A managed services partner (MSP) that is also an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) partner is the brains when it comes to your cloud-based solution. If you’re trying to save some bucks and are thinking about managing your cloud in-house, we kindly ask you to reconsider and instead think about the big picture. An experienced and knowledgeable ERP cloud partner is your golden ticket to success for a lot of reasons, but mostly for the long-term value they provide to your business, which is not something you can afford to miss out on.
The Blame Game – It’s No Fun and Nobody Wins
When technology and money are involved, it’s common for people to play the “blame game”. However, this is not a habit you want to fall into. If you spend a significant number of resources on an ERP system and it doesn’t do as expected, people feel the urge to assign fault anywhere but where they are. This does nothing to fix the situation. A lot of managed services providers don’t necessarily know what the ERP needs and often just blame the solution itself. Generally, and in our experience, the ERP solution isn’t the root cause of the problem. This isn’t a pot calling the kettle black situation, it’s simply just a lack of knowledge or industry experience on behalf of the managed services or IT provider. Running your entire ERP cloud is not the job of IT providers. It’s sort of like asking them to drink from a fire hose – they’re in way over their heads.
A good ERP cloud partner, like our managed IT services team who regularly work with our clients on multiple ERPs, recognizes where the issues lie and don’t resort to blaming. It’s our area of expertise and we thrive off this type of stuff. If the issue isn’t immediately apparent, we don’t point fingers. We understand the devil is in the details, and we don’t stop until the problem is uncovered, and a solution is proposed to get the system and its cloud back on track and within our client’s expectations.
Scalability and the Cloud
Scalability matters when it comes to business, and that includes your cloud ERP. We’ve lived through an unprecedented time in 2020 (and still are living through it) when scalability, or lack thereof, grew and broke businesses around the globe. While it’s probably easy to understand just how important it is to scale your business up or down depending on external factors, it’s not as easy to implement in real life.
That’s where a managed IT services & ERP partner comes in. As you grow your business, an ERP partner who also offers managed services can help you scale very quickly. For example, an Azure server can be spun up in as little as 30 minutes with the help of our managed IT services department. The ability to adapt to economic, staffing, and market changes, as well as knowing when you should scale up or down, is key to longevity and gaining a strong competitive advantage. A good cloud partner not only helps you through the process of rapidly scaling your business but also ensures a solid foundation before that happens. If you don’t prepare to scale your business, then essentially, you’re preparing to fail.
Mistakes Happen…. But Not with the Right Partner!
Hayden Clack, the Director of Cloud Managed Services at BT Partners, recalls a time with a past client. “We’ve run into major problems with clients who try to manage their own cloud services or don’t do their due diligence when choosing an ERP partner. One client had another provider move them to the cloud, but because they didn’t have adequate experience or the necessary skills managing this client’s particular cloud platform, as soon as the client’s ERP was moved, their printers stopped working.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a quick fix, and the client ended up contacting BT Partners for help. Hayden continues, “There are small things that inexperienced people don’t always think about, or they just have a complete lack of ERP experience altogether.” Choosing a partner that has been vetted and has had past clients who have happily migrated to the cloud and are being managed effectively, is ideal when picking them as your partner to manage your cloud.
Much like we purchase warranties to protect our larger investments, hiring an ERP cloud partner to manage your cloud protects your ERP investment. A great partner knows what to look for like how to leverage growth and technology opportunities, how to achieve high scalability so you can better adapt to change, how to optimize cloud cost strategies, and how to ensure a constant high level of cybersecurity. This may become even more important, as by the year 2025, 36.2 million people will be working remotely. Rather than try and do everything yourself, hire our managed IT services team to help run the cloud so we can grow your business together. If you’d like more information on the benefits of having an ERP partner manage your cloud, we’re happy to talk.
