Microsoft Business Solutions- Axapta...replacement of existing business management system

To protect the confidentiality of our client and their customer, we have not detailed names

Profile
Sales situations invariably reveal the most interesting set of circumstances some of which put you on the 'back foot'. Imagine a scenario where a client is genuinely interested in your solution, but his parent company have said they will solve it for them but it's going to take 4 or 5 years to complete in house. Does this mean that the situation is impossible to win? No, - but it will need a strong business case to cover spending money in what is only a 'gap' period.

Background
A Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) reseller is trying to sell Axapta?? to a clothing manufacturer to improve their business processes. The customer currently uses an AS400 based solution that is tailored specifically to its needs by an in-house development team. The system needs upgrading and their parent company is working on a plan to install a company-wide replacement. However, it is five years until the replacement system comes on-line and the local office believes there could be valid business reasons to install a new system now - even if it is only a stop gap.

Problem
How does the sponsor go about persuading the board of the parent company to do something now rather than wait another five years? They feel it is worth doing but even if the benefits of the Axapta?? solution were clear, would they be sufficient to convince the board that a stop-gap measure would make economic sense?

Solution
Areas of financial benefits such as reduced customer lead time, batch processing of orders and over-night credit card verification had been assumed. However, when using Shark it became clear that the guesses were not right for the customer???s business.

Shark correctly identified and quantified the real areas in their business that Axapta?? would improve.

These were:

improved stock control
improving revenue from their customers
purchasing savings
reduced transaction cost
labour saving
Using Shark, a Business case for the client???s decision makers was generated in front of the customer. This contained all of these jointly sponsored areas of benefit and included the appropriate ROI calculations of Payback, NPV and IRR with full Discounted cash flows. This report was used to supplement the technical proposal.

Result
The economic benefits of the Axapta?? solution were shown to financially justify the cost of the program and reinforced the feelings of the sponsor. This was sufficient to convince the board that the project should be investigated thoroughly and taken to the next stage. The Shark ROI tool had proved it made good business sense to invest in a solution that was previously regarded as unnecessary.