Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
- All Categories
- 73 General
- 73 Announcements
- 66.6K Microsoft Dynamics NAV
- 18.7K NAV Three Tier
- 38.4K NAV/Navision Classic Client
- 3.6K Navision Attain
- 2.4K Navision Financials
- 115 Navision DOS
- 854 Navision e-Commerce
- 1K NAV Tips & Tricks
- 772 NAV Dutch speaking only
- 615 NAV Courses, Exams & Certification
- 2K Microsoft Dynamics-Other
- 1.5K Dynamics AX
- 305 Dynamics CRM
- 109 Dynamics GP
- 10 Dynamics SL
- 1.5K Other
- 993 SQL General
- 384 SQL Performance
- 34 SQL Tips & Tricks
- 34 Design Patterns (General & Best Practices)
- Architectural Patterns
- 10 Design Patterns
- 5 Implementation Patterns
- 53 3rd Party Products, Services & Events
- 1.7K General
- 1.1K General Chat
- 1.6K Website
- 79 Testing
- 1.2K Download section
- 23 How Tos section
- 260 Feedback
- 12 NAV TechDays 2013 Sessions
- 13 NAV TechDays 2012 Sessions
Happy with your US-based VAR?
oclist
Member Posts: 20
I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this to but...
Is anyone in the US really happy with their VAR/Navision support partner? If so, who are they and where are they located?
Thanks a bunch,
oc
Is anyone in the US really happy with their VAR/Navision support partner? If so, who are they and where are they located?
Thanks a bunch,
oc
0
Comments
http://www.BiloBeauty.com
http://www.autismspeaks.org
Is anyone in the US happy with their VAR/Navision support partner? If so, who are they and where are they located?
let's see if there's responses now. lol.
RIS Plus, LLC
If you are happy with your Navision Solution Center then post and let everyone know.
If you are not happy then explain what makes you unhappy. :x
This way we can tell how many end-users are reading this thread.
My unhappiness comes from...
1) a difficult implementation (but aren't they all)
2) a bug in the code from our VAR that caused us to have to delete the Item ledger Entries, item values entries and various other tables and reinsert starting values.
3) Information from the VAR seems sketchy. I've received 3-4 answers from them which I found to be incorrect. Information in this forum seems more reliable than my VAR. But the VAR will assume liability
Just human nature.
AP Commerce, Inc. = where I work
Getting Started with Dynamics NAV 2013 Application Development = my book
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV - 3rd Edition = my 2nd book
www.mibuso.com
&
www.navision.net
give me better & faster answers
it seemed like our provider knew that Navision worked & how to uninstall it but they don't really use it.
ever error message or problem was new to them and they spent so much time trying to re-create it and find the answer.
on the forums you seem to alway find someone who has already come across a particular problem and quickly point you into the right direction.
http://www.BiloBeauty.com
http://www.autismspeaks.org
Same here. Such a great community here.
i may be an outsider but i would like to express my opinion.
i am a memeber of a newly created NSC in Romania, we are implementing Navision in our company as a first step and let me say it's not as easy at it might appear. but to stay a NSC you must also sell Navision to other customers, and of course try to respect your duties to customize and maintain the functionality of the program you've sold your clients... we haven't sold any solution yet but we are soon going to and if all our customers will be as unhappy and grumpy as you people are it means that we are not looking at a bright future :roll:
anyway, i simpathyse with you but i'm on the other side so.. i have to defent my side..
i happen to find implementing Navision interesting and challenging and i'm sure that with every customer, every particular case, it will become more interesting, and i'm sure we'll get better and better but of course in the beginnig we will be clumsy and probably will be really late in delivering our solution to the customers problems.. well.. my advice is to bug you NSC further and supply them with as much feedback as possible about your problems with the program.. and try to be patient.. or NOT :twisted:
cheers people..
Mada.
I have been following this string for a few weeks & am surprised that no one in the US has jumped & said "We have a good NSC" or that no US NSC has chosen to defend NSCs as a whole.
In the UK competition is pretty strong between NSCs and if the level of apathy that this string appears to suggest exists in the US, does not exist in the UK. While no NSC is perfect, ther are many good ones in the UK. While there are ones that don't do a good job, these are frequently newcomers who surface, see a few systems and disappear within a year.
Maybe people need to talk to their NSCs more and make it clear what they expect of them? Or threaten to change NSC?
