Your Built-In Competitive Advantage
Finally, a partner should be able to help you pinpoint what it is that differentiates your business. For example, many companies focus too much on areas such as their accountancy system.
What differentiates your business, however, isn’t likely to be how you sort your stock items; it will be how you relate to your customers and partners. Barnett says you need to differentiate between business software and a true business solution.
The first merely offers a “utility” function; like electricity, you need it to carry out your operations, but it isn’t something your customers will notice about you.
That said, a partner who really knows your industry sector will almost certainly have done similar things for other people. They’ll know the hidden pitfalls in particular solutions and will be able to highlight plus points you wouldn’t otherwise have noticed.
See original article at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/partners/minimize_risk.mspx