How to Make “Solutions” More Than a Buzzword

A solutions-based strategy is not an easy path to take. For many companies, it means never daring to speak the word. That’s because for many buyers, the S-word has become so overused that it has become meaningless.

But terminology is a trivial matter compared with the real challenges in solutions, say the companies in ITSMA’s Solutions Council. Solutions mean a longer sales cycle, they mean knowing the customer inside out, and they require unprecedented levels of cooperation both inside the organization and with external partners supplying pieces of the solution.

Yet despite all these issues, more than ever customers want what’s beneath these challenges—a true solution to their business issues—according to ITSMA research.

That’s why our council members continue to see their solutions revenues grow as a percentage of overall revenue. And it’s why we at ITSMA have worked with the council for more than a year to develop a useful framework for helping companies understand how to organize themselves to deliver solutions more effectively.

Keeping All the Engines Running Smoothly

The key question for many companies today is not whether to do solutions at all but how to make solutions a more efficient, effective part of a multidisciplinary business. These companies are struggling to find the right level of organizational integration necessary to support solutions. By integration, I mean the organizational structures and processes needed to ensure the right levels of participation, planning, training, and support of the people in the discrete product and service units, many of whom will resist the extra time, cost, and sales cycle length that come with solutions. There needs to be enough organizational integration to keep the solutions engine running smoothly while not disturbing the success of discrete products and services.

One of the most important findings of our research was that companies that excel at solutions had very different organizational models. There was no correlation between solutions organization and solutions success. Previously, ITSMA hypothesized that to be successful, the predominant go-to-market strategy had to be solutions. Now we have irrefutable evidence that companies can succeed with solutions being part of a portfolio that also includes discrete products and services.

Five Options for Delivering Solutions

But that then begs the question, how should I organize my company to do everything well? Working with the member companies of the Solutions Council, we have developed the ITSMA Solutions Organizational Integration Model.

The model describes five different archetypes that companies can use to integrate solutions development and delivery processes into their organizations, from low levels of organizational integration to a company that is wholly based around solutions—where individual divisions and business units based on discrete product and services disappear. The model helps companies determine their current levels of organizational integration and helps them determine when they should consider moving to a greater or lesser degree of integration.

Marketing’s Importance Increases

Another important finding that emerged from our research is that as companies increase their levels of solutions integration, marketing becomes more important to success. There is a correlation between sophistication in solutions and the strategic importance of marketing.

At its core, this linkage begins with research. Though sales is closest to the customer and builds the deepest relationships, marketing paints the larger picture of market intelligence. As solutions become more complex and more customized, that market intelligence becomes ever more vital in defining customer needs and, by extension, the solutions themselves.

The findings of our research make it clear: To succeed with solutions, marketing needs to step up and help make it so.

To see the five different archetypes of the ITSMA Solutions Integration Model and highlights of the research with the Solutions Council, ITSMA clients can go here.

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ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.