How To Find Qualified Microsoft Dynamics Partners

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING COMPETENCY & FINDING QUALIFIED MICROSOFT DYNAMICS PARTNERS

Not only is shopping for a new ERP system confusing but trying to figure out which ERP service providers are qualified and selecting one can be even more challenging. Here are some suggestions on what to think about when evaluating ERP partners so that you find the best one for your needs and so that you maximize project success.

– Microsoft ERP Competency (Are They Gold Or Silver Certified)?
– Industry Expertise (# Of ERP implementations completed for clients in your industry)?
– Questions Asked (Do Discovery questions show insight for successful ERP implementations)?
– References (When checking references, quality of their reference(s) for your industry)?

Of course high marks in all of the categories above do not guarantee that you’ve found a great ERP implementation provider but average or low marks probably means that you should investigate more thoroughly.

WHAT DOES THE “ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING COMPETENCY” SIGNIFY?

The Enterprise Resource Planning Competency from Microsoft is a certification program that provides a way for Microsoft Dynamics partners to show that they’ve met various qualifications for selling and implementing Microsoft Dynamics ERP systems. Achieving this certification on both a Silver and Gold level means that the Microsoft Dynamics partner has achieved (during the last 12 months of being certified by Microsoft):

- a certain revenue amount of Microsoft Dynamics software license sales      - a certain number of consultants that have passed technical Microsoft exams
- a certain number of customer references
- a certain number of sales people that have passed the Microsoft sales exam

The Certified for Enterprise Resource Planning (both Gold and Silver Competency) is available for all of the Microsoft Dynamics ERP systems (i.e. Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV, Etc). The ERP Competency is available in both Silver and Gold (Click Here) to learn more about it.

(Click Here) to read the announcement from Calsoft attaining the Gold ERP Competency Certification.

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

This qualification is pretty self explanatory but does the ERP vendor have expertise in the industry(s) that your business(es) are in?

INSIGHT SHOWN VIA THE QUESTIONS ASKED DURING THE DISCOVERY PHASE

A sign of a quality Microsoft Dynamics ERP implementation provider will be the kinds of questions that they ask during the Discovery phase when they’re first meeting and interviewing your team to clarify project scope and project requirements. If their questions focus in on clarifying your management objectives, your organizational objectives, shown depth of knowledge of business processes for your industry, etc. then it’s a good sign that they’re experienced, well organized and understand your industry workflow processes. Thus project success will be increased.

QUALITY REFERENCES FOR YOUR INDUSTRY

This criterion is also pretty obvious but if you’ve selected a vendor (or narrowed down your search to a few vendors) and you’re conducting reference checks and if the ERP vendor has one or several quality references for ERP projects that are similar in size, scope and complexity to the ERP project for your business then it increases the likelihood that the ERP vendor will complete your ERP project successfully as well.

CONCLUSION

Best of luck in finding a quality ERP implementation partner. If Calsoft can assist you with the RFP and vendor seletion process, feel free to contact us.

by Calsoft Systems