Solution Architecture Function : Helping Customers go from Uncertainty to Creating Value

In this article, I will explore the importance of

• Solution Architecture function in a Software Product and Services Provider Organization.
• Becoming a Trusted Advisor to the Customers

The Age of Uncertainty

 “Institutions are tools to lower uncertainty so that we connect and exchange values” – Douglass North, 1993 Nobel Prize for Economics

Uncertainty is a heavy word in the Economics world, but it holds equal prominence in the business world, as business and economics go side by side. The businesses of today are getting reshaped by the evolving customer choices, technology disruption, geopolitical causes across geographical boundaries. The businesses of today must remain lean and agile to meet the Consumer expectation, take in its stride the market dynamics and still create Value for its customers and its stock holders.

Internet, social media, Artificially Intelligent products are helping companies manage its brand identity, product marketing, customer relationship management. Most of the businesses today are investing in the latest Digital Technologies. With shorter turn-around time to bring up and scale a product or an offering, requires getting the right Digital platform built with the appropriate software, implemented the correct way, on time and within budget. This is the route to meet the Customer, Consumer expectation and provide them with the desired Business Values.

“There is only one mantra for success, but every failure is unique.”

Why your organization needs Solution Architecture function?

Most of the big software products vendors have multiple Products and Platform based offerings to help businesses, with varying spending capacity for their growing Digital Business needs. Their products have various flavors and some overlapping features. Any potential customer of such a software vendor needs to be apprised of these and guided so that they can make the right investment and implementation choices. Sales team does a good job articulating the Product capabilities and features.

But holding a conversation with a diverse customer team consisting of Sponsor, Business, Technical and Infrastructure experts, mapping the requirement to a suite of products, implementation approach, delivery time, staffing and road-map to deliver the solution, risk mitigation, Governance, Change Management, deriving the Value from the investment.... Defining the balance between People, Process and Technology…well this may go well beyond a proper sales rep’s job requirement.

• Sometimes customer is not even sure of the budget that will be needed for this type of implementation. Customer may not have a very strong internal Technical team and may have been dependent on a vendor or a partner for their software development and implementation needs.
• In contrast, Digital Transformation of multi-national organizations operating across geographies such as NA, EMEA and APAC are more complicated. Their transformation may turn into a multi-year, multi-million-dollar engagement as these initiatives are usually a consolidation of Process, Infrastructure and Technology.

“Digital is not just a thing that you can you can buy and plug into the organization. It is multi-faceted and diverse and doesn’t just involve technology. Digital transformation is an ongoing process of changing the way you do business. It requires foundational investments in skills, projects, infrastructure, and, often, in cleaning up IT systems. It requires mixing people, machines, and business processes.” – Harvard Business Review

From a Small, Medium Enterprise to a Global Fortune 2000 Enterprise, any change to the process or technology brings a certain level of uncertainty initially in its success and on deriving Value from the investment.

"Uncertainty must be taken in a sense radically distinct from the familiar notion of risk, from which it has never been properly separated.... The essential fact is that 'risk' means in some cases a quantity susceptible of measurement, while at other times it is something distinctly not of this character; and there are far-reaching and crucial differences in the bearings of the phenomena depending on which of the two is really present and operating.... It will appear that a measurable uncertainty, or 'risk' proper, as we shall use the term, is so far different from an unmeasurable one that it is not in effect an uncertainty at all."

?— Frank Knight (1885–1972), Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit (1921), University of Chicago.

“You cannot be certain about uncertainty.” — Frank Knight

Uncertainty is worse than a Risk. Risks can be managed but uncertainties tend to become uncontrollable.

Any seasoned Business Executive wants the uncertainty to be eliminated.

This is where Solution Architecture team from the Software Vendor comes into play.

Solution Architecture is a before sale process. Most of the organizations globally are investing in presales process to grow Sales.

Companies with strong presales capabilities consistently achieve win rates of 40–50% in new business and 80–90% in renewal business—well above average rates. – Harvard Business Review

Today, this function holds a significant importance in an Experience consumption driven agile business world.

I feel, the quote from Mr. North can be analogous to the Solution Architecture function within an organization.

Solution Architecture (SA) is the institution which provides the platform and the framework to convert uncertainty into an achievable desired outcome, in a business transformation initiative. It does so by facilitating, regulating, driving communication and managing deliverable within various functions and departments in an organization with a potential or an existing client/ customer and its partners or vendors to create Value.

What this function does?

• Works with the customer to understand their business, technical needs and the Value they are trying to create for their customers / consumers.
• Work on identifying the Value drivers, KPI for the success and the potential risks involved in the engagement.
• Works on to craft the best possible architecture and solution to meet the customer's requirements. This may need coordinating internally with various teams including Architecture, Delivery, Product and Infrastructure teams.
• Works on to scope the effort, schedule, investment, the team needed to deliver the required solution and Values it will bring.
• Divides a complicated engagement across multiple phases. This way the risks of running a complicated engagement is turned into manageable chunks. Adopting a Phased approach in an implementation results in converting the Uncertainty into manageable chunks of Risks. With a risk mitigation plan these Risks can be managed more efficiently. The Phased approach at each stage brings in Value early to the customer. Customer does not have to wait for the whole engagement to complete to realize returns on its investment.
• Creates a visual road map depicting the milestones along with the Value they will bring at each milestone.
• Works to come up with a Risk mitigation and Governance plan.
• Runs this past the Customer to get a real time feedback on any hypothesis made.
• Coordinates with Sales, Services, Infrastructure, Leadership, partner, vendors and other functions, departments within their organization to harden the solution.
• Presents the solution and the Business Value it will create to the customers’ C-suite or the Sponsor.

Right from the first call to the final outcome, the Solution Architect works with the customer. Gets the solution validated and makes them believe in the choices they are making are the right ones.This process results in an uncertain customer feeling more confident about the solution and its investment.

Trusted Advisor

Whenever a prospective customer is investing in a result-oriented transformation of a business function, they want to work with someone who is an expert in this area of work and can help, guide them through it. They need a Trusted Advisor who can help them make these decisions and above all how their organization will realize Value from its investment and for its end consumers(customers). Solution Architects needs to rise up to become a Trusted Advisor to the customer.

Humans are naturally predisposed to trust. But earning someone's trust and keeping it requires integrity, commitment, technical ability and living up to expectations. So along with the hard skills this function needs very strong Soft skills to rise up to become a Trusted Advisor.

I will cover the Trusted Advisor role in more detail in a separate article.

I will henceforth refer to the Solution Architecture team member as a Trusted Advisor.

This Trusted Advisor changes an uncertain situation to a highly achievable outcome. As this Trusted Advisor will again work with the same customer on another opportunity, hence it is not about converting a Deal or achieving a Quarterly Target. 

It is about Building Trust, long lasting relationships with your Customers and Creating Value for them.

If you invest in this function, you will have Confident, Happy Customers always looking forward to working with you again.

Also, you will certainly meet your Sales Targets.

If your organization is not investing properly in this function, then it is time to re-evaluate it.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly mine and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any Organization.