Microsoft Great Plains – consulting in the post-recession time
 by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions accounting package for the US market. Microsoft Great Plains is now in the transition to become portion of one of the Microsoft Business Suites – probably Microsoft Financials and Microsoft Logistics. Here we would like to describe new directions for emerging and future consulting practice from both client and consulting company side. New post-recession era has new features, which didn’t exist in late 1990th during high tech boom. This will be in our opinion new directions for Microsoft Business Solutions products consulting, including Microsoft Great Plains.

New features:

   1. Overall cost reduction campaign. We see general direction, when companies hire new executives who specializes in cost reduction, work force reduction, secondary departments functions outsourcing, etc.

   2. Computer ERP systems literacy among mid-management. If you look back to 1950th when management consulting was booming, then for now it is included in all the MBA university programs and managers themselves know the subject. The same happens with ERP systems – managers have general knowledge and can learn the new system, applying their education, experience and intuition

   3. Databases Support cost reduction – today we would dare to say that IT department can easily support such databases as the ones, sitting on Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle is also following the idea of zero support efforts. You don’t have to hire DBA with 10 years of experience – this means that even small business could move to industry-strength database platforms

   4. Software Customization and Development cost reduction – well – many of us probably like to purchase cheap and reliable goods from department stores, manufactured in China. The same happens with software development. Now if you have your software product designed – you better find the company to do real coding somewhere in Brazil or India. We do not want to judge – is it good or bad – this is what it is going on with our market.

   5. Increasing Demand for Quality – this is not a secret that in the era of internet boom – late 1990th – consulting companies had to hire college graduates to do highest complexity assignments. And market was tolerating this – not any more

All these features will enforce the consulting companies to reduce cost, seek nation-wide clients via remote support, web sessions, abandon traditional software leads generation techniques and move to internet sales, increase the quality of their consultants (we don’t know the answer how)

Happy implementing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

[email protected]