Enterprise customers typically acquire new information technology products and solutions in order to:

1. Implement and/or expand new and/or existing capabilities for a specific project or business initiative.
2. Replace or upgrade an existing IT capability or service, either to displace a different supplier or due to an evolution of technology.
3. To explore the business application that new technological capabilities can bring to the enterprise.

As always, the business case for doing any of the above hinges on the customer’s need to make money, save money, or mitigate risk. Regardless of the customers’ motivation for acquiring new technology, the effective technical sales professional can do a great deal to ensure that the customer is equipped to successfully exploit and implement the new capability for their business. In all of the three cases mentioned above, technical sellers can propose that customers adopt a Center of Excellence approach to foster the usage of the new technology. This is particularly true in the third case, which is somewhat of a “build it and they will come” approach to business technology strategy. An organizational structure and high-level execution plan for creating such an organization is discussed further here: http://soa.sys-con.com/node/2028482

The exploration and addition of new IT capabilities in a domain (for example, business intelligence or big data) that is new to the enterprise is best accomplished via a disiplined approach that covers all aspects associated with the implementation of enterprise-class IT solutions. It also requires the customer’s IT staff and leadership to act as internal consultants for their company, marketing and seeking opportunities with their business leaders for the new capabilities to be exploited. As strategic partners to their customers, the technical sales professional can do a great deal to ensure that the customer is successful in these efforts. Helping customers establish a CoE by sharing best practices, recommending training, assisting in solution support planning, etc. are crucial to the successful adoption of new solutions.