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Product vs. Solution

How would you define the difference between a "product" and a "solution"?

In general people seem to want to treat products as something tangible and solutions as something intangible. So hardware is a product, consulting is a service, and who knows what software would be! However, a product solves a problem for a market segment. Isn't that also the definition of a solution?

Don't think of product as only software or hardware; think of product as solving a market problem. This way you'll see that the software is only part of the solution.


Answered by Steve Johnson

producs vs solution

Posted by lokum at 2010-09-16 10:12 AM
A solution usually is build up of one or more products.For eg. I can have a product for customer support and another for subscriber self service but I can create a solution out of the two products where the customer support can support the subscribers who cannot self help themselves.

Product vs Solution

Posted by Steve Robins at 2011-07-01 03:50 PM
Here's the difference: a product is a single item while a solution includes everything that it takes to solve a problem - including your product, your partners' products, software, hardware, services, best practices and even the data you might provide to be used in the system.

I agree that solutions are less tangible but their components should be as clear as possible to ensure customer satisfaction.

More at The Solution Marketing Blog, http://www.SolutionMarketingBlog.com.