Here’s a non standard list of what I think CIOs should get excited about when considering upgrade or deployment of WSS V3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.
Flexibility of Topology – Ability to optimize where you put what components
Self service recycle bin and 2nd stage Admin recycle bin – Reduce IT costs around restore of documents and lists
Workflow on lists – ability to consolidate business process based applications
Host Header & Corporate Mode Consolidation – Host both types from the same server
Portal Site type moved to common template – greater support for WSS/SPS consolidation more scale for hosting "portals"
Publishing integration – includes master pages, consolidation of CMS/SharePoint
Cross Forest People Picker – supporting fewer deployments and better end user experience
Support for virtualization of production environments – Ability to combine customized business unit environments onto common hardware
Support for virtualization of non production environments – ability to virtualize dev/test/staging, etc…
Pluggable Auth provider – Providing flexible open LDAP directories or SQL databases
Web based Forms – consolidation of consensus type applications, and dependencies on Infopath on all clients using those forms and consolidation of FrontPage published sites (ASP apps) with access dbs
MultiLingual MySites and Areas (sites) – providing consolidation of regions or the globe
End user migration of lists and docs – (Prime)
Flexible Webpart Deployment – Add once and it gets replicated to the other servers via Timer job
Reports center KPI, BI, Excel – Consolidation and consistent UI of reporting structures for
Business Data Catalog – Out of the box integration with ERP systems for search, very HOT
Jerry Yasir's Blog 