Lead Consultant
Theta
I am also surprised that not one post from a client in the US has posted to this thread saying they're happy with their NSC.
I do want to clarify that I didn't post this as some type of attack to US NSCs or NSCs worldwide. I understand and respect the challenges NSCs face but I think Edward hit it right on the head when he said...
I think that Navision is a great product but the level of expertise and experience in the US seems to be much less than in the UK and possibly other parts of the world. If Microsoft hadn't bought out Navision then I might have had confidence that there would have been an aggressive push for the US market and an surge in the number of US NSCs. But since Microsoft now owns Great Plains and Navision, I have less confidence in where Microsoft will take it.
In retrospect maybe going with a product that has a larger install base in the US would have been the better solution. But I have to say thank goodness for mibuso community!! (and other similar sites, tho ther only other I know if is mbsonline and that seems to be always down).
They suggested Navision. We were told that Navision was big around the world and was just coming into the US. It was just before Microsoft was about to buy Navision.
Microsoft's involvement actually pushed us over the hump to get Navision because until then I didn't know any other company using it. I figured if Microsoft was going to get involved maybe this can grow some legs and start running in the US more.
We were one of their first customers and after Navision was up and running it didn't take long for us to surpass their knowledge of the product.
This was a few years ago, so I'm sure many more installs have taken place and most questions can be quickly answered. I'm positive any new clients would be happy with their service.
www.accessit.com
http://www.BiloBeauty.com
http://www.autismspeaks.org
RIS Plus, LLC
I wasn't questioning the quality of NSCs in the US or anywhere else - Just my surprise :shock: that a string had appeared questioning their quality and no one had yet leaped to their defence.
I do not believe that this string is representational if US NSCs and if my original reply implied this explicitly or implicitly, or could be read that way, then that was not the intention - Maybe I should have worded it more carefully (So much for British diplomacy then!!)
However, I believe that if this was a discussion was about the quality of UK NSCs, I am sure someone, either from an NSC or an end user would have put their head above the parapet by now, putting a positive case.
Lead Consultant
Theta
All of our customers are busy running their businesses. If they have a problem with Windows, hardware, accounting or even Navision, they call us and we get them on their way. Inotherwords, they have no reason to spend time on web-browsing sites like this. :idea:
I find this and other forums very helpful. In fact just from reading all the posts I learn more and more about the product.
I have spent quite a bit of money on this Solution and I am one of those owners who want's to know how & what is running our business. To become self-sufficient and not have to go crying to our partner because of evey little pop-up message is important to us and i'm sure other companies.
To save money by learning & creating our own forms, tables, reports and dataports, in my opinion, is a good business decision. I would encourage other business owners to be more hands on. Navision has basically become the backbone of our company.
Investing some time on learning how to improve it and maintain it is time well spent.
http://www.BiloBeauty.com
http://www.autismspeaks.org
Our customers (a small sample, to be sure) are happy with Navision and our work/support. We provided a complete solution per an agreed specification based on an exhaustive analysis of their accounting and business information needs including recommendations on cost savings and revenue enhancements ("best business practices"). We also provide additional, minor (< 1 business day per month) modifications under out support agreement.
Perhaps this reflects a different approach from yours to aquiring, using and maintaining an accounting and business information system.
I don't know why there's hardly any criticism of US NSC's here (good or bad). All I can think of is that it's a LOT easier to lose your job here, so maybe people are more careful to be very critical, who knows. Then again that may not be a factor at all.
RIS Plus, LLC
http://www.navision.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8505&SearchTerms=POLL
http://www.BiloBeauty.com
http://www.autismspeaks.org
I may be a few months late to this topic, however I just found this place.
Anyways, I will cast a vote for HAPPY with our VAR here in Oregon. I do all the developement now for our own upgrades/features, however the VAR did all the initial developement and has provided me with the occasional support in a timely, accurate and professional manner.
Cheers,
Eric
I would like to mention a few points that have been raised by others
Firstly, Navision experience in Europe (not just the UK) is a lot stronger just because we have had the product a lot longer. This therefore means that experience can be loosely related to just how good an NSC "appears" to be.
Second point, most clients don't usually tend to call the NSC unless something IS wrong, and why should they ???? They are more than likely busy at making their own business a sucess.
