A recent post at MSDynamicsWorld.com cast some light on when and how we might see NAV reach the clouds.. at no extra cost to NAV users.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV made its first move to demonstrate viability with Office 365. At the Directions EMEA conference, Microsoft announced a new version of Equisys's Zetadocs for Dynamics NAV, dubbed Zetadocs Express, that will work with Dynamics NAV in combination with Office 365.
According to Andrew Levey of Equisys, Zetadocs Express will be delivered as a downloadable module in October 2011. The module will allow customers to capture inbound documents via a drag and drop interface for storage in SharePoint online, and also email documents from NAV.
The module will be no additional cost for customers on a Business Ready Enhancement Plan with a Microsoft Office 365 subscription.
Customers will then be able to upgrade to the Essentials and Plus editions of their Capture and Delivery modules to gain access to more advanced functionality, as well as customisation and automation opportunities.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Monday, 4 July 2011
And so ends another year at Turnkey. A success? I think so.
In a year when the doom mongers were talking down the industry, we've just had our best year ever.
New customer adds well up on last year. Revenues up, margins up and levels of optimism well up. And looking forward, we've a steady order book which takes us well past Christmas.
So why are we doing so well when others in the IT industry all around are muttering darkly, tightening belts and predicting the end of the world?
If pushed to give a one word answer, I'd say 'care'. We might not get it right every time but customers, both old and new, know that we care and we want to do the right thing by them. So, even when we hit a blip which is invariably caused by work arriving in the occasional deluge rather than an easily-managed steady stream (chance would be a fine thing) they stay resolutely supportive.
Thus as new sites come on board, upgrades are requested, support calls and development requests arrive by phone, fax, email and the web support portal, we can find ourselves apologising as we seek to re-schedule. But as long as we show we do care about getting it right and communicate that sense of caring, customers are very forgiving people.
Ups and downs in service are tolerated and even recognised as inevitable to some degree, but any sense that nobody cares is not.
The proof of the pudding? In the last 5 years, I can recall only one site that felt moved to take its support elsewhere and 10 times that who have moved to Turnkey. In this industry, these are exceptional statistics.
New customer adds well up on last year. Revenues up, margins up and levels of optimism well up. And looking forward, we've a steady order book which takes us well past Christmas.
So why are we doing so well when others in the IT industry all around are muttering darkly, tightening belts and predicting the end of the world?
If pushed to give a one word answer, I'd say 'care'. We might not get it right every time but customers, both old and new, know that we care and we want to do the right thing by them. So, even when we hit a blip which is invariably caused by work arriving in the occasional deluge rather than an easily-managed steady stream (chance would be a fine thing) they stay resolutely supportive.
Thus as new sites come on board, upgrades are requested, support calls and development requests arrive by phone, fax, email and the web support portal, we can find ourselves apologising as we seek to re-schedule. But as long as we show we do care about getting it right and communicate that sense of caring, customers are very forgiving people.
Ups and downs in service are tolerated and even recognised as inevitable to some degree, but any sense that nobody cares is not.
The proof of the pudding? In the last 5 years, I can recall only one site that felt moved to take its support elsewhere and 10 times that who have moved to Turnkey. In this industry, these are exceptional statistics.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Try Curling in the Workplace! Turnkey did!
I’ve just won my first ever curling competition as a ‘skip’. 7 teams fought out a league, 4 reached the semis, and my team, with me as ‘skip’, eventually triumphed in the final. Joy oh joy unbounded!
If you’ve ever chanced upon a curling match on television, you’ll have seen the skip. He’s the guy standing at one end of the rink calling the ‘plays’ and screaming at his team to sweep or not sweep the stone as it slides down the ice towards the ‘house’. The house being the various coloured circles in which your stones and the opposition’s stones nestle. The more stones you have nearer the centre of the house, the more points you gain. ‘Marbles for grown ups’, my wife calls it.
There are four players in a team. The skip is normally the best player, and the first or ‘lead’ player is generally the weakest in the team. Though, whenever you play lead, a good skip will always enthuse about the key role that the ‘lead’ plays in building each ‘end’ i.e. each player throws 2 stones, 16 in all, makes one end of curling and a match will consist of 7 or 8 ends.
Why on earth am I blogging about this, rather than some business thing? Well, because there are parallels with coaching the sales staff and building their skills and confidence. This particular league competition is about reversing the normal rules of curling so that the not-so-good player has the opportunity to skip the team and develop his skills. I might normally play at lead or at second which, within my club of very experienced players, is my real level. But, by letting me skip and giving me a very experienced skip to play at 3 alongside me and offer advice, my playing skills and overall understanding of the game are improved. And, who knows, maybe one day I will be a ‘real’ skip?
