I recently wrote an article about how important it is to ask WHY when the client wants to do a customization in Business Central. Now I have a tip about a question the consultant should not ask – it is: "HOW DO YOU WANT IT?"
If a consultant asks this, it basically means "I do not know" and expects the client to come up with some solution or idea. The problem is that often the client does not know. The key users of the client are usually not BC experts. They know their work and current process but do not know all the features and best practices available in Business Central.
So a common client's answer to the "How do you want it?" question is "We want to have it the same as in our old ERP." This is especially true when you are doing a new BC implementation. Their old ERP system is something the client knows and tends to do the things as before. But this approach can lead to many unnecessary customizations – the way it is done now might not be the best way how to do it in BC.
What is a good replacement question for "How do you want it?" if you do not know what to ask – it might be the "How do you do it in your old ERP?" This will allow you to get more insight into their current process and also hear about the client's biggest pains and issues. Afterwards a good consultant should come up with a solution that combines the current client's process with the best practices and functionality available in BC or can suggest how to redesign the current process to better match the BC standard. Customization in BC can also be the solution but must be justified — and it should be the consultant who proposes it, not the client.
After understanding the client's needs and current process, the consultant should be the one who is proposing a solution while the client should only provide the business requirements and decide if the proposed solution best fits their needs.
It does not need to be the one and only solution. There could also be variants with a clear definition and identified pros and cons. The client can then choose from the variants which were already validated by the consultant. This makes the whole analysis faster and avoids long analysis meetings without any meaningful output.
Even if you do not get approval for your first suggestion, the subsequent discussion can be much more specific because you already have some common ground which both client and consultant can understand or visualize.
So regardless of whether you are discussing the setup of the BC standard or the customization, as a consultant, try to come up with your suggestion on how to do things. The consultant is the one who is responsible for suggesting the solutions, while the client evaluates and approves them.