The What happens next?

Customer care

Picture this: you uncovered what wasn’t working for your business, assessed your software requirements, and took a step forward by implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Soon, you’ll be reaping the benefits of streamlined processes, improved decision-making capacity, and enhanced productivity – simple, right?

While this is the ultimate goal of ERP software implementation, the proof of its success is in what happens next — upgrades are only effective if the advantages can be sustained as the business evolves. Introducing a shiny new system can be a significant upfront investment, but how it works in practice and flexes to meet the nuances of your business’ operations is where return on investment truly manifests itself.

The most successful upgrades we see tend to marry informed implementation choices with ongoing, personalised customer support. Getting the most out of an ERP system beyond its integration involves a continuous, two-way conversation between those leading the upgrade and the teams working ‘on the ground’ to deploy it. This enables businesses to evolve and remain competitive as new features and requirements are brought out, rather than leaving employees to navigate a system that doesn’t deliver the projected outcomes, and comes at greater cost than reward.

Given that around 40% of businesses experience post-implementation operational disruption, here, we’ve discussed what they should look out for when selecting — or changing — their ERP customer care provider.

Offering the ability to ‘talk to a human’

Imagine the following scenario: your system is down and it’s quickly disrupting your operations. Depending on the nature of the problem, the downtime could begin to delay production, inhibit your ability to manage the supply chain, or even begin to increase labour costs as employees work overtime to deliver tasks manually.

While occasional software glitches are inevitable, it is paramount that ERP support is on hand to quickly assess and rectify the problem with responsive, personalised consultancy. For larger businesses, the risk of disruption can be extensive, and leaders need to speak to a human quickly to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, some SMEs may not have access to internal IT expertise, and therefore rely on a ‘real person’ to explain the issue without the jargon, which can feel like navigating a foreign language.

With this in mind, our Care365 customers have access to a dedicated engagement manager that delivers accessible, easy-to-understand consultancy and talks through a detailed breakdown of the performance reports delivered each month.

Prioritising prevention over cure

However, providing well-rounded customer care isn’t just about rectifying problems when they arise – it’s about anticipating them and mitigating the opportunity for them to occur in the first place.

Even with in-house IT support in place, workloads and competing priorities mean that technical teams can struggle to find capacity to get ahead of the curve when it comes to foreseeing future problems.

Through Microsoft Dynamics OneVersion management, we regularly update your platform so it is on the latest Microsoft version, conducting continuous software testing to identify underlying issues and updating features to prevent problems from becoming a reality. We can also run regular health checks with Health 365 which analyses the performance of your ERP software to ensure it is running at optimum capacity. By undertaking regular environmental health checks in this way, our Care365 colleagues can catch potential pinch points before they become problems.

Identifying opportunities for optimisation

Smooth-running, efficient ERP software can play a major role in organisational success, so being aware of emerging features and system upgrades that can keep your software evergreen is critical.

Our Care365 approach is to build a strong partnership with clients, creating an environment where customers and consultants can have open conversations about changing business circumstances and software requirements.

To ensure that customers never miss out on opportunities to boost efficiency, through Care365 Feature Management, we assess systems and modules in the context of emerging Microsoft Dynamics features which could boost business benefits. Our dedicated engagement managers have the business knowledge and integrity to make recommendations on beneficial updates to make or extensive customisations to disregard if they won’t deliver against unique business goals.

Care365: reliable customer support from advisors that care

From navigating complex terminology to handling impersonal interactions, managing ERP software can seem like a daunting and time-consuming experience for some businesses.

The importance of retaining human connections and advising with integrity cannot be overstated. Through Care365, our engagement managers offer tailored, flexible support that enables businesses to get the most out of Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Find out more about our personalised Care365 offer here:

https://nexergroup.com/uk/care365-support-maintenance-for-dynamics-365/