Is your business scared of switching Dynamics Support Partner?

For over 20 years, Advantage has been at the forefront of helping small and medium sized businesses to transform the way they work through tailored Microsoft Dynamics solutions. In that time, Advantage have spoken to many customers about moving their Dynamics Support from their current partner which has revealed a number of concerns about what they are being told by their incumbent Dynamics Support partner to put them off making the switch.  

This is why we’ve decided to make our findings public and help to dispel any of the concerns you may have about moving partner. 

Concern 1: A Legal One 

This goes without saying but the most common concern that we’ve heard on a regular basis is around the cancellation clauses and contracts not being cancelled in time. You will find that most Dynamics Support partners will have such clauses in their support agreements which customers aren’t aware existed until it comes to ending their current agreement. 

The vast majority of such contracts contain a clause along the lines of ‘the agreement requires the customer to provide written notice of termination at least three months prior to the contract renewal date’. Therefore, when this clause is applied in practice, what this means is that if your support renewal date is February 1st, you will need to have given your notice to the partner in question by October 31st. The problems often occur around this, as from a legal standpoint you have to renew for another year.  

So how do you get round this? 

The best thing to do is every time you sign a new contract is to give your partner written notice or work with them to give you a shorter rolling contract instead.  

Concern 2: Bespoke Codes 

The next concern that customers flagged up was the fact they wouldn’t be able to access or maintain any bespoke code within their Dynamics solution if they switched partners. This is not true! If the bespoke code has been written in the Dynamics solution you have and is in the customer object range then almost all partners are able to access it, edit it and maintain it! 

However, the potential sticking point revolves around whether or not if you have had bespoke work done as an extension, if you have then you need to make sure you get the source code or else you won’t be able to move the extension to the new partner. If you are unsure about the actual code situation in your existing system, please feel free to contact us for a FREE audit where we can review your existing objects and enhancements.

Concern 3: Halfway through a Microsoft Enhancement contract 

The last concern that we’ve heard on a regular basis is around the fact that you are halfway through your Microsoft Enhancement contract and your current partner says that you can’t leave until that has ended. Again, this is simply not true! You are able to move your licence along with your Microsoft Enhancement contract at any time, as the contract is directly between you and Microsoft.  

The only thing worth bearing in mind and checking is that your current partner contract doesn’t include Microsoft Enhancements as part of it.  To be honest this is not a big problem providing you have completed all the necessary payments at which point you can simply wait until the renewal date then move it across to your new partner.

Conclusion 

From the above findings it is pretty clear that there are a number of concerns that try to stop you leaving your current partner to move a new partner. Should you be scared of switching Dynamics Support partner to get a better service? Absolutely not, if you are not happy for whatever reason you should be allowed to find a better service that provides the value that you are looking for as a business. 

Next Steps? 

If you have read the above and have decided that you would like to switch your Dynamics Support over to Advantage then please get in touch with our team of experts today to discuss your specific requirements. 

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