Understanding the New Solutions Development Process

Solutions Marketing:
Understanding the New Solutions
Development Process
June 2014
Presented by:
Solutions Insights, Inc.
In Partnership with:
Center for Services
Leadership
Institute for the Study of
Business Management

© 2014 Solutions Insights. All Rights Reserved.
1
Agenda
●  Methodology
●  Key Insights
●  Current Landscape
●  Stakeholders & Processes
●  Solutions Standardization
●  Challenges

3
The survey was designed to better
understand how companies develop new
solutions.
Survey Participants
We invited members of the
Solutions Marketing LinkedIn
community, as well as our clients
and professional colleagues, to
participate.
Our Partners
The Institute for the Study of Business Management (ISBM) at Penn
State and the Center for Services Leadership (CSL) at Arizona State
invited their supporters and contacts.
Authors and Subject Matter Experts
The survey was developed by Solutions Insights in collaboration with
a group of professional solutions development professionals at
companies such as Cisco, Nokia, Kimberly-Clarke, GE Healthcare and
IBM.

4
Participants included solutions marketing
practitioners from 72 companies.
§  Abacus International Ltd
§  Alcatel-Lucent
§  Arizona Chemical
§  BASF
§  Blackboard
§  Blood Systems
§  Charles River Development
§  Chemtura
§  Ciena
§  Cisco
§  Claranet
§  ClickSoftware
§  Cognizant
§  CompuCom
§  Cooley LLP
§  CUMIS
§  Danko
§  Dimension Data
§  DOOR3
§  EMC
§  Ericsson
§  Exagrid Systems
§  Finpro
§  Fujitsu Services
§  GE
§  GE Healthcare
§  GlaxoSmithKline
§  Hewlett-Packard
§  IBM
§  Infosys
§  International Medical Center
§  IQ Business Ltd
§  Kaman Industrial Technologies
§  Long Pier Solutions
§  Medtronic
§  Mindshare
§  Ecolab
§  Ness Technologies
§  New Pig
§  Northrop Grumman IS
§  Optus
§  Outotec
§  Parker Hannifin
§  PCM
§  Philips Healthcare
§  Pivotal
§  Plainview
§  Precise ParkLink Inc.
§  Propel Growth
§  RailComm
§  Red Spot Marketing
§  Roche Diagnostics Int’l
§  Satellite Tracking of People LLC
§  SiteSpect INC
§  Swagelok Company
§  The Co-operators
§  Unify
§  Westinghouse Electric
§  Wipro
§  WNS Global Services
§  WORX LIGHT, LLC
§  Yavapai Regional Capital, Inc.
§  Zebra Technologies
NOTE: There were 9 companies that qualified and participated, but
requested their names remain confidential.

6
We identified three major survey results.
ImportanceofSolutions
• Solutions
continue to
represent an
increasingly
larger share of
B2B revenue,
with clear
expectations of
growth in
revenues and
strategic
importance
StandardDevelopment
Practices
• There is no
consistent
standard
approach,
methodology
or best
practices as
time-to-market
and satisfying
customer
demand drives
execution
Challenges
• Organizational
alignment and
cross-
functional
support for a
standardized
development
process is the
most
consistent
challenge

The Current Solutions
Landscape

8
There was a consistent use of Solutions
Insight’s definition of a solution.
How does your company define a solution? How is it similar or different from
the solution definition outlined at the beginning of this survey?
(N=53)
Create a pie chart based upon the
categories and numbers below
Source: SI Online Survey: Solutions Development Benchmarking, April 2014
Solutions Insights’ Definition of a “solution”:
"A combination of products, services, and intellectual property focused on a customer 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 of its partners, and the solutions
implementer can be the vendor, the partner, the customer or a combination of the three."
Quotes:
•  “Products (hardware and
applications) and services combined
to address customer issues and
needs.”
•  “We address unmet customer with
value oriented solutions. Today,
those are mostly product based.”
•  “End-to-end software platform,
hosted, managed, with enhanced
support services.”
•  “The ability to use innovation and
technology to solve our customers'
most pressing issues and challenges.”
•  “Same as your definition.”
Similar to
SI’s
definition
70%
Product-
based
17%
Solving a
customer
problem
9%
Don’t know
4%

9
Increasing revenues are driving solutions
development, but so are relationship-
building & competitive differentiation.
Note: Percentages represent the combined number of respondents who ranked the objective either #1 or #2 in importance
What are the most important objectives of your solutions business?
Please rank these five areas in order of highest-to-lowest priority. No two objectives can share the
same rank (i.e., only one objective can be ranked number 1, one objective number 2, and so on.)
(N=62)
56%
44%
42%
39%
16%
Increase revenues
Develop better relationships and sell at a higher
level in the customer’s organization
Increase profitability
Create strong differentiation from the competition
in terms of what we offer
Promote the company’s brand and position as a
thought leader

