IT solutions are integrated bundles of products and services that create high value for the customer by meeting individual technical, organizational, and business needs. The complexity of designing and provisioning IT solutions requires companies to restructure their organizations towards supporting customer-relational lifecycle activities. Hence, researchers particularly focus on developing methods for designing IT solutions. In this paper, we suggest reconceptualising the fundamental process of solution engineering by highlighting the role of sales in integrating requirements elicitation and exploiting business opportunities. Furthermore, we include the phase of module engineering to capture experiences from providing IT solutions. Based on a multiple case study analysing IT solution procurement processes, we argue that the extant set of design methods still follow the traditional product-centric processes of first producing and then selling IT solutions. Hence, we suggest requirements for a holistic IT solution engineering approach by combining implications from literature and our case study.     «

IT solutions are integrated bundles of products and services that create high value for the customer by meeting individual technical, organizational, and business needs. The complexity of designing and provisioning IT solutions requires companies to restructure their organizations towards supporting customer-relational lifecycle activities. Hence, researchers particularly focus on developing methods for designing IT solutions. In this paper, we suggest reconceptualising the fundamental process o...     »