We should all be looking for opportunities to take this into the workplace. For the next sales meeting you have with a prospect, take along one of your sales team and see if you can sit back, bite your tongue and let them lead the meeting.
And, only if things are going slightly awry should you find yourself screaming at the top of your voice - SWEEP!!
If you’ve ever chanced upon a curling match on television, you’ll have seen the skip. He’s the guy standing at one end of the rink calling the ‘plays’ and screaming at his team to sweep or not sweep the stone as it slides down the ice towards the ‘house’. The house being the various coloured circles in which your stones and the opposition’s stones nestle. The more stones you have nearer the centre of the house, the more points you gain. ‘Marbles for grown ups’, my wife calls it.
There are four players in a team. The skip is normally the best player, and the first or ‘lead’ player is generally the weakest in the team. Though, whenever you play lead, a good skip will always enthuse about the key role that the ‘lead’ plays in building each ‘end’ i.e. each player throws 2 stones, 16 in all, makes one end of curling and a match will consist of 7 or 8 ends.
Why on earth am I blogging about this, rather than some business thing? Well, because there are parallels with coaching the sales staff and building their skills and confidence. This particular league competition is about reversing the normal rules of curling so that the not-so-good player has the opportunity to skip the team and develop his skills. I might normally play at lead or at second which, within my club of very experienced players, is my real level. But, by letting me skip and giving me a very experienced skip to play at 3 alongside me and offer advice, my playing skills and overall understanding of the game are improved. And, who knows, maybe one day I will be a ‘real’ skip?
We should all be looking for opportunities to take this into the workplace. For the next sales meeting you have with a prospect, take along one of your sales team and see if you can sit back, bite your tongue and let them lead the meeting.
And, only if things are going slightly awry should you find yourself screaming at the top of your voice - SWEEP!!
Monday, 14 February 2011
Turnkey at Business Growth Show - Edinburgh Feb 23rd - tips and tricks for advisers
Our business software team will be attending and presenting at the Business Growth Show in Edinburgh on the 23rd February. The event is being held at the King James Thistle Hotel, at the east end of Princes Street, from 9am to 3pm. This presents a great opportunity to meet some of the people from Turnkey.
Importantly, if you're a business adviser involved in assisting clients to computerise their business - whether for the first time or as part of an upgrade process - it's also a chance to hear how working closely with a trusted supplier can actually help!
We've produced a useful guide for business advisers which takes you into the world of the supplier and explains some of the good, and not so good, practices you might encounter when seeking a new system.
So, rather than bore everyone to death about how great we are, we thought we'd use the occasion to talk about some of the things to look out for when choosing your new software and/or supplier.
The guide is free to independent consultants - just come along to the seminar. Or you can contact us directly using info@turnkey-bs.com for a copy of the guide.
Importantly, if you're a business adviser involved in assisting clients to computerise their business - whether for the first time or as part of an upgrade process - it's also a chance to hear how working closely with a trusted supplier can actually help!
We've produced a useful guide for business advisers which takes you into the world of the supplier and explains some of the good, and not so good, practices you might encounter when seeking a new system.
So, rather than bore everyone to death about how great we are, we thought we'd use the occasion to talk about some of the things to look out for when choosing your new software and/or supplier.
The guide is free to independent consultants - just come along to the seminar. Or you can contact us directly using info@turnkey-bs.com for a copy of the guide.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Turnkey as "The Good Guys" - why being one makes long term sense!
Having been involved with the supply of business software for some 30 years, I reckon I have a lot of experience to share. But how to share it with the people who need it most?
Well, firstly, who are the people who need it most? In my experience, it's the poor soul who finds himself talking to an aggressive software supplier, and as the market has become tougher, there are a lot more of them out there.
How is aggressive defined? Simple, he or she is a salesperson who is committed to one simple thing - commission. This manifests itself in a number of ways but the cancer this engenders is a lack of respect for the prospective customer's actual needs.
Typical actions will be:
- Overselling by quoting for higher level modules than the customer requires;
- Overselling by suggesting higher cost user licences when low-cost 'light' user licenses are available;
- Underselling (yes, I did say 'underselling') by casually omitting to mention that certain modules are required or that additional licences or infrastructure will be needed to run some of the functions proposed (you'll be billed for these later, trust me); or
- Locking a customer in to a protracted contract e.g. 3 years.