This however is where your internal account manager comes in... he/she should attempt to call each client at least once a month and find out how things are going. If things are good, then thats a winning situation. If things are not good with the client then at least you can be prepared for anything that may crop up or even resolve the issue. Either way, you appear that you are client motivated and have their best interests in mind. This can then only lead to being a termed a "good NSC".
Damn right
:shock: Let's NEVER again suggest that users should not use sites such as these, it has far more pro's that con's :shock:
There maybe times when a little too much knowledge may be classed as dangerous, but then depends on what side of the NSC/Client fence you are on
Sometimes there are the situations where users such as Savatage are a god send as they take some responsibility for the administration and support of their own systems instead of using time that could be much better spent elsewhere. The number of times I have been on sites and a staff member comes and asks questions is crazy, especially when the client is paying so much in daily consultancy rates for me to be there doing more important things. Plus, it save us (the NSC workers) from loosing ALL our hair before reaching the age of 35
Wow, this turned into a long one ....... :oops:
I would agree with comments that our exptations of our VAR, or even of the is support teams in companies are typically far beyond realities...
Maybe it is a USA thing (not joining).
I am sure everyone is wildly happy with us.
http://mibuso.com/blogs/davidmachanick/
RIS Plus, LLC
Well Daniel did that factor into your decision to start your own company?
And how do YOU view that now? :P
First full disclosure: I work for a Solution Center (BMI) based in NY (well now it is pretty much all over the east coast).
Anyway I think most of our clients are relatively happy. (this is not a BMI plug and you will see in a second why)
When our clients get somewhat unhappy with us 90% of the time is because we are unable to offer them enough time and resources to do all the work they require from us. Another 5-6% is due to overselling by our lovely Sales staff :evil:
But I think this is like everything else: you get a good mechanic (and by a miracle an honest one) and your car will work like a charm and you will pay a reasonable amount. You find a bad one you will most likely end up with your car worse than before and most likely pay a fortune.
I know there are a lot of bad NSCs out there or that do not care and frankly it is sad because they give us a bad reputation.
But I do know there are good ones also (though I won't venture a percentage
So you know I should turn your post on its head and ask of Navision users that are unhappy with their solution center :
1. Did you do your due dilligence (read look hard enough and ask enough questions)?
2. Did you have realistic expectations?
3. Did you allocate to the project enough internal resources for enough time?
P.S. And perhaps as a possible explanation for the lack of answers: the ones that are happy with their US NSC are not on this website since their NSC has provided everything they need and therefore need no help :P
I started my own company because I wanted to be completely independent and decide for myself what happens next. It was never because I was unhappy where I worked, I just wanted to go in a different direction. What I am doing now I would not have been able to do before. If this doesn't work out I would not hesitate to go back to my former employer. Don't worry though, it WILL work out
RIS Plus, LLC
1. Did you do your due dilligence (read look hard enough and ask enough questions)? (for us, yes)
2. Did you have realistic expectations? (for us, yes)
3. Did you allocate to the project enough internal resources for enough time? (for us, we think so)
The questions for me are:
1. Did you expect your VAR to fully understand how you do business
2. Did you expect your VAR to manage all aspects of the project, and not just the parts of configuring the NAV system
3. Did you expect your VAR to immediately know and understand every aspect both of the NAV system and all of the value added addon products
On both of these, I would make the assumption that a typical user company would answer yes to all of these. A different perspective in any case..
1. Unless you find a VAR that claims to have a vertical for your business I would say the answer is No. And verticals are the Holy Grail of any VAR. I have yet to see 2 companies in same business do everything the same way. So even when you get a vertical there always has to be some sort of needs analysis to identify the differences or establish that truly they understand your business
2. Your VAR can and should manage all the aspects of the projects related to its own tasks. However there are a lot of tasks that are up to the client: approving specifications, defining user roles, providing data from old system, testing of functionality and so on. And those cannot be done by your VAR since us as a consultant to not have the authority to pressure your people and we shouldn't have to since that would put us into a confrontational situation with the very users we are trying to work with. And I cannot remember how many times an implementation has been delayed for months due to above client side tasks.
3. The answer should be yes.
Implementing an ERP system (especially at Navision's level) is a partnership so it takes both sides to make it work.
If either you or the VAR approaches this with the same attitude as you would when you hire a plumber or a mechanic the whole thing is destined for failure. (with that said some plumbers or mechanics can cost you as much as an ERP