Microsoft Great Plains in Mexico
By Arthur Ferretti
Microsoft Business Solutions is
successor of former Great Plains
Software marketing presence in
Latin America, especially
marketing efforts in Mexico,
Central America, Argentina,
Peru, Venezuela, Columbia,
Chili, Uruguay. We see
reasonably large number of Great
Plains Dynamics / eEnterprise
5.5 and 6.0 and currently Great
Plains Standard and full version
of Great Plains versions 7.5,
8.0 and coming 8.5 across Latin
America. Our focus today is
Mexico and Central America. Due
to economical issues in late
1990th and US recession and its
reflection in South America
large number of Great Plains
clients were left without
support (so-called orphans –
term widely used by Microsoft
Great Plains Partners).
Currently we see recovery
symptoms on the market and
certain trend to get support
back from orphanage clientele.
On the other side – due to the
fact of past weakening market –
number of Microsoft Business
Solutions VARs is shrank and it
is not that easy for the GP
Reseller to serve one business
mega polis ( Mexico-city for
example) . In this situation the
solution lays in our opinion in
remote support.
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
55-11-3826-3449, USA
1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577,
help@albaspectrum.com
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