Ask any software vendor for their definition of a business solution and you will receive answers focusing on functionality designed to help automate business processes, empowering every aspect of the business, and ultimately accelerating an organization's success. Words such as insight, efficiency, flexibility, cost reduction, responsiveness, and many more are used to voice proven return on investment.
But what answers would you get when you pose the same questions to the customers? The first thing that you will notice is that the answers will not be so consistent. Most decision makers do have their own reasons why they want to have a software solution in their organization. What they want to achieve is related to the unique history of that company, their incomparable way of doing things, and the industry sector to which they belong. Their objectives also have a direct link with the company's business plan and strategic objectives. This means a customer's definition of a business solution is never universal but always specific.
Although business solutions are designed to achieve the same results within organizations, customers usually seek for very specific solutions for resolving their unique problems and supporting the business challenges as envisioned by them. No matter how rich the functionality of the solution is, unique customer's expectations cannot just be delivered off the shelf. This gap needs to be bridged by the implementation process.
One might think that implementing business solutions in small and mid-sized companies is less complex compared to the large-scaled implementations in corporations. Be careful not to jump to conclusions here. In general, business processes are less standardized in these types of businesses. Instead, you will find a rich and interesting variety of procedures representing the unique way of doing things. This makes the need for a unique business solution even greater and demands a streamlined implementation process.
By now, you will have understood that the implementation process is a key part of the overall solution. But before you march into your customer's premises to start implementing, it could be wise to give some thought to the meaning of all this for your customer. Imagine yourself in your customer's situation and don't take things for granted. How will your implementation strategy affect this organization? Can they conceive what an implementation process is, and even more important, what added value it means for them? Are they aware of the risks, and do they know that it needs both parties to work together to implement a project successfully? Are they aware what their role would be?
Business solution implementations are rife with challenges. Even consultants, who have been delivering these solutions for a number of years, run into issues on projects that they may not have previously encountered. No matter the years of training and shadowing experienced colleagues, unique challenges are bound to come up. Having this in mind, it is not surprising that our customers sometimes cannot estimate the level of effort that they need to put into this implementation and that they are not aware of the importance of their involvement. It is then important for the consulting teams to make sure the customer understands their expectations in the overall solution delivery process.
Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) is a research organization that has several publications on ERP/CRM solutions. In their research whitepaper titled 5 Tips to Assure a Successful ERP Implementation, they bring up some key points for the customer's implementation team.
Management buy-in is also considered one of the keys to successful implementations. TEC believes that it is essential that corporate management is actively involved in the system selection decision by naming an executive sponsor who participates and provides the necessary support for the project. A senior management sponsor to champion the expected organizational change is highlighted as "a critical, must-have step" for successful implementations.
Ensuring the participation of a cross-functional team is another key to success noted by TEC. A team comprised of all functional divisions and management levels within the organization facilitates active ownership of the project by the entire user community. This also ensures that the implementation team will be able to reflect the requirements of the users, thereby maximizing the value delivered by the solution.
These are good points for the customer team to keep in mind, so that they understand their responsibilities for implementing the solution. As the next section will illustrate, teams that ignore these lessons do so at their own peril.