, market demand, revenue, delivery costs, and margin
  • Strategy Development and Alignment: Determining how to integrate the key components of a solutions business -- including solutions development, marketing, sales, delivery, support, and business unit management – into overall corporate strategy
  • Organization Assessment and Change: Identifying necessary points of organizational change, potential costs and risks, and strategies for managing the transition

Client Examples

  • For a company in the automated manufacturing business, ran a series of workshops with marketing and operations executives to gain a broad consensus on the perception of solutions and how operating a solutions company would be different than how they were operating at the time
  • For a leading data storage company, determined the targeted percentage of solutions revenues that they would like to attain within 3-5 years in addition to existing product and services revenues
  • For a large systems integrator, created a financial pro forma forecast that detailed the various financial scenarios around a newly proposed solutions business model

Want to Learn More?

Contact Steve Hurley at shurley@solutionsinsights.com or +1-781-929-8570

 

Read our Strategic Alignment blog.

Learn more about our Strategic Alignment Marketing Frameworks.