Microsoft Great Plains worldwide implementation, customization and support - overview for CIO

by Andrew Karasev

Alba Spectrum Technologies

USA: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, São Paulo

help@albaspectrum.com

Excurse to the history.  Microsoft bought Great Plains Software (Doug Burgum) in the earlier 21st century.  Great Plains Software had very aggressive marketing campaign worldwide in the late 1990th, including Latin America (except probably Brazil, where it encountered leadership of Microsiga), South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, Philippines, Middle East, U.K., Poland, Belgium and parts of France.  The rest of Europe was in the hands of Navision Software (later on purchased by Microsoft as well).  Currently Microsoft Business Solutions is reshaping its marketing efforts and (this is our personal opinion) places Navision and Axapta in the emerging markets, such as Brazil, plus it lets Great Plains coexist on the markets where Great Plains and Navision were present in the past.  We are MBS partner and we are protecting our Microsoft Business Solutions interests worldwide, just giving you some retrospective view to the history.

Now to the topic - when your company operates worldwide - it might have IT policies of two types:

• Have Microsoft Great Plains (former Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise) be realized worldwide in its subsidiaries

• Have Microsoft Great Plains be your budget ERP solution in the third countries

Let us comment on these topics

Microsoft Great Plains is adapted to international tax rules - it is capable to handle Sales Tax, GST/VAT (Value Added Tax - popular tax schema in Europe, and British Commonwealth - Australia, New Zealand, Canada), it is also localized in South Africa and Middle East

When you are considering Great Plains for your company - you should probably compare it with Navision - Navision is the ERP product, easily adapted to local languages, tax codes, etc. and MBS promotes it accordingly.

Below we list the trends in consulting industry:

• Consulting Companies Consolidation – this process is pretty much over in the USA and is almost completed in Europe.  Now it is on the way in Latin America.  It is partially related to recession and economy slow down.  Small consulting companies have to merge with large multi-directional service firms (usually we see auditing, tax services, assets management) who are willing to purchase small technology consulting businesses and have them work for their clientele.
• Consulting Rates Increase – well, this is indirect effect of market consolidation, larger companies are willing to deal with larger clients and move consulting rates up.  And as number of small consulting firms shrinks – there are no balancing forces to push rates down.  This is a little bit paradoxical, because Microsoft Business Solutions products historically were targeted to middle market and even small companies

Possible Solutions:

• Hold on for new implementation - stick to existing legacy accounting system, do not plan Great Plains modification, integration and tune up.  This is usual way for recession time
• Cross-national remote support – we see the trend of going nation-wide and cross-nations for MBS Partners in large business metros such as Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Plus MBS itself is encouraging cross-national partners to establish small presence in smaller business metros in Mexico and Central America

Good luck with implementation, customizing and reports design and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help!  If you want us to do the job - give us a call São Paulo, USA 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Author is Great Plains Specialist in Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) –  USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Toronto, Montreal and having locations in multiple states and internationally