The technology marketplace has changed dramatically of late. For forty years, IT was characterized by a “build it and they will come” mentality. Engineers developed great products and businesses flocked to buy them. But now we’re seeing a whole new reality: customers know what they want, and they’re not afraid to demand it. And what they’re demanding are integrated, business-value-oriented solutions.

In the solutions world, marketing needs to be more than just a pipeline – marketing needs to lead the company. This briefing outlines a structured and disciplined approach to marketing transformation that will bring short- and longer-term success.

Based on more than three years of research, dialogue, and hands-on consulting with companies making the move to solutions, the briefing is designed to provide ideas, industry examples, and practical recommendations about how marketing should support the development, communication, and sale of solutions.

The briefing examines three key initiatives that cut across the entire buying process:

• Sharpening the focus on customer needs to support an outside-in, collaborative approach to solutions development
• Rethinking marketing communications to engage customers in real dialogues about solutions
• Realigning marketing and sales around the solutions buying cycle

The briefing also includes best-practice examples from leaders in solutions marketing, including Accenture, Avaya, EDS, IBM, Lucent, Novell, Salesforce.com, and Sprint.