February 2007

Description:

In late 2002, BEA faced a problem that many technology companies were running up against: In a post-bubble world, buyers were holding their purse strings more tightly, and they were no longer responding to the highly technical pitches that many technology companies had traditionally relied on. Instead, buyers wanted products and services that could help them meet their business needs.

"The marketing department knew it needed to do something to help the company adjust to this new buyer reality, and we knew that making the move to solutions was the right thing to do," said Sarika Agrawal, vice president of Solutions and Emerging Products Marketing at BEA.

Breaking out of its previous back-seat role, marketing stepped to the fore to lead BEA’s cross-functional effort to deliver solutions. The marketing team gathered data to paint a vision for solutions, then engaged customers and partners for the deep insight needed to develop the right ones. The team tested, refined, and proved the solutions concept through trial-and-error, and then executed its full-blown go-to-market strategy, including a major push around branding and public relations. Thoroughly measuring and communicating results has built credibility to the point where solutions are now central to BEA's business model.

This ITSMA Case Study explores how a product-led software company with limited resources and a highly technical product defined, built, grew, and operationalized a solutions business. Nuanced strategy, creative discipline, and adherence to principles of marketing and change management have helped BEA to persevere—and even position itself for renewed prosperity amidst vastly larger competitors—despite rapid market change.

Key takeaways include:

• Marketing cannot lead from the “ivory tower,” but must work shoulder-to-shoulder with sales and services to break down silos and collaborate around solutions.
• Services can enable revenue growth in a solutions marketplace without becoming its driver, especially with effective alliances; product companies can maintain solution margin by keeping license fees in balance with services.
• A horizontal solutions strategy offers many benefits to the mid-sized company; customized vertical solutions can be delivered leveraging the expertise of partners.
• Capturing and communicating data not only measures ROI, but also motivates people; leverage data and measure results to build a compelling case for solutions.