Andrew Karasev

SAP Business One Legacy Version and How to get Support

When you are running your accounting application on the old version you might feel that consulting firms are reluctant in dealing with you.  This is understandable as consulting folks are trying to get new software licenses or product sales and make reasonable money on initial implementation hours.

Plus they have to keep hiring certified consultants and new hires are probably trained in current version.  However you should accommodate yourself to the idea that the luxury to have consultant next door to your office is probably utopia and now you have to accept remote support option.  How does it work, how to find consultant and what kind of support is possible and not possible?  Well this is what we are trying to overview in this small publication.  Let’s begin with legacy versions overview:

1. Historical versions 2007A and 2005A.  These versions are no longer supported by SAP directly and it is difficult to get license key in order to transfer application server from one computer to another.  However it is possible to get support from consulting organization which is focusing on secondary SAP B1 consulting market

2. Secondary Accounting application consulting market.  As you have seen above local consulting firm is typically pursuing new software sales and generic basic implementation.  When these phases are done it has to sort of place you on hold (or maybe even abandon) and focus on new opportunities.  These firms are typically staffed with Sales reps and managers, certified functional consultants and marketing people.  They are getting leads from SAP directly or more often from telemarketing firms.  In ideal scenario they should be getting new software sales every week and they should avoid such deviations as customization, custom integration and programming with Software Development Kit.  However there are firms filled with technical resources and they do not pursue initial software sale and revenue based on the software price margins.  These organizations are more like laboratories with careful review of software bugs and in software development mode. They are accepting customers with screwed support by initial reseller and they provide second opinion and technical fixes.  Older version is typically not a problem

3. How do we find consulting firm which is secondary market oriented?  It might be difficult to do the job by scanning business directories but Google, Yahoo and MSN should be comfortable to do the job.  So in other words do not trust paper and try internet instead

4. Are you ready to travel to our office?  Yes we are but it might be not necessary.  Do you really care if you shake our hands or you just want the job to be done?  It is just the matter for us to initiate web session (Gotomeeting or similar from Citrix or competition).  Visit onsite typically requires at least one day to drive to airport parking then come through security line and finally fly out to your destination

5. What if we have branches located internationally?  Here the situation has nuances.  We have Brazilian software development factory and technical support team based in Sao Paulo.  Our consultants are also speaking native Spanish (covering all Latin America), Russian (covering Moscow region, Siberia and Far East) and Chinese Cantonese

6. Please call us 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904, help@efaru.com.  We have local presence in Chicagoland, Southern California, Atlanta Georgia, South West Michigan, Houston and Dallas areas of Texas. We serve customers USA and Canada nationwide and internationally via web sessions and phone conferences (Skype is welcomed).  We are working on Brazilian ERP consulting market in Sao Paulo since 2004

Article Tags: Software Development

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