User Review
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Cloud ERP
Cloud ERP- These turbulent times certainly include cloud ERP services partners. How should a modern VAR respond? Geoff Ashley sees two things we must revive: ROI selling and, brace yourself, business process re-engineering – with a remote twist.
Software vendors tend to portray themselves as the wizards of transformation, here to help their customers change. I push back on that.
I don’t care how modern or cloudy the vendor is – a successful cloud project is a group effort. All must change and adapt to get to the finish line. One key player that never gets enough editorial attention: the services partner.
We talk about the project impediments of technical debt and legacy software. Well, services partners can be legacy too – I don’t care how shiny and well-known their names are.
Acumatica‘s VP of Partner Strategy and Programs, Geoff Ashley, hasn’t made that mistake. Ashley is passionate about helping VARs modernize, as you can see from his diginomica series (start with The modern VAR – it’s time to transition from professional services to a 21st century business model).
But now is obviously – and suddenly – a very different time for cloud ERP sales. Project delivery is challenged also, though cloud project delivery often has a good-sized remote component. Maintaining our social distancing and then some, I got Ashley on the phone for an update.
I told Ashley about a recent conversation with my mother. She’s seen some turbulent times in the U.S, from the Kennedy and MLK assassinations, to the Vietnam War and 9/11. She believes what the U.S. is going through now is the biggest thing we’ve gone through since World War Two. Ashley said to me: “No disrespect to your mother, I would say this is the biggest thing since the Great Depression.”
The remote surge poses a cloud ERP challenge
That’s something for history to (eventually) judge, but here’s what I really want to know: what is Ashley hearing from Acumatica’s partners? They tend to be a pretty happy and upbeat group, but what about now? And what is he telling them? At the time of our talk, Ashley told me Acumatica was still talking internally on an upcoming announcement planned for customers and partners. That wasn’t finalized yet, but he gave me some of his views.
