The importance of a methodology for solution selection

Business solutions delivery generally, and CRM and ERP consulting specifically, is very different from deploying other solutions such as an e-mail system. E-mail communications are undoubtedly important for companies, although in today's environment the social aspect seems to be just as important for intra-office communications. Yet, a company could certainly function for a foreseeable period without e-mails—people may actually have to resort to what now seems to be an archaic form of communication and pick up a phone to talk to other parties. As humorous as it may seem, it wouldn't be far from reality, and some employees would argue that their efficiencies may actually increase during that e-mail downtime as they are actually able to focus on their core job requirements.

In contrast to infrastructure solutions, CRM and ERP systems often form the backbone of the company. These systems support core functions such as quote-to-order entry, order fulfillment, receipts and payments, HR and payroll, inventory management, distribution/production planning, demand forecasting, and sales pipeline management, among other things. A company would be crippled if these systems were down for a long period of time. This is why CRM and ERP systems are typically perceived as mission-critical systems, while infrastructure systems are most often seen as business-critical systems.

From a solution delivery perspective, CRM and ERP engagements are also considerably different compared to an infrastructure project. The following illustration depicts some of the products in the Microsoft portfolio. As you go from left to right in this spectrum, the projected solution delivery effort as well as configuration, customizations, and complexity increase exponentially as shown in the following diagram:

The key point in this graphical representation is that CRM and ERP solutions require specific configurations and customizations that are far more than the typical infrastructure solutions. When you think of how these solutions are applied to multiple functions of organizations in many different industries and verticals, this is understandable. As the customization need increases, so does the effort and complexity. This is not to say that all infrastructure projects will be straight off-the-shelf solutions, or that all CRM and ERP projects will be highly customized solutions. Any solution will have a range of complexity, from a quick, rapid deployment, to a longer, complex solution development and deployment. The point of emphasis is that this greater complexity implies a greater need for having an implementation methodology that ensures appropriate project and quality management during the solution delivery process. This in essence is what Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step delivers, which we will introduce in the next section.

As we noted earlier, CRM and ERP solutions often support the key business functions of an organization. Hence customers take a long time to do the necessary due diligence before selecting the right solution to meet their needs. Given this criticality, if a methodology not just helps in the solution delivery life cycle, but also goes beyond that to help customers with their selection process, such a method can be of the utmost value to the customer. This is important from the sellers' perspective as well—given the criticality, customers go through the due diligence in selecting their solution provider or implementer as they do on the business application itself. If the solution provider offers to the customers a methodology that will help them select the right solution to meet their needs and then deliver the envisioned solution, the customers will certainly be more willing to build a long-term relationship with that partner.

During the solution selection/due diligence process, Sure Step guides the customer through their requirements gathering process, including ascertaining their current ("as-is") processes and determining their future ("to-be") processes. Then the customer is able to establish how each of the requirements fits within the proposed solution. Additionally, the customer is able to determine the necessary infrastructure components (hardware and any third-party software), as well as the release schedule (overall plan with resource needs from both the consulting and customer organization). The key output of the due diligence phase is a solution blueprint that articulates the proposed solution for the customer, as well as a statement of work that explains how the solution blueprint will be executed.