The Solutions Director is a key role in the Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS) Pre-Sales organization involved in medium to large, multi-tower opportunities.
Key responsibilities:
- Typically involved from Deal Qualification to Contract Signature, Sales to Delivery Handover and for a limited period in the execution to provide continuity
- Responsible for development of the end-to-end solution (Transformation, Transition and Run) covering multiple service lines and/or technology domains
- Owns internal stakeholder management and visibility of core solution related metrics to approvers
- Supports Sales Lead in pre-qualification activities, including ROM costing and early solution shaping as appropriate
- Develops solution & response strategy, standard versus non-standard approach, aligned to the sales strategy. Clearly communicates to all bid team members.
- Ensures all client requirements are analyzed and distributed for solutioning, without gaps or duplication
- Designs the solution and ensures the relevant solution artefacts are completed in line with global process
- Excellent understanding of the competitor landscape, providing insight into the sales plan on how to beat competition
- Provide expertise on commercially structuring deals to differentiate from the competition
- Works with Deal Analyst to set up ADMT and create pricing structure; communicates structure & tagging strategy
- Convert Price to Win into Cost to Win by Tower
- Reviews and inputs to the contract schedules, SoW and SLA among other documents
- Supports Tower Lead with 3rd parties direct engagements when needed
- Contributes to proposal writing and guides the bid team on alignment to sales strategy, themes, scoring mechanism
- Ensures Solution Approval in a timely manner in line with the Global Solution Approval Process and supports towers when required with their approvals providing an end-to-end view for their approvers
- Leads the solution team in all client facing interactions
- Supports Commercial Lead with negotiation of solution related schedules (SoW, SLA etc.)
- Manages solution team and ensures solution related deliverables are completed
- Identifies and adds to the response and other capabilities that will bring value to the opportunity and/or show Capgemini capability
- Ensures the solution and commercials are sustainable for the future, with ability to grow and upsell
- Identifies and documents potential areas for upsell that have been discussed with client and handover to Account Team
Key skills:
Customer Engagement:
- Requirement for client facing skills will vary with an entry-level Solution Lead being required past client-facing experience to a senior Solution Leads having executive client-facing experience
- Able to articulate both transformational and managed services elements of deals
- Strong presentational and communication skills; ability to lead / anchor client conversations; ability to pitch at right depth to different internal/external audiences
- Ability to articulate value, benefits, storyline to client
- Strong writing skills
Management:
- Leadership of the solution team on deal; ability to coach, steer, challenge, guide support in case of challenges or if tower lead is struggling
- Strong team leader to manage and coach team through tough deadlines
- Stakeholder management, engagement and socialization; Senior solution leads have strong skills in handling organizational conflict across various parts of Capgemini (i.e. GBLs, BUs)
Technical/Portfolio:
- Across all towers; typically, some depth within 1 or 2 towers (via previous role); ability to challenge & understand responses across the technical landscape.
Commercial:
- Ability to link technical aspects of solution with commercial response,
- Ability to understand contracts & schedules and ability to draft solution related contract schedules,
- Risk identification, treatment and management,
- Negotiation skills (including with subcontractors),
Financial:
- Support Client business case creation,
- Support price shaping, benchmarking, pricing models
- Cost analysis, drive competitiveness
- Cost breakdown & what-if analysis