Let’s start by defining what I mean by a “solutions company.” It’s an organization that uses a mix of product/technology and professional services to address a customer’s business problem. Most companies are exclusively a product or services company, but business problems are increasingly requiring a solutions approach to effectively deliver the desired outcome. (This is especially true in my field of big data analytics, where data is unique to a customer and subject matter experts must appropriately tune algorithms even when the problem is common across the industry.) Naturally most of us in product management have a bias to focus on the product, so here are some tips to be effective in a company (and market) focused on solutions. 


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