I inherited Wizard Productivity Systems from Morris Wiginton, a former Microsoft partner in Denver Colorado. Morris used to say that Wizard needed to fundamentally change the way software implementations were done. Morris was further frustrated by the challenges of software implementation and dreamed of a better solution. He envisioned creating a more efficient and effective way to implement Microsoft Dynamics ERP software.
I used to chuckle at Morris’ rants. Now after 2 years at the helm of Wizard, I couldn’t agree more.
The Microsoft Dynamics channel is primarily made of Great Plains and Solomon Partners that were ‘acquired’ as part of Microsoft’s acquisition of Great Plains. Aside from some minor improvements through process automation(ex. spreadsheets, pre-implementation questionnaires and web based time billing systems) the implementation process is essentially the same “hand crafted” process it was 20 years ago when these products first hit the market.
Don’t misunderstand though — I believe in the value of good consulting. Based on my experience at AOL and other high technology companies, I believe the work implementation consultants do in several areas (e.g. process evaluation/recommendation and chart-of-accounts design) can be of tremendous help to companies using Dynamics software. This consulting is truly worth several hundreds of dollars per hour. But some of the more basic implementation activities that consultants perform such as installing software, importing data, and basic configuration configuration activities are of much lower value.
Unfortunately, the channel’s sales process has homogenized hourly rates into a single blended rate for the whole implementation. This removes any economic incentive for the channel partner to automate implementation processes or have the customer help with some of the lower value tasks.
This rate homogenization also causes the channel partner to bill disappointedly high rates on other activities to make up for lost revenue from value added services that are billed too low and the operational overhead for services are not billed.
Not billed – are you surprised? It’s no secret that many resellers feel that they lose money on the sales process for many small to medium deals. Think of the operational cost of a sales person and senior consultant making dozen of calls and customized demos in pursuit of that single sale. Then consider all of the calls made on ultimately lost opportunities. The costs add up quickly.
Actually, there are lots of implementation activities not billed, including: consulting hours lost to scheduling problems or unreasonable project budgets, human errors, poor estimating, etc.
I contend that the overall profit from billing implementation activities has become so lucrative that it;
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- Outweighs the total value of the implementation received by the customer, and
- Masks the operational inefficiencies and ineffectiveness creating a disincentive many Microsoft Channel Partners to drive for innovation and change.
It’s time for a change – the market is demanding it and competitors will eventually force it. In order to meet the growing challenges of the competitive landscape, Microsoft partners and end users will need new tools to help them become more efficient and effective.
And Wizard’s mission is to provide those applications.
