In this next post in my series on Power Platform solution architecture, we’re going to focus on the first part we’d do as ‘discovery’ when handling a new lead or customer who we may end up doing a collaborative project or implementation with. We’ll focus on the things we should be doing from the very start that we should then use as contextual knowledge throughout the rest of the engagement with the customer.
What insights should we be gathering?
So let’s quickly remind ourselves what we should actually be finding out about in the initial discovery phase for a customer engagement. At the very start we should be finding out information about the organisation we’ll be engaging with. The things like who they are, how large they are, the structure of their organisation, where they operate, their mission statement and more.
This kind of information can tell us as solution architects a LOT about the customer that can be very valuable come the requirements gathering and implementation stages of an engagement. Let’s say we find out the information around where the organisation operates and based on that knowledge we now know our solution has to comply with various data regulations which we’ll have to take into account perhaps.
Straight away with that example you can see where we gather value from collecting this kind of information and these insights about the organisation we’re engaging with.
Website
So, one of the first places we can go to find information about the customer and their organisation will simply be their public company website! This will tell us loads of information about the organisation and it’s current standpoint, what their mission is and what they do.
For each of the organisations I work with one of the first things I do is head over to their website to find their mission statement. It’s important we reflect understanding of the customers mission when engaging with them to drive solutions that will be a good fit for their organisation and their values.
Social media
The next place we can get super valuable information from about a customer is their social media sites. These will be super helpful in finding out live and current information about organisations such as teams work and how they collaborate, recent major company activities such as mergers and acquisitions as well as things like events the organisation is putting on or paying interest in.
Again this simply gives us valuable background information about the organisation that we can use to build solutions that fit the values of that organisation.
How does this help?
With all of this type of information we’re able to have a great current picture of the customer and any affairs going on as we speak which may alter how we interact with them and put us in the best position to be talking to that customer with a good understanding of their values and how they work.
Stay tuned for more coming up on how discovery works in solution architecture as part of this series friends. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions around this topic friends! 🚀