A member of our GP consulting team had the distinct pleasure of providing coverage for our finance department over the holidays. This included opening mail and performing some simple AR processes / bank deposits. While looking at client renewal cheques, she noticed much of the good, the bad and the ugly of GP Cheque printing, which later became a point of inspiration for this month’s newsletter. Let’s start with a fictitious sample, of a “bad cheque” based on a combination of real examples seen by our AR team.
Sample “Bad Cheque” (Dynamics GP check printing)
The risk of “Bad Cheques”
Ugly, mis-aligned cheques are a poor representation of your company’s brand and attention to detail
Poor alignment creates an increased exposure to forgery and fraud (Example $__60.97 vs $9060.97)
Poor font choices (too small, too thin, too light), make it harder for your suppliers to automate their processes with cheque scanning
Sample “Good Cheque” (Dynamics GP Check printing)
What makes a “Good Cheque”
Text is an appropriate size and aligns with each of the relevant headings
The dollar sign $ is close to the dollar value, and the verbose printed amount is left aligned to reduce fraud
Payee name is in ALL CAPS as required for Cheque scanning
Paper Cheque stock has built in security features to prevent forgery
For more information on these insights, or other questions related to Dynamics GP and Dynamics CRM, please contact the Endeavour support team. We would be happy to help you explore how Microsoft Dynamics can further help your business succeed.
With the power of the Cloud, remote desktop access, and increasingly refined processes we’ve found that more and more of our client work for Microsoft Dynamics GP (ERP) and Microsoft Dynamics 356 (CRM online) implementations, upgrades and integrating 3rd party products, has been completed remotely via secure connections from our offices rather than traveling onsite to our client’s location (in Atlantic Canada, Central Canada or USA).
So what’s changed? We did a quick poll among our Endeavour Solutions’ Canadian consultants in Toronto, Halifax, London and Montreal, the results were much along the lines of what you might expect, but do indicate a clear trend none the less.
1) Change in customer mindset
2) Improvement in technology and remote connections
3) A refinement of processes and the more predicable nature of consulting engagements
Now, most of the consultants interviewed, still stressed the need to meet with clients as part of their relationship building process, but some did concede that they’ve been able to build and maintain a number of strong long-term relationships via phone, email and webcam.
Change in customer mindset. The general consensus was that more and more clients, new and existing, were willing to have their Endeavour consultants work remotely. This was both due to their comfort and trust in working with Endeavour Solutions, as well as a general shift from what used to be a lot of collaboration and joint discovery of the issues and potential solutions, to more of a reliance on Endeavour as a trusted adviser and a more simplistic, get-it-done attitude. To sum it up, more and more clients are buying ‘results’ and are less concerned with paying for ‘bums in seats’. For example, on an eight-week project, one of our consultants traveled to the client’s office (Dynamics GP Michigan client) only once for an initial kick-off, and the rest of their Dynamics GP upgrade was performed remotely, including the implementation of a new manufacturing module along with the associated testing and training.
Technology Improvements. This is thanks to both better network stability and bandwidth that is seen across Canada and the majority of the United States. It’s also because of the greater prevalence and use of proven network security, firewalls and systems being extended to external stakeholders. Our technical consultants also stressed that the newer versions of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM were designed for browser use (web client) incorporating a modern Service Based Architecture which provides a streamlined means of supporting mobile, cloud and secure remote connectivity. This is further echoed in Microsoft’s “mobile-first, cloud-first” mantra in support of its efforts to help Dynamics Users “Re-invent [their] productivity and business processes” with mobile, cloud and applications such as Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016.
Refined Processes: Endeavour is now in its 27th year in business as a Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP (Great Plains), Microsoft Dynamics 365 for CRM and Microsoft Office 365, Azure & cloud consulting firm. With over 400 active clients coast to coast in Canada and internationally including the United States and South America, we have refined, updated and optimized a number of internal processes to help improve efficiency and predictability of customer engagements. These methodologies, used by our consultants in Toronto, Halifax, London and Montreal, with additional remote support for Edmonton Alberta and Ottawa Ontario, have also created an increased level of predictability and confidence in delivering projects on-time, on-budget and now remotely.
To learn more, contact Steve Ewing, Director Business Development @ Endeavour Solutions Inc.
to Microsoft Power BI – Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant
Follow this link to read the full article, and gain access to the Gartner Report (Microsoft Power BI Blog)
Also, Endeavour Solutions is pleased to announce our February webinar series launched earlier this month includes a Webinar on Microsoft Power BI for sales dashboards and sales KPI pulling data from Microsoft Dynamics GP. Register here: February 23, 2016 https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1477620854672946434
Endeavour Solutions Canada is a Microsoft Gold ERP and Microsoft Silver CRM Partner focusing on consulting, development, implementation, upgrades, support and training for Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM, Azure Cloud and Office 365. We are one of the top Microsoft Dynamics partners in Canada and a President’s Club Member.
With over 400 active clients, Endeavour Solutions is in thetop 5% of Microsoft Partners worldwidewith consultants working from our Canadian offices in:Toronto,Halifax,Montréal, Edmonton, and London and full consulting support for the USA. Our 25+ year success is due to our focus on our customers, our people and ourcore values of integrity, trust, and accountability.
Deciding to leave Dynamics GP is bittersweet. Our team at GP Support North will miss you, however, our Business Central migration and support team at Endeavour Solutions is eager to help you succeed.
