“Surely any decent system would …..”

Over the years of managing system implementations customers have said to me “Surely any decent system would have this feature as standard functionality”.

This emotional statement is usually said from the customers assumption. I would like to answer them in jest with, “This is system is indecent and don’t call me Shirley*”.

The customer usually says it to me when they have identified a requirement and they believe that the requirement should be provided as part of the standard solution. Where in fact a system enhancement is needed to meet their requirement. This change typically involves additional time and money to the developing the solution.

One way to possibly avoid this assumption is to provide the customer with an understating with the software functionality as early as possible in the engagement. This can be done by;

• Providing demos or trial sessions during the sales period. This does well to provide the customer with the big picture solution however it will not cover the detail requirements.

• During Requirements gathering set up some basic configuration in the software and demo the critical areas.

If you get the customer to understand what is and is not available in a standard solution early in the project then there will be less surprises as you go forward.

*Reference – Airplane\ Flying High (1980) Paramount Pictures