| |
ERP Remote Support: Microsoft Great Plains analysis - pluses & minuses
By Andrew Karasev
Former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise and currently Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains serves midsize and corporate clients as ERP system in the following countries and regions: USA, Canada, Mexico and Latin America, Brazil (where MBS actually promotes Navision and has GP for multinational corporations), Saudi Arabia, OAE, Egypt and the rest of Middle East, South Africa, Nigeria and the whole African continent, U.K. and Ireland, partially France and Belgium, Poland, Pakistan, South East Asia, Philippines and Pacific. The fact that Ernst & Young consulting subdivision was specializing in supporting Great Plains eEnterprise for clients in remote locations, such as Bermuda, having small offices over there and later on E&Y had to stop it – due to the fact that Microsoft purchased GPS – left large number of so-called orphan clients, who are still without support and using Dynamics, eEnterprise or even old DOS-based Great Plains Accounting. As the result – there is very lucrative market niche for Microsoft Great Plains remote support. In this small article we’ll give you pluses and minuses of GP remote support – so to say optimistic and pessimistic points of view.
Optimistic View:
1. Internet Connection Performance. 10 years ago it would not be possible to support remote clients who doesn’t have dedicated high-speed line from you to their system. Old PC Anywhere would do the job from the software side, but again, it is not as efficient as Citrix, Microsoft Terminal Server/Remote Desktop Connection
2. Web-Sessions. This technology allows you share computer screen with the user and so, provide remote support user training, especially if you can use VOIP or computer telephony (such as Skype)
3. Customization Technology. Microsoft Great Plains has long history of Great Plains Dexterity customization and to Dexterity chunk as being easily integrated with Great Plains workstation is very convenient for being distributed and installed remotely. Other customization technologies: VBA/Modifier (DYNAMICS.VBA, FORMS.DIC files), ReportWriter (REPORTS.DIC file), SQL custom stored procedures and scripts require more expertise and efforts to be installed remotely, but it is still doable
4. IT Department. Usually midsize and large businesses or non-profit organizations have IT department or specialist in staff, who can facilitate the support and follow technical instructions.
Pessimistic View:
1. High Consulting Rates. If you plan to serve remote support clients from the US – you will probably find out that the normal US hourly rates are too high for the remote places.
2. Difficult to get new clients. Yes – you should probably target existing orphans only. New sales would be difficult without high quality presentation and visit onsite
3. Language Barrier. If you consider supporting the country where English is not in use, especially among the system users – you should have multi-lingual support technicians
4. Different Time Zone. If your employees do not agree to be available overnight, especially if the portion of your remote clientele doesn’t allow you to establish attractive incentives for nightly remote support.
You can always appeal to our expertise. Give us a call: 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com
About the Author
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/5659.html
| If you wish to add the above article to your website or newsletters then please include the "Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/5659.html" as shown above and make it hyperlinked. |
| Some other articles by Andrew Karasev | SAP Business One Implementation for Multinational Companies with subsidiaries in Brazil
SAP B1 has over 200 installations in Brazil at this time and the number of new customers is growing. In this article we would like to recommend SAP BO ...
SAP Business One in Illinois: implementation, upgrade, customization, integration
Chicago metropolitan area and downstate Illinois might be characterized as mid-west distribution place. This means that we see large number of diversified mid-size businesses, engaged ...
SAP Business One Chicago Market Review, plus customization, integration & data conversion
SAP B1 is becoming more popular in the USA, increases number of implementation each year substantially. Originally designed by one of the Israel software development companies, now it ...
Microsoft Dynamics GP Office Stack Integration advances –
Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics GP is on the way of Microsoft Dynamics or former Microsoft Project Green advances. Great Plains Dexterity is ...
eConnect and Microsoft Dexterity: Dynamics GP development tools comparison notes
This article is dedicated to Microsoft Great Plains eCommerce and web software development primarily, plus Microsoft Dynamics GP customization, integration, data conversion and reporting. As software programmer you ...
Microsoft Dynamics GP Dexterity Customization
Microsoft Great Plains software development, customizations, reporting. Microsoft Dexterity programming as reliable alternative to newer technologies and platforms, such as .Net, C# and VB MS Visual Studio ...
|
|
| |
|
