After a general introduction to Solutions in my previous article – I wanted to be more specific and to the point in the guideline/blueprint for introducing Solutions strategy into your organization.
Once again, this article is aimed at software houses which until now were mostly offering FTE’s/teams to clients and want to move into more Solutions oriented direction.
I give here straightforward points to follow, but as with every plan - its all in the execution!
1. Self-Assessment and Skill Mapping:
- Gather your Delivery, Presales, Sales and Marketing teams and evaluate current capabilities, strengths, and areas of expertise within your organization – don’t do wishful thinking, just state “as is”. Concentrate on solving business problems vs development problems so: We know how to move the company to the cloud vs We can provide client with DevOps Team.
- Identify steps and preparations needed to offer comprehensive solutions (i.e. Process description, FAQ, predicted pricing, sales and/or marketing materials etc.)
2. Define Your Value Proposition:
- List all aspects of why your Solutions has value - even the most obvious, then:
- Focus on the unique value and expertise your company brings to clients in comparison to the market, ask yourself what are you doing differently, what additional services you offer to the given Solution, how can you build on it.
3. Develop Specialized Solution Offerings:
- Based on the identified gaps and market demands, create specialized solution packages tailored to different business needs. I highly recommend preparing a “typical” project description including whole process with timeline, roles involved, steps, milestones, typical problems and how to solve them, and of course pricing. (we want to be prepared ahead of client meetings as much as possible, so as when prospects raises a question we answer with: in typical situation we recommend/our experience shows that XYZ is the right course of action vs famous in IT “it depends”)
- Implement Scalable Processes and Tools, develop standardized processes and tools to streamline the delivery of solutions across different clients and projects while ensuring flexibility to adapt to varying client requirements while maintaining consistency and quality.
4. Define responsible people for a given Offering and invest in their expertise and training:
- Offering/Solution needs to have an owner! Make it clear who is responsible.
- Surround the Owner with a team, and equip your team with the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver on the new solution offerings.
- Provide ongoing training and development opportunities to stay ahead of industry trends and technologies. (or, instead of provide - make them prepare a development path to increase their expertise - make them engaged!)
5. Build a Presale/Delivery Team:
- Establish a dedicated presale and delivery team to oversee projects, ensuring smooth execution and client satisfaction. (usually also the people who took active part in preparing the solution)
- This team should work closely with clients to understand their needs, propose tailored solutions, and manage project delivery. Also, thanks to increased knowledge overtime – be able to improve the offering, both from technical perspective or go-to-market perspective.
7. Develop clear and compelling Go-To-Market strategy around your new solution offerings to effectively communicate their value to potential clients. Prepare a presentation based on:
- Scope of the services existing on the market and where are we (incl. competition)
- Our Solution incl. technologies/business cases supported
- Attractiveness of our Solution (market valuation/growth)
- Prospect/Market selection criteria and the selected Market/Domain
- Current situation (what we have, what needs to be created/improved)
- Detailed activity plan (per month, with dates of completion)
- Requested investment – budget needed
- Present the Go-To-Market strategy internally, gather feedback and improve
8. Measure and Optimize Performance:
- Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success and impact of your solution offerings.
- Regularly review and analyze performance data to identify areas for improvement and optimization
9. Engage with Clients Proactively:
- Foster open communication channels with existing and potential clients to gather feedback and understand their evolving needs and challenges.
- Offer proactive solutions and recommendations to help clients achieve their business objectives.
- Continuously iterate on your solution offerings based on feedback, market trends, and changing client needs.
- Stay agile and adaptable to ensure your solutions remain relevant and competitive in the evolving software landscape.
- Depending on possibilities and the number of first selected Solutions i'd even consider to cut the lowest performing one every 6 months and replace it with new one.
By following this blueprint, software houses can successfully transition from offering body leasing services to delivering comprehensive solutions, positioning themselves as trusted partners capable of driving tangible business outcomes for their clients.
Still, it all comes to to execution, keeping the engagement high, learning and improving and most importantly holding to the process over time.
