Why Annual Software Maintenance Is Important for Your Business - Part 2: VSUG

As the general manager of the Vision33 TOTAL Care program, I have seen the Vision33 customer base grow exponentially in just a few short years. The program’s continued success is the result of continual improvement to the value that the Vision33 SAP User Group (VSUG) provides its membership. By renewing your annual software maintenance with Vision33, not only do you get the benefit of continued development to SAP Business One, you also get continued access to VSUG member-only benefits.

At the core of the membership is a regularly scheduled group meeting for Vision33 customers, where members can openly discuss SAP Business One features, functionality and custom usage within their organizations. This fosters a constructive discussion on how other members have been able to overcome their challenges or to voice new ideas. While some partners would rather avoid bringing together their customers to discuss matters in fear of eliciting customer dissatisfaction, Vision33 has always seen the potential benefit for customers to share their ideas and to help one another.

To illustrate my point, take for example one of the sessions in which a Vision33 customer had asked if there were any other customers that knew of a way to get a Gross Profit Report by warehouse from SAP Business One. While the customer was convinced that it was not possible, and had express dissatisfaction with the unsupported feature, the outcome was very positive and beneficial to other members with a similar question. In fact, it was amazing to watch as other users started sharing their ideas on how to achieve this functionality. One by one each member made suggestions of ways that they had addressed similar issues by using SAP Business One queries, Excel Reporter and Crystal Reports.

Indeed, by renewing your annual software maintenance, continued access to VSUG membership offers tremendous value to your business as we continue to listen closely to our customers’ needs and provide new valuable services to the membership. Here are just a few of the benefits that the VSUG membership offers as a direct result of listening to our customer ideas that have resulted from VSUG meetings:

1. VSUG User Meetings: Today in our large regions, we hold two VSUG face-to face meetings each year.  These day-long meetings are typically held in SAP Offices.  They include: education about product updates, guest speakers, open Q&A, networking sessions with other users and the opportunity to interact with SAP representatives and other product experts.
2. Weekly Web chats: Every Wednesday, Vision33 TOTAL Care hosts educational and informative Web-based sessions complimentary to our customers. These meetings can focus on SAP Business One functionality, new features and benefits in upcoming versions, or a new third party application that has been integrated with SAP Business One. Most important is the time allocated to members for Q & A, with an open structure that gives members the opportunity to have open discussions with Vision33 as well as each other in a supportive environment.
3. Access to Vison33 TOTAL Care resources: The Vision33 TOTAL Care customer Resources pages provides easy access to customer resources, including recordings of weekly web chats that users may have missed, Crystal Reports Training class schedules, a video training library, announcements, and key support links.
4. Easy Access to Software: When your business upgrades software, requires an add-on application or access to Video training material, VSUG offers easy access to this information through a convenient and secure FTP server.
5. Customer Portal: Integrated with SAP, this site enables our customers to create and monitor service calls, and view OPEN and CLOSED calls.  It will keep you informed regarding the progress of existing service calls, as well as provide you with a means to create new calls and attach valuable information.
6. Quality Control and risk management: Vision33 takes responsibility to test new versions and patches prior to recommending their release to our customers. Software today has become more powerful and more intertwined with the hardware that supports it. As a result, Vision33 offers members a viability check to help you better manage risk associated when upgrading SAP Business One or other applications to the newer versions.
7. Introduction to Support: To bring new customers up to speed, we have a special introductory meeting after the initial go-live with the SAP Business One application. This meeting allows us to introduce the Vision33 TOTAL Care staff and programs – ensuring that you know about all of the services available to your business.
8. Regular Email Communication: Regular quarterly newsletter announcing the availability of new software versions, scheduling of an important event, focus on a new feature or benefit from the latest version, and general information to keep the customer well informed.

Vision33 is committed to continually delivering more value to the VSUG. By renewing your software maintenance with Vision33 as your partner, you have a hand in shaping the future of the SAP Business One application and the value that it brings to your organization.