

Ask HN: Enterprise -- What exactly is a “Solution?” - chatmasta

We&#x27;ve all seen the word &quot;solution&quot; in enterprise marketing buzzspeak, usually in the form of a top-level navigation tab.<p>What exactly <i>is</i> a &quot;solution&quot; in Enterprise parlance? To me it seems to be a &quot;use case.&quot; Since each use case represents a distinct market segment, each one has its own marketing materials. It&#x27;s just another way to market the same product to different people.<p>What does enterprise HN think?
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brd
"Use case" is an appropriate way to describe a solution. From the perspective
of a Solution Architect, I'd say its mostly marketing fluff but the reason the
term caught on is the distinction between delivering a system vs. delivering a
system plus the guidance/procedures to successfully leverage it.

I rarely get to just code something; oftentimes I need to understand the goal,
the entirety of the existing process (because most people only know their
little piece) and then figure out what makes the most sense to solve for X.
There's a lot of non-technical heavy lifting involved in successfully
delivering something in the enterprise. That coupled with the obsession over
buzz words is likely why "solution" has taken hold in the enterprise space and
no where else.

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mobiplayer
That's it. You're not selling a product or a system, you're selling a solution
to a problem. E.g:

Problem: Managing your customer's data, bills, etc on paper is tedious.

Solution: Deploy a product, adapt it to the company's processes (or create new
ones), create documentation, train people.

Enterprises don't usually buy "off-the-shelf" products as they need heavy
customization to be included in already existent processes.

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MalcolmDiggs
When I see a "solutions" tab, all I think is "click here to learn what we do,
without actually learning what we do, or what anything costs"

It's just a way to position your offering such that it would require the
potential customer to engage further with you (in some hi-touch capacity)
before they can convert.

It avoids the distasteful "add to cart" button for products/services that are
priced so high that adding to cart would seem ridiculous.

