Whether through preparing killer proposals for new business problems, unlocking the potential of new tools or services, or cracking the latest constraints in resources, price, or timelines, solutions as a function has become mission critical in localization. Yet unlike translation, project management, and executive functions, solutions as a function has no formal definition, proscribed training for, or best practices on how to excel at it. What does excellence in solutions look like? How does one go about building a fantastic solution? In this panel discussion, we will draw from the experiences of three distinctly different perspectives of solutioneering to explore how solutions as a profession, business function, or problem solving role needs to evolve to meet today’s demanding business needs.

The solutions process is not well defined in our industry. It is difficult to determine what solution architects (SAs) do and how to know someone will be good at it, or how to discern a good solution from a mediocre one. In this interactive session, we will be bring 20+ years of experience and a passion for the process of creative problem-solving to tackle some of these questions: What are the most important skills for SAs? What does a good analytic process look like? What does a good report look like? And we will also include many of the qualified and quantified insights into the solutions process.

Key Topics: 

• What is a solution architect and what do they do?
• How to understand key concepts such as pricing, scale, and prioritization, leveraging ideas from data science, theory of constraints, and cost-quality curves.
• How to handle uncertainty and variance.
• Process optimization vs. process entrapment — when to break the mold.
• What does an outstanding proposal look like, and why it matters.
• How to successfully engage with the customer — and why SA’s might often be the most important person in the room to ensure deployment success.
• How to close the loop — leveraging what actually happened to improve your predictive powers of estimation.
• Looking ahead — how will the practice of solutions mature in the 21st century? Standards? Certifications? Credentials?

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