RoseASP Dynamics Hosting

It’s been a long, good week in Los Angeles. We have talked a lot about hosting ERP systems. We have talked to people from all over; a lot from South America, Central America, and Eastern Europe.

Even though Microsoft has been talking about the “cloud” for many years, many people still don’t quite understand what it all means. So we spend a lot of time on education.

Many experienced IT service providers fear a loss of business because of the move to the cloud. I think they will definitely have to change the way they approach their markets, but there is no reason their business should necessarily be impaired. 

Having been on the front lines for the past 24 months, I can tell you with no equivocation, that users want to move to the cloud for these two reasons:

• Reduce hassles of maintaining hardware and software
• Avoid large, upfront investments, in exchange for predictable monthly payments

It’s more than a fad. People are looking to the cloud to host their IT applications; more and more everyday.

Survived the first day of WPC 2011. I was in the RoseASP/myGPcloud booth for 8 hours. We had a good amount of traffic, and I always enjoy talking to partners about hosting Dynamics.

The Keynote Speech earlier in the day was good. Steve Balmer is always fun to see as he stalks around the stage, enthusiastically talking about his company.

The highlight for me was a demo of Bing. Can you believe it? A search site was interesting. It is. Microsoft has joined up with a number of niche content providers to provide personalized and significantly enhance search results.

Tomorrow will require only 6 hours of booth time. Good enough for me.

We arrived in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon to set up our booth. It’s pretty easy to do. We were able to drive right up to the Expo area and unload. Beautiful.

Staying at the Radisson by USC. It’s a bit far from the convention center.

The attendee count is very high; about 15,000. It’s going to be crowded.

We will be in the booth a total of 26 hours. Oh, my.

Linda has several speaking events, so we won’t see much of her.

Francisco will join Doug Pitcher and me in the booth.

Lots of give-aways this time. Beach balls, visors, shirts.

Case:

Existing customer downsized and lost IT department – (12 GP users/50 Business Portal users)

Actions:

• Moved existing GP 10.0 database into hosting environment
• Upgraded database and users to GP 2010
• Carried over all customizations, FRX reports, and ISV solutions
• Moved licenses from on-premise to monthly subscription pricing 

Benefits:

• Don’t require an IT department
• Users have access to the latest version of software
• No more enhancement fees to pay
• Same function-rich system without additional IT resources

Outgrown QuickBooks/Peachtree? Microsoft Dynamics GP offers scalability, affordability & functionality. Learn more here

Become a dynamic business with Microsoft Dynamics GP and learn why a move to Microsoft Dynamics GP is a smart move from QuickBooks and Peachtree.

Read More…

Linda and I will be joined by two of our hosting customers at Convergence to present, “Ask the Experts:  Travel to the “ERP Cloud” and find out if it is right for you.”  It is part of the DayONE GPUG series.

These are the specifics:

Session:  UBGP19

Room:  A311

Time:  Sunday, April 10, 4:45

More information on GPUG DayONE session.

This session will be held in the Georgia World Congress Center; the same venue for Convergence 2011.  If you’re going to be at Convergence, drop by our booth in the Expo.

We have family office clients who have found Dynamics GPO to be a good fit for their organizations.  Family offices often have competing interests that make it difficult to determine which accounting system would suit the organization best:

• Need to track and manage the accounting for many different types of enterprises; operations, equity, personal
• Need to keep the information secure
• Need to provide high quality financial reporting to owners
• Need to keep it very affordable

Dynamics GP in a hosted environment provides a solution for these competing interests.  The wide variety of functionality available in Dynamics GP means that a family office can track businesses with significant operations, financial holdings, real estate holdings, and personal activities.  The solid financial reporting functionality of FRx and Management Reporter means that a family office can easily provide a variety of different reporting formats to meet the owners’ needs.  The availability of subscription pricing in a hosted environment makes Dynamics GP a very affordable system, from the beginning, because there is no significant upfront licensing fees or hardware purchases required.  Hosting Dynamics GP in a tier-1 hosting environment means that the family office will have dependable and secure access to the system.  Regular data backups, redundant hardware, and a high level of physical security means that the Dynamics GP system will be secure.

If you’re looking for a solid solution for your family office, consider Dynamics GP in a hosted environment.

As many of you know support for Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 will end on January 11, 2011 per the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy. While there is a great promotion out there for Dynamics GP customers to get current with their maintenance, the burden falls on the Dynamics Partner to bear the financial responsibility to see that year’s 2 and year’s 3 enhancement is paid. Unless the customer pays all three years upfront…..and not too many of them want to…..this is really a financial risk for Dynamics Partners! So what solution can a partner offer?

RoseASP has been working with Partners and their Customers to help them with a cost effective solution. Hosting is a great option for both parties with great benefits on both sides. We find that customers are really embracing this option especially if they don’t have the hardware for upgrades and the lapsed maintenance is too much to bear. Here is a typical example:

Customer “A” has lapsed more than two years and it still on Version 9.0. They are on an old Server Operating System, SQL 2000, their workstations don’t all have 2 Gigs of Ram, and they run Office 2003. Backups work on occasion, but not routinely, and no one has tested a restore in years. And since they have been lapsed on maintenance, they aren’t current with the latest service packs. The servers are old and tired and probably should be retired. The Partner has worked with this customer for years and has a great relationship but has very little hope that they will pay three years of maintenance under the current “lapsed maintenance” offer. And under the new BREP percentage requirements for Partners, the customer is likely to get “orphaned” because they will bring down their BREP percentages.

