Many businesses employ well-staffed, highly-skilled IT teams with experience across many technologies. But sometimes, just like the manager of a baseball team, it’s nice to have bullpen you can go to when you need a particular set of skills.
Perhaps you have an application that requires heavy coding, or you’re about to deploy new technology and would like to bounce ideas off of someone who has already handled an implementation. And even with the technologies your team is familiar with, you occasionally run into something you haven’t seen before.
That’s the value Satellite Shelters sees in Western Computer when it comes to the company’s Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP platform. When Cathy Brehm, the Director of Systems and Leasing, “makes a call to the bullpen,” Western Computer is always there to assist with anything that she and her IT team need help with—providing a team of experts with skills in varying technologies who always respond quickly, even nights and weekends.
A Great Resource to Turn To
Satellite Shelters, which provides temporary and permanent modular buildings throughout the midwestern and eastern United States, began partnering with Western Computer in 2014 after switching its application for managing modular space rentals to Armada Dynamics EQM Rental Management Software. Armada Dynamics recommended Brehm to work with Western Computer as one of the top EQM solution providers in the country.
Western Computer provides a dedicated team that the internal Satellite Shelters IT team interacts with exclusively, including a software developer, accounting expert, and an EQM specialist. Western Computer also provides software training for the IT team, which can then train the rest of the staff at Satellite Shelters.
“Western Computer is a great resource to turn to,” says Brehm. “When we submit a ticket for help, we always get the same person in their designated area of expertise. So there’s no learning curve; they know our systems and our processes and get right down to business to work on issues.”
Strong Long-Term Partnership Keeps Paying Off
Over the many years of the partnership, Western Computer has assisted Satellite Shelters with two NAV upgrades. Western Computer also helped integrate NAV with cloud tools, such as the Dynamics 365 Sales CRM module.
Additional key integrations include connecting NAV to other cloud solutions including the ClickDimensions marketing platform, and DocuSign for automating signature processes on customer rentals and internal human resources documents. In addition, Western Computer helped automate processes in NAV relating to purchase orders, quotes, and contracts.
The integration between NAV and Dynamics 365 Sales is a particularly important benefit. The Satellite Shelters staff no longer has to manually transfer quotes and contracts from the CRM platform to the ERP platform. This cuts down resource time considerably and eliminates input errors. Given that the company issues up to 2,500 quotes every month, that’s a lot of time saved!
Big Project on the Horizon
With NAV and the integrated systems running smoothly, Satellite Shelters is considering collaborating with Western Computer on Microsoft Power Apps to develop an application for managing product inventory. Satellite Shelters is also contemplating a migration to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for additional ERP capabilities to support the company’s anticipated growth. Key new functionality will include optical character recognition data capture and document management.
“Western Computer will play a key role in helping us maintain an agile IT environment and in designing and implementing new ERP platforms in the future,” Brehm says. “We have found an ideal partner for making sure our enterprise software systems run smoothly so that our business runs more efficiently.”
To find out more about how Western Computer helps Satellite Shelters get the most out of Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP and link the platform to other applications so information can be shared easily across the business, download the full customer success story. We would also be glad to schedule a call to discuss how we can help your organization achieve similar benefits. Feel free to contact us to start the conversation.
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