A business solution should be about driving values in the customer's organization. Period! As we discussed in Chapter 1, Background and Concepts, ERP and CRM solutions are mission critical because of the core functions that they support, including quote-to-order entry, order fulfillment, receipts and payments, HR and payroll, inventory management, demand forecasting and sales pipeline, and customer relationship management. Based on the number of organizational functions that interface with these solutions and the extent to which they depend on these systems, it is easy to see the impact of the system on that organization. A good sales team will articulate this value during the sales cycle, and position the solution in terms of metrics that the customer can relate to.

It is easier to drive executive support for a project in a customer's organization when there is a value associated with the solution. Executive support is absolutely critical...