10
Solutions are predicted to be even more
important in the overall success of companies.
How important are solutions revenues to the overall success of your company?
(N=65)
Quotes:
•  “We see the need to shift to
solutions since our products
have become a commodity.”
•  “Almost all of our customers
ask for solutions instead of
only products/services.”
•  “Our company has shifted to
more of a “big box” solutions
outsourcing model.”
9%
17%
15%
29%
17%
31%
40%
17%
9%
2%
72%
20%
5%
2%
Extremely Important
Very Important
Important
Somewhat Important
Not Important at All
5 years ago Today 5 years from now

12
Business Units are leading the charge, but
solutions development is still taking place in
a variety of places.
Which group(s) in your company is responsible for creating or developing
solutions? (N=53)
Note: Multiple responses allowed
38%
48%
52%
There is a specific group that
creates/develops solutions
across multiple business units
Business units often collaborate
in the solutions development
process
Each business unit is responsible
for creating its own solutions
Quotes:
•  “It’s really a company-driven
effort.”
•  “It’s a combination of R&D,
Product Management, and Product
Marketing.”
•  “We have solutioning people in
each BU to draw from.”
•  “This is exactly our problem!”
•  “There is a central “development”
function but BU’s have
responsibility for creating strategy
and developing requirements.”
•  “We are struggling to define
accountability.”

13
Most solutions are selected and approved by
senior management.
Who is responsible for deciding whether or not to create or develop a new
solution? (N=60)
66%
38%
23%
Senior executives/
directors
Handled differently within
each business unit
Board or council
representing key internal
groups across the
company or business unit
Note: Multiple responses allowed
Quotes:
•  “Our process is owned by the
Product Development &
Marketing division.”
•  “This has been a constant
headache for Marketing, and our
biggest internal hurdle.”
•  “Our Services Development unit.”
•  “We have a single group that
helps multiple BU’s, which can be
a challenge.”
•  “We have a new services/
solutions introduction process
and committee.”

14
Sales, R&D and solutions marketers are
most likely to be involved in the process.
What role do individuals filling each of the following roles within your
organization play in the solutions development process? (N=58)
68%
64%
63%
50%
49%
48%
46%
36%
18%
2%
Sales
R & D
Solutions Marketer
Product Manager
Services Marketer
Services Manager
Product Marketer
Partners
Finance
HR
Note: Displayed only roles that were marked as having a major impact

16
Solutions standardization is critical to
solutions success for most companies.
How important is it that the elements of your solution are standardized (i.e.,
easily repeatable from customer to customer)? (N=61)
23%
36%
28%
10%
1% 2% Extremely
Important
Very Important
Important
Somewhat
Important
Not Important
I don’t know
Quotes:
•  “It helps customers to better
understand your offer.”
•  “This is challenging for us at
present.”
•  “Economically this is very
important for us.”
•  “Hardware can be standard,
software package is standard,
but implementation &
configuration has to be
customized.”

17
But more than half of the respondents said
that fewer than 60% of their solutions were
at least 50% standardized.
Across your solutions portfolio, what percentage of your solutions are at least
50% standardized? (N=61)
23%
16%
13%
13%
23%
12%
1-19%
20-39%
40-59%
60-79%
80-100%
Not sure
Quotes:
•  “More of our solutions are
standardized than our delivery
organizations believe.”
•  “Solutions are always tailored
to specific client context/
situation.”
•  “Solutions usually consist of
3-10 different standardized
components/elements.”
•  “Many are standardized to an
approach, framework or
methodology level. However
they are very flexible within
this.”

18
Most companies don’t have a solutions
development process but those that do use one
that is different from product development.
Is there a difference between the
process used for solutions
development and the process used to
develop products or services? (N=25)
56%
40%
4%
Yes
No
I don't
know
43%
57%
Yes
No
Do you have a formal solutions
development process?
(N=60)
Quotes:
•  “In process of developing one right now.”
•  “The solutions process is much more
consumer-need driven.”
Quotes:
•  “We have a similar gate model, but
different requirements/checklists.”
•  “Not really; it’s just flow chart
dynamics.”
•  “Both follow a similar path.”

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Cross-functional communication and time-
to-market are the top two challenges.
Please rate the following activities in your solutions development process in
terms of difficulty. (N=55)
Rated on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the most difficult
1.89
2.62
3.36
3.42
3.72
Securing marketing resources
Capturing the mindshare of the sales
organization
Securing product development/engineering
resources
Getting the solution to market quickly
Cross-functional communication and
cooperation

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For More Information,
Contact:
Steve Hurley
Managing Director
Email: shurley@solutionsinsights.com
Tel: 781-929-8570
Twitter: @stphurley15
Website: www.solutionsinsights.com

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