Microsoft Enhancement
Just recently, I received a call from a company running Dynamics GP. They wanted to upgrade to purchase a 3rd party package that they felt would be extremely beneficial to their company. Since the company who called me was not a current client of mine, I asked them the usual questions. Of course one of the first questions was; “Are you current with your Microsoft Enhancement?” As you might expect, the answer was “No”.
They went on to inform me that Enhancement was not something they felt had any value as they “did not feel they would ever need to upgrade”.
Avoid Added Costs
I am sure there are many companies who feel the same way. The reality however, is that Microsoft Enhancement is crucial and will actually help you avoid added costs in the future.
Let’s take the scenario above. Now the client felt they MUST have this 3rd Party Package, so in order to procure it they now must get back to being current on Enhancement (which means pay all the back enhancements, PLUS Late / Re-enrollment fees).
Along with this comes the upgrade of the data to be on the current version. Now this is not necessarily an added cost, as you should be upgrading to be current – or at the very most 2 version behind – but its more the inconvenience of having to schedule an unplanned upgrade. Again, in the case above, they were so far behind that we would need to execute a 2 step upgrade in order to bring them current. More time and more complexity, equal more cost.
I then explained that they would also most likely need to re-create reports and integrations. Perhaps not all, but this would be another cost they would need to incur in order to implement that 3rd Party solution that they MUST have.
Finally, they pointed out that their company had grown and they need 2 additional users. More bad news! “I can’t provide you additional user licenses because you are not current.”
After all was said and done, the customer went away with the reality that they misunderstood the value of Microsoft Enhancement.
The Benefits
So what is the benefit of being current with Microsoft Maintenance?
-Ability to procure additional software (Dynamics or 3rd party )
-Ability to procure additional user licenses
-Access to Microsoft Customersource
-Entitlement Software enhancements and services packs
-Entitlement to Microsoft promotions
-Avoid a costly multi-step Upgrade process
-Avoid Re-creating reports and integrations from old unsupported versions
-Avoid paying Late Fees or other Charges
Move to the Cloud
If you are a company whose Microsoft Enhancement has lapsed, you should consider moving your Dynamics ERP to the Cloud. Moving to the Cloud allows you to upgrade to the latest version, brings you current on maintenance immediately for no extra costs and avoids the costly capital expenditure of re-purchasing or re-enrolling. I invite you to contact me for additional information on how moving to Microsoft Cloud makes sense for you.
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