What’s Your Solution Type?

As b-to-b organizations have moved to solutions over the past several years, SiriusDecisions has rolled out a solution model to clarify the meaning of “solution” and describe the different approaches to solution implementation and marketing. The model describes the following types of b-to-b offerings:

• Product/service. This standalone offering solves a business issue but is not integrated with other products. Marketing products and services tend to require little organization across business units, and messaging is generally focused on the specific benefits of the offering.
• Marketecture. A group of products or services is marketed as a solution to a segment of buyers (e.g. education, retail), but the products or services remain standalone offerings without any integration. Marketecture is really a messaging veneer across a group of products. Marketecture tends to be led by marketing and requires messaging that resonates with the segment to which the products or services are being marketed.
• Bundle. A bundle is a preconfigured package of products or services – sometimes from several business units – that are brought together under one SKU. No research and development work is performed to knit a bundle’s components together, but they are bundled to meet the needs of certain customer segments.
• Integrated solutions. Multiple components are brought together to address a customer need that the individual components could not meet on their own. Integrated solutions generally require development work and collaboration across business units and external partners.

We talk to clients daily about their solution approach and which options are best for their needs. Many organizations employ a mix of approaches, such as using marketecture for targets that do not require highly specialized offerings, bundles where the option makes it simpler for buyers and sellers to select the appropriate group of options, and integrated solutions to meet more-complex unmet needs.