%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2020 %T Selling Data-Based Value in Business-to-Business Markets %A Tuija Rantala %A Tiina Apilo %A Katariina Palomäki %A Katri Valkokari %K B2B sales %K big data %K business-to-business sales %K data-based value %K digital solutions %K value sales %X The purpose of this paper is to study what aspects a sales function needs to consider when selling new data-based value in business-to-business (B2B) markets. The paper combines literature on the business-to-business sales process with data-based value. The study includes altogether 29 qualitative interviews from eight companies, representing seller companies at different stages in big data utilization. In addition, the study includes customer perspectives with six interviews from four customer companies. As a result, selling new data-based value is studied from several perspectives. First, we evaluate the impacts of the generated new data-based value from the seller and the market perspective. Secondly, we study what sales representatives need to understand, both from the customer’s perspective, and in relation to data and digital solutions during the sales process. Thirdly, on the customer side, we explore the roles of “digitalist” and old-school buyers, and their effect on the sales process. Our research findings highlight the crucial understanding of customer business and knowledge about real-time data management, digital twins, and artificial intelligence (AI) when selling data-based solutions that create real-time data, recommendations, and value for a customer’s business. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 10 %P 45-53 %8 01/2020 %G eng %U timreview.ca/article/1313 %N 1 %1 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Tuija Rantala, M.Sc. (Tech.) works as Senior Scientist at the VTT Business, Innovation and Foresight research area. For several years, she has managed and worked in innovation and risk management projects with the B2B industry. She has applied and developed qualitative risk and opportunity management methods for different contexts. Her main research interests are related to new business creation, innovation management, open innovation, and risk management. Lately, she has studied the Internet of Things (IoT), social media, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), and intellectual property (IP) as enablers for new business and challenges they will pose to B2B companies. %2 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Dr. Tiina Apilo is a Senior Scientist at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. She joined VTT in 1994 where she has gained broad experience on corporate renewal and service business acceleration. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Lappeenranta University of Technology in 2010. The title of her dissertation was "A model for corporate renewal: requirements for innovation management". Her recent research interests have focused on AI as a booster of service business, innovation ecosystems, and future ecosystemic business. %3 VTT Research Centre of Finland Katariina Palomäki has a M.Sc. (Tech.) degree in Industrial Management and Engineering and a BA (Hons) degree in Business and Management. She has worked as a research scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland since 2010. Katariina has worked in both commercial and research projects in national and international contexts. In the area of business development and research, the key topics she has dealt with during the last few years include business model development, service business development, management of business networks, and the perspectives of sustainability and circular business. %4 VTT Research Centre of Finland Katri Valkokari is a Research Manager working in the business, innovation, and foresight research area at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. She has over 15 years of experience in both research and practical development work on business networks, ecosystems, and networked business operations. She has, for example, held the post of programme manager in the large FIMECC (GP4V) and DIMECC (REBUS) research programmes, and worked for many industrial companies, large and small. Katri has published several articles, managerial guidebooks and other publications related to collaboration models, innovation, and knowledge management as well as sustainability. When it comes to ecosystems and networks, Valkokari believes versatility is the key to creating true impact. When networks are formed openly, they can be a powerful tool for solving many of society’s problems. %& 45 %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1313