In my view, the last one is the worst offence since a customer doesn't truly understand how good, bad or indifferent the supplier will be in delivering or supporting the system as presented by the salesperson. The first year of delivery is crucial but, even if it's been a complete disaster and all of the 'extra' costs necessary to deliver the solution are then revealed, the customer has two more years of this pain to endure before he can escape to a more professional partner.
So, what advice can I give? I spent a lot of time thinking about this over the festive period, and have put together a publication which is of benefit to both the prospective system purchaser and his or her business adviser. The 'Guide to Business Advisers' is free of charge and available by sending me an email with your name and address. Or follow the link here to request a copy:
http://www.turnkey-bs.com/c_Contact.aspx
And why does doing it right and being the good guy make long term sense? Well, at Turnkey we've carefully analysed our business successes during 2010 and around 75% of our revenues from new business sales can be attributed to reference sales. Simply put, people choose us on the back of recommendation from our customer base. So, the more help we can give them to find us, the better!
Well, firstly, who are the people who need it most? In my experience, it's the poor soul who finds himself talking to an aggressive software supplier, and as the market has become tougher, there are a lot more of them out there.
How is aggressive defined? Simple, he or she is a salesperson who is committed to one simple thing - commission. This manifests itself in a number of ways but the cancer this engenders is a lack of respect for the prospective customer's actual needs.
Typical actions will be:
- Overselling by quoting for higher level modules than the customer requires;
- Overselling by suggesting higher cost user licences when low-cost 'light' user licenses are available;
- Underselling (yes, I did say 'underselling') by casually omitting to mention that certain modules are required or that additional licences or infrastructure will be needed to run some of the functions proposed (you'll be billed for these later, trust me); or
- Locking a customer in to a protracted contract e.g. 3 years.
In my view, the last one is the worst offence since a customer doesn't truly understand how good, bad or indifferent the supplier will be in delivering or supporting the system as presented by the salesperson. The first year of delivery is crucial but, even if it's been a complete disaster and all of the 'extra' costs necessary to deliver the solution are then revealed, the customer has two more years of this pain to endure before he can escape to a more professional partner.
So, what advice can I give? I spent a lot of time thinking about this over the festive period, and have put together a publication which is of benefit to both the prospective system purchaser and his or her business adviser. The 'Guide to Business Advisers' is free of charge and available by sending me an email with your name and address. Or follow the link here to request a copy:
http://www.turnkey-bs.com/c_Contact.aspx
And why does doing it right and being the good guy make long term sense? Well, at Turnkey we've carefully analysed our business successes during 2010 and around 75% of our revenues from new business sales can be attributed to reference sales. Simply put, people choose us on the back of recommendation from our customer base. So, the more help we can give them to find us, the better!
Monday, 20 December 2010
It's Christmas here at Turnkey so it must be quiz time.
It's started . We've reached the festive period and it's time to reflect on the past year and, inevitably, time to do a few quizzes. For businesses it's probably a chance to review what went right, what went wrong and what we can do to improve things in 2011. So, here's a quick quiz which is designed to make you consider whether you have the right business system to take you forward in 2011.
How many of the following statements have you made or heard your staff make in the last 12 months? You can check your score at the end.
“Our company is using multiple software systems that do not talk to each other, so we key in the same information many times (and make a few mistakes along the way).” YES/NO
“We have outgrown our basic accounting software, it just doesn’t have the capabilities we need; it is slow and it's increasingly unstable.” YES/NO
“We can’t get financial reports quickly or easily with the level of detail we want to make strategic business decisions.” YES/NO
“Our software system is no longer supported and we can’t get the help we need or it is too expensive to upgrade and maintain.” YES/NO
“Tracking new regulations/compliance issues is causing us headaches.” YES/NO
“Our sales and customer service reps constantly have to ask accounting for information—we need single screen visibility into sales, inventory, purchasing and customer history so we can give our customers immediate answers.” YES/NO
“I wish we had a system that was easy to learn to use and worked with programs like Word, Excel and Outlook, programs that we use every day.” YES/NO
If you answered YES to at least three of the above, then make a New Year's resolution to speak to Turnkey and see how you can achieve seven perfect 'NO's!
Meantime, have a nice festive break and don't dwell on it too much!
How many of the following statements have you made or heard your staff make in the last 12 months? You can check your score at the end.
