Solution Information

General Description:

Solution information refers to (technical) knowledge on how a problem can be solved, or a need satisfied through a concrete product specification or service: Which new combination effectively satisfies the need? What type of technical process can produce a preferred molecular structure? How must a marketing campaign be created to appeal to latent customer needs efficiently? How can a logistics system possibly satisfy individual customer needs in a timely manner?

Solution information stands for the efficiency of value creation. Developing the "right" product alone is not sufficient to ensure a company’s survival in the long-term. Crucial to a company’s success is therefore its ability to integrate available resources into the value creation process efficiently. The availability of solution information is a relevant factor here. Having the right solution information as well as understanding how it is procured and used determines the efficiency of value creation.

Bearers of Solution Information

Traditional bearers of solution information are suppliers.After all, developers, production experts, and product managers are the ones responsible for converting knowledge gained on customer needs ("needs information") into solutions. These company employees can build upon their own existing knowledge and, at the same time, refer back to information relating to applications and processes requiring a high level of company-specific knowledge best. However, when developing new products and processes, knowledge obtained externally can often increase the efficiency of a company’s own value creation system. The idea behind "benchmarking" begins exactly here. Companies from different industrial sectors compare processes involved in carrying out specific tasks. On the basis of key measures, they then try to find the most efficiently operating company. Once found, this company’s processes are thoroughly analyzed and subsequently adapted by other companies. Similarly, networking with external partners in the form of alliances and co-operations serves as a further means for gaining access to better, (and externally already available), solution knowledge for research and development. The goal is to increase the basis for finding a solution to a problem: Knowledge obtained from different fields is pooled and then recombined to create a better solution. The advantage of networks is obvious: A larger number of participants increases the solution space and, in addition, provides for a quicker and/or more efficient treatment of assigned tasks. Often, the desired solution already exists, even if only available in a slightly modified form. Using available solutions hinders making mistakes and accelerates the solution finding process. Buying goods and services on the market is based on a similar mechanism. A company that buys a machine from a supplier transfers the supplier’s solution knowledge needed for its production process into its own domain. The same applies to hiring an advertising agency for the creation of a website: The necessary solution knowledge is drawn from a specifically defined external partner. A traditional network relationship between companies or long-term partners works in much the same way as when purchasing goods and services on the market; they access external solution knowledge.

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