What makes Extender so important to a sales process?

This week I had a pre-sales consultant tell me he always showed reporting at the end of the demo, and if he had time he would show Extender.  WOW.  In every GP demo I have ever done (and I have done plenty) - Extender is always the second thing I show. A good Demo of GP should look like this and follow this order:

1.  Prove it is easy to access, manipulate and analyse your data in reports:  

This is the number one thing people want from a new ERP system and must be done at a few different levels.  

• Show a sexy dashboard, pivot table, BI pretty colors reporting tool. There are plenty out there to choose from. (My favorite is Solver).
• Show a nice P&L - that is essential as at the end of the day you need financial reports.
• Show the Builders. Every single piece of data you enter + those fields that do not exist but need calculating is available through SLB. People love that story. 

2. Show how a GP solution fits their business, is completely flexible and is fast to configure.

• Find an important area of the clients business that is important to the CEO or president - but is not usually covered by regular accounting systems.  Build components of this solution in Extender and present it like it is a standard part of GP. 
• Then ask if you have all the data they need here (intentionally leave some data off the screen you know they need). Now add the extra fields on the fly in front of them. 

Do this early in every demo (You can use the term Extender or not - does not really matter). You will find that later in the demo  - the prospect will start answering their own questions by sating 'well we could just add that field with the Extender tool'. 

You have now proven flexibility, ability to keep the budget down through rapid configuration - after all you changed it right there in front of them - most importantly you have set the expectation that all ERP systems should do this same thing. You know that your competitors can not - so you are a mile ahead. You have changed the rules of the game in your favour. 

3. Show the power of integration with other relevant applications. (Excel, CRM, etc.)

In today's world every company needs some form of integration. They have a front end system, a website, or some sort of application that should have integration to GP. Do not talk about this as being hard or difficult - but lead with how they MUST integrate and you can handle it easily. Do not be scared of words like XML, Web Service, FTP etc.  

4. Show GP - This is important but the last thing I do. Then go onto the detail behind GP and the specific functions that this company may need.  (Landed costs, applying cash receipt, recurring journals, fixed assets, etc). The reason I do this last is that by doing the first 3 things you have usually already won the deal. By showing a P&L you have implied you can do a journal entry - so why show it again?  By showing the BI reports you are proving that all the data they need is being captured. By showing how configurable GP is - you win their trust that it can do most things they could ever need. By proving it fits into the business world and can integrate to anything, easily and inexpensively - you have won the deal.  

So this quick 40 minute demo - wins you many many deals. Sure there can be deeper detailed discussions following this - but the deal is won or lost up front. So to keep an eOne flavor I say show SLB and ERB together with a powerful BI tool, show Extender for customizations and SmartConnect for integration. 

My real interest is having people sell more GP - so regardless of the tools you choose to deliver this demo - it is a winning formula and I encourage every pre-sales person to give it a run if you are not already. You will sell more. 

But we prefer Dex mods?

Really?  Customers want flexibility, customers do not want to be locked into your dex team. The other argument I hear is that those crazy Extender tables make life hard. WRONG. It is simply not true. For 8 years we have had Extender views - and this ensures those tables are no more difficult to work with than any other table.  If you do not believe me - call me or call Nicole and we will show you.  

Extender 2013 features and improvements

With the release of Extender 2013, many new features and improvements have been introduced.  Throughout the past couple of months, we have introduced you to many of them with blog articles.  With the release of Extender Enterprise 2013, we wanted to review all the new features for you.  Here is a compilation of the new feature blog articles we posted in case you missed any of them.

Solutions

Duplicating Resources

Improved User Interface

 

Add Field / Add Calculation

Move Fields

 

Default Keys

Lists / Note Types

Detail Grids

New Actions

Trigger Points for Actions

Changes to Views

Extender Table Changes

And the last Blog feature that hasn’t been released yet is: 

 
Improved Scripting
** Scripting is a feature that is only available in Extender Enterprise. 

What has changed in the scripting?

The Enter Script window has been simplified and make to work similar to the way the Add Calculated Field window works.  Whether you are entering a Dynamics GP Script or a SQL Script, the window will look about the same.  The SQL Script window will ask you which company to run the script against while the Dynamics GP Script will ask you which product to run the script against.  A list of the fields is available so that the field can be easily added to the script.  In the background, parameters are automatically created and at runtime, those parameters are read and replaced in the script.

 

Please reach out to our team if you have any questions!

Nicole Albertson
Extender Product Specialist

 

Extender Enterprise for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 released today!

We are very excited to release Extender Enterprise today!

This release of Extender Enterprise is for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and is available for immediate download on our website: http://www.eonesolutions.com/Products/Extender/Downloads.aspx.

It includes all of the upgrades for our Extender Enterprise customers along with a few enhancements for those still on our Extender Standard version. You can upgrade from Dynamics GP 10 or 2010.

 

Extender Enterprise allows you to configure Microsoft Dynamics GP for the way you run your business and helps you have fully functional custom information that has integrity and obeys your specific business rules.

 

Chris Dew

Director of Product Management

Join eOne at WPC 2013 in Houston!

Only 20 days to go until we get to spend time with Microsoft GP & CRM partners at Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, TX. We are thrilled to announce that eOne is an alumni Exhibitor this year - prepped & ready to share our latest and greatest with you at booth #2030.

