Ask a software vendor for their definition of a business solution and you may receive answers focusing on functionalities 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 illustrate proven returns on investment.

But what answers would you get when you pose the same questions to the customers? Customer responses typically tend to be less certain and quite inconsistent. Most decision makers do have their own reasons about 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 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 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-scale implementations in big corporations. Be careful not to jump to conclusions here. In general, business processes may be less standardized in smaller businesses. But you are bound to find a rich and interesting variety of procedures representing their 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 would 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 does it mean 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 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.