“Our company is using multiple software systems that do not talk to each other, so we key in the same information many times (and make a few mistakes along the way).” YES/NO
“We have outgrown our basic accounting software, it just doesn’t have the capabilities we need; it is slow and it's increasingly unstable.” YES/NO
“We can’t get financial reports quickly or easily with the level of detail we want to make strategic business decisions.” YES/NO
“Our software system is no longer supported and we can’t get the help we need or it is too expensive to upgrade and maintain.” YES/NO
“Tracking new regulations/compliance issues is causing us headaches.” YES/NO
“Our sales and customer service reps constantly have to ask accounting for information—we need single screen visibility into sales, inventory, purchasing and customer history so we can give our customers immediate answers.” YES/NO
“I wish we had a system that was easy to learn to use and worked with programs like Word, Excel and Outlook, programs that we use every day.” YES/NO
If you answered YES to at least three of the above, then make a New Year's resolution to speak to Turnkey and see how you can achieve seven perfect 'NO's!
Meantime, have a nice festive break and don't dwell on it too much!
Friday, 26 November 2010
At Turnkey we're wondering if the IT industry pull a rabbit out of the hat in 2011?
2011 is being marketed as "The Year of the Cloud" meaning that the hosting of IT systems off-premise is set to take off. For someone who has experienced more 'The year of' stories than I would care to mention in my 25+ years in computing, I have become a tad cynical whenever the industry hypes the 'next big thing'.
However, when major suppliers like Microsoft tell you that the vast majority of their R&D expenditure for business software is targeted on making it available as a hosted solution, then you have to take notice. Taking notice not perhaps for the best of reasons i.e. that it's the right way to go, but more because a company with the clout of Microsoft will inevitably have a major say in how these things pan out.
That's not to say there aren't good reasons for moving to hosting - no upfront capital spend, identifiable and manageable expenditure, no expensive IT people to employ (and struggle to comprehend), upgrades and updates delivered seamlessly, you-focus-on-running-your-business-and-we'll-look-after-the-IT etc. It all sounds eminently sensible, but.... there are always the 'buts'.
For the number crunchers there's always this nagging doubt that it's actually going to cost them more. And for the business owners, the worry that 'their data' i.e. their customers, contacts, prospects, profitability, cash flow and so forth is not locked securely within their building but is floating about somewhere up in that 'cloud'.
2011, in Chinese terms, will be the 'Year of the Rabbit' which I have to say sounds a tad unexciting. So, is the Microsoft alternative, '2011 - the year of the cloud', likely to generate some excitement in the IT industry?
For it to really take off, we have to address these concerns and convince the sceptical number crunchers and business owners that we really do have a value for money, credible alternative to a roomful of servers and lots of sophisticated, expensive PCs scattered around the office.
And, perhaps most importantly, we have to convince them that it's not another of the IT industry's cunning ploys to part them from their money. I mean, it's 10 years on and they still haven't forgiven us for the Y2K debacle!
However, when major suppliers like Microsoft tell you that the vast majority of their R&D expenditure for business software is targeted on making it available as a hosted solution, then you have to take notice. Taking notice not perhaps for the best of reasons i.e. that it's the right way to go, but more because a company with the clout of Microsoft will inevitably have a major say in how these things pan out.
That's not to say there aren't good reasons for moving to hosting - no upfront capital spend, identifiable and manageable expenditure, no expensive IT people to employ (and struggle to comprehend), upgrades and updates delivered seamlessly, you-focus-on-running-your-business-and-we'll-look-after-the-IT etc. It all sounds eminently sensible, but.... there are always the 'buts'.
For the number crunchers there's always this nagging doubt that it's actually going to cost them more. And for the business owners, the worry that 'their data' i.e. their customers, contacts, prospects, profitability, cash flow and so forth is not locked securely within their building but is floating about somewhere up in that 'cloud'.
2011, in Chinese terms, will be the 'Year of the Rabbit' which I have to say sounds a tad unexciting. So, is the Microsoft alternative, '2011 - the year of the cloud', likely to generate some excitement in the IT industry?
For it to really take off, we have to address these concerns and convince the sceptical number crunchers and business owners that we really do have a value for money, credible alternative to a roomful of servers and lots of sophisticated, expensive PCs scattered around the office.
And, perhaps most importantly, we have to convince them that it's not another of the IT industry's cunning ploys to part them from their money. I mean, it's 10 years on and they still haven't forgiven us for the Y2K debacle!
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