Are you attending WPC? Want to visit with the eOne team outside of Expo hours? Our relationship with our partners is our highest priority, so don't hesitate to let us know when you're available to meet. Reach out to me and we will lock a time in the schedule! (abbey.cooper@eonesolutions.com)

We look forward to seeing you in Houston!

We switched from GP to...

I was looking at a software renewals report today and found that a number of companies were not renewing their AEP with eOne as they ‘had switched from GP to another ERP’. This got me thinking about the costs and effort involved in making such a switch in ERP. I then got to thinking about how many of those companies that made a switch found themselves to be ‘happier’ with their new software.

For a mid-market company to implement a brand new mid-market ERP solution the true cost is quite surprising. Things to include are:

1. Software Outlay Costs
2.  Hardware/hosting costs
3.  Process Review and Design
4.  Internal Training
5. Consulting Services for setup and configuration
6.  Down Time
7. Frustration and potential loss of staff
8. Running Parallel
9. New Reporting Systems and structure
10. Incorrect data and troubleshooting data
11.  Integration with existing systems
12. Tie in with Website

For a company of say 50 people, I would be very surprised if they were able to calculate a true cost at anything less than say $500,000 dollars. While the software might be a monthly payment or say $50,000 for an upfront purchase - if you put a value on internal time required to deliver the new ERP – you would soon be well over that $ amount.  For the sake of this article let's round it down to $300,000.

$300,000 is a great deal of money to spend for a mid-size company. Given in my humble opinion – most mid-market ERP solutions are reasonably similar in functionality – what is it that would cause someone to jump to a new ERP? A few of the reasons we have been given for companies moving away from Dynamics GP are . . .

1. Needed better Reporting.
2. System was too slow on version 9.
3. Wanted to go cloud for all our apps.
4. Did not like GP.
5. Never really understood the ERP – and it was too complex.
6. Was convinced by Microsoft to move to AX.
7. The CEO’s friend told him XXXX was better.

Nearly every response we receive is very general, like these above.  Very few (none) were what I would call a good reason for a change which would be something like “Our business has changed and we have a big need for and extraordinarily complex purchasing system that interfaces with our Chinese partners double byte system.” I understand if there is a very specific piece of functionality not provided by your current solution and you ‘need’ it as part of your ERP.  Even then I will question the decision.

If you are currently using a ‘reasonably modern ERP solution – such as Dynamics GP (but same goes for NAV,  Epicor, Netsuite, some Sage products, Solomon etc) I would find it very difficult to find a reason to switch applications.

1. On a SQL database – reporting is very powerful regardless of the ERP business rules.
2.  Speed of operation probably has more to do with your hardware setup and the way you are using the software.
3. Cloud? I am a big fan but this is hardly a trigger point to switch ERP and cause internal upheaval.
4. If you do not like your ERP or find it too complex  – it is more likely because you have not taken the time to understand it.  It’s like me saying I don’t like Facebook – when in reality I have never taken the time to understand it.
5. Was convinced by Microsoft – well, you really should make your own decisions.
6. The CEO’s friend's business is different to yours. Guaranteed.

I am not saying that all ERP are identical – but I am saying they are very much alike. Most companies could run happily on most ERP software. The real power of an ERP solution is the time and energy you put into it. It is in fact a lazy and easy way out for a CFO or IT manager to say ‘lets switch ERP solutions.'

So before you make any switch – but especially if you are a company using Dynamics GP right now – here are a few things you must do first:

1. Assemble your internal GP/ software gurus in a room. If you do not have at least 3 of them – you are in no position to make a decision. (This may include a passionate IT guy, FC or end user.) So train or employ the right people. You need this regardless of the software you use. Look at your internal reporting – are you getting what you need? There are hundreds of ways to get the data you need from just about any system. Call in a reporting expert.
2.  Look at ‘best of breed solutions’. Look for very specific solutions that do what you need. ERP’s are never best of breeds, they try to do everything for a business – and can never achieve it. Adding together 3 super solutions – will give you better results
3. Integration – tie your ERP and your point solutions together.  This lets you give the right people the right information at the right time. Get clever and set high expectations from your system. Most companies use only a fraction of what they own – so make sure you leverage it.  

If you were to take $100,000, the $300,000 or even the half mill – and spend it on getting your current systems right – you will be way, way further ahead than if you spent all that time and energy switching ERP systems.

Tech Tuesday: Publishing Nodes

Customer Claim: you'd be "stupid" not to have it!

The SSI Group is leading the healthcare industry in claims management technology, EDI Platforms and networking. They provide a wide range of provider/payer/physician services and technologies for managing the revenue cycle.

Processing over 350 million transactions annually and relying on SmartList in Microsoft Dynamics GP as their reporting tool, The SSI Group, Inc. began to search for a solution that would provide flexible reporting. They found with SmartList that the reports were “antiquated and inflexible” and that most reports required “manual” work anyway – exporting to Excel to do totaling, subtotaling and adding more filters.  At a training class hosted by the eOne team, Jason Jones, Financial Analyst at SSI, found the solution. Click HERE to learn why Jones thinks “you would be stupid not to have it (SmartView)!” explaining that: “just the flexibility of it gives you the information that SmartList does not give you. It makes it faster, easier and you can drill it down to exactly what you need, right there inside the tool!”

 

Do you use SmartList or SmartList Builder? Have you been introduced to SmartView yet? Please contact our team to learn more about it or email me directly abbey.cooper@eonesolutions.com.