Johannesburg, 01 Jun 2015
These days, IT departments have access to products that can do anything from making their systems run faster to enabling secure remote access. However, many of these products, while useful in serving their purpose, fall short of solving business problems or enabling new opportunities. That's where solutions come in.
"There's a big difference between solutions and products," says Sintrex's business development director Julian Mathys. "Products are about what they can do, how they are built, and what they can deliver. Solutions take products and map them to specific business issues or opportunities to allow the products to be an enabler of the solution. A product, implemented on its own, will only provide a fraction of the benefit a solution can offer."
This is key for those companies looking to gain a competitive edge or respond to the dynamics occurring in their industry. While the features and capabilities of products are important, this is the potential that solutions can make use of in order to create real business benefit. "Many companies invest in top-of-the-range products and wonder why the business outcomes are still lacking. These outcomes can only be achieved if the challenges and opportunities faced by a business are evaluated, and a combination of products and services are linked as a solution," Mathys explains.
He cites company networks as an example. These may seem to be an arrangement of routers and switches that allow the business to communicate internally and externally, but are the foundation of how modern companies operate. "The network is the means through which business is conducted, and merely having the fastest routers doesn't necessarily mean the network will be fast. A good solution will use the products that form the basis of the network and create a practice that will allow businesses to obtain real operational benefits."
This extends to things like security and monitoring, he adds, where mapping specific products to business needs is essential to gaining the desired outcomes. "In order to obtain the benefits and outcomes a business requires, and in order to meet its challenges, a solution must be more than just a bundle of a number of products together. Services are as vital to effective solutions, providing the link that allows all of the benefits the products promise to realise, and offering measurable results."
According to Mathys, many companies do not see the added value offered by a packaged or tailor-made solution, opting to save costs by focusing on the products only. He points out that a comprehensive solution created in order to meet a specific need ultimately reduces costs and improves efficiencies in the long run.
"When services are mapped to products, the resulting solution will increase the value of the investment by allowing for greater convenience, control, and dependability. Businesses don't need technology or products or features, they need problems solved. Only through solutions are companies able to gain all of the benefits offered by the products while accessing the advantages of having a service provider ensure they are integrated into the strategy and needs of the business."
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