We have all seen this scenario and we all have customers who fall into this category. Hosting is a great option for them as they can gain significant benefits while the partner is finally able to upgrade the database and have it hosted with a Partner, and never to have to worry about them again. Here are some of the many benefits to both Partners and Customers:

Customer Benefits:
• Updated software
• Faster, better, newer servers
• All their backups done- guaranteed
• No more annual maintenance, it’s included in the monthly hosting
• All the latest Service Packs and Feature Packs applied for them
• Access anywhere, anytime
• 24 x 7 x 365 support to your application
• Predictable monthly fees – no annual surprises.

Partner Benefits:
• Ability to continue to provide support to your client
• Faster, better, newer servers so all those new features will work
• You can backup their data anytime
• 24 x 7 x 365 access to your customers database for consulting support
• A new customer add
• VOICE revenue – each month
• Monthly commissions

Hosting Dynamics GP 2010 runs as little as $250 per user per month, with installation fees as little as $1,000. We urge you to explore this opportunity with your customer and keep them happy and current with their application. To learn more, check out our services at www.roseasp.com. You and your customer will be happy that you did.

I guess that answer really depends on who you are, and what you do from 8am to 6pm everyday! (More about that later.) But before we dive into the question, let’s really define what “on-demand” means. On-demand, not to be confused with SaaS or Software as a Service, really means you can get it anytime. SaaS, while cloud based, doesn’t really mean on-demand, does it? It means, I found your solution on the web. I can use your solution on the web, but I really need to wait for a sales person to call me and give me pricing. Of course after I’ve been kept on the phone and “pre-qualified” and questioned as to when I will be making a decision and if I am the decision maker! Right?? I think some of these vendors, i.e. Netsuite, Intacct and now EpicorExpress to name a few are most definitely SaaS solutions. But they are not on demand!! A good example of on demand that most of us can relate to is renting movies. Today, that means picking up your remote and ordering the movie right then and there and watching it within seconds. Not waiting for it to come in the mail in the little red envelope in a couple of days, and not waiting for it to download onto your television. So that’s what “on-demand” really means. So is there really a need for it?
Now back to my initial question: I guess the answer depends on who you are and what you do between 8am and 6pm. If you happened to be the CEO or CFO of your company (or the only “C” of your company) you have lots to do between 8am and 6pm. And you probably work longer than that!!! So between those hours you are probably trying to work with customers in getting their issues and products shipped, working with vendors to try to get your supplies delivered on time, or working with your employees who always seems to find ways to interrupt your perfectly planned days with HR issues or communications issues – you know the kind I am talking about. So when exactly do you have time to review your current accounting system – the one that doesn’t give you the reports you need, the one you cannot access from home or while traveling, or the one that just doesn’t work anymore because half your data is now on Excel spreadsheets and you don’t know who has the latest version or you forgot which drive you saved it on. So now that you have tackled all the issues of the day, it is probably after 6pm and you finally have some time to concentrate on the fact that you need a new accounting system!!!
So you start your research on the web, looking for the right fit, and then drop out some emails, possibly so someone can call you tomorrow with more information (when you won’t have time to take a call). Or, you can find a site like myGPcloud.com that has all the information you need; it lets you view some helpful videos about the product, (without giving your complete company history on a contact form), register to use the product (without giving a credit card number) and know that it is backed by one of the largest companies in the world (so you know they will have the R&D budget to keep it current)have the ability to chat ( in case you get stuck along the way), read the blog experiences ( in case you don’t believe the vendor) or view the “how to” hints that arrive daily in your inbox that you will be able to save and read when you have time. Plus, someone with an accounting background also setup a useful and meaningful chart of accounts, pre-set some of the common setup’s that all companies need, and actually put financial statements that you could give to your bank, partners or investors without you having to spend time or effort to create them. And all that with: no sales call, no sales pitch you have to listen to, no demonstration that you have to wait for, no upfront fee (possibly a year’s worth by the other guys I mentioned) and no contract commitments – other than just paying your monthly fee!!!!. Oh, and an uptime guarantee of 99.5%! Hmm I think someone out there needs help with that these days.
And when you are ready for a Certified Microsoft Dynamics Partner to help you, myGPcloud will give some sites to help you find one in your area – self service of course!
Now, in my opinion that is “on-demand” and that my fellow business owners, accountants and “C” level execs , is what sets myGPcloud apart from the typical SaaS solutions on the market today So when asked is there really a need for an “on-demand” ERP solution? Just look at your watch and tell me what time of day it is while you read this blog. If it is after 5pm, well you know the answer. Our economy has changed. We must do more with less people. We must grow our businesses without the assistance of financing either from banks or the public market. The days of extensive capital expenditures are gone. Great products with little or no risk will (must) become the norm, because that is what customer want and need. Try myGPcloud.com and tell us what you think. We welcome your opinion.
Linda Rose
President/CEO
RoseASP.com

myGPcloud is powered by RoseASP.com a Microsoft Hosting Partner with over 10 years experience in hosting ERP solutions. For more information please visit www.mygpcloud.com or RoseASP.com