As expert consultants in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, we’ve seen the product’s power and its ability to help businesses of all sizes and industries transform how they operate. But we believe an organization’s success with Business Central is only as strong as the support it can access for the solution. The myriad nuts and bolts, customizations, tools, features, and quirks that come with Business Central mean customers inevitably have questions. When you work with DSWi, those questions go to April Toczko, our talented, reliable Client Support Manager.
What’s a day in the life like for April, who fields every support desk request from our Business Central customers? We sat down with her to find out, and she revealed what makes for the most successful adoption of the solution.
Q: What is your experience as a Client Support Manager, specifically with Business Central?
A: I’ve been at DSWi in the role of Client Support Manager—working with Business Central-related requests daily—for four years. Prior to that, I ran the support desk at a different company for six years. I’m coming up on 10 years in general of support experience, and I started out learning about Business Central as a user of the solution. I have been working with Business Central for about 20 years as either a user, implementation consultant, or support manager.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you?
A: Clients will most often reach out to us through email with an issue, question, or new request. The support desk performs triage with that request to see what it entails and to put it in the hands of the best person to address it. That person might be on the development team, the consultation team, or it might be me depending on the request.
In addition to fielding the support requests and directly handling a number of them, I also provide oversight to make sure that we’re moving forward and requests are getting handled by whomever is addressing them. I ensure requests are fulfilled in a timely manner by following up with the right parties to make sure the customer has their question answered.
Q: What types of requests do you get at the support desk?
A: We have a variety of requests. Perhaps a new user needs to get up and running, or users have changed. Sometimes it’s a simple “how do I…?” question. Or maybe someone is getting an error message, and it’s related to setup. Other times, new functionalities can spur a slew of questions, or users want to know how they can change the behavior of the software. And all these questions vary in multi-layered ways as well depending on the size and industry of the business.
Since there is such a variety of ways users can use Business Central, there is a huge range of question types. Every request is different, and I have to switch gears many times a day.
Q: Are there times of year or seasons that you field higher volumes of requests?
A: Definitely. In the beginning of the year, we have regulatory reporting issues, audits, people closing their books, and other related requests. That’s a very busy time of year for many organizations, and the support desk requests can be high in volume for months. Then, you can tell when users go on spring break. After that, things pick back up until summer vacation. Once kids go back to school, the pace quickens again, and we crank out support work until the end of the year. Of course, things slow down again over the holidays, so there certainly are seasonal trends.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, everything was scrambled for everybody, so that was an exception. We saw quite an influx of support desk requests during that time as everyone adjusted to so many different things.
Q: For the users you help, are any of them doing anything in particular to be more successful with Business Central?
A: Yes. Let me say first that the most successful customers are doing a mixed bag of things, but one of the most important aspects is if the top executives are really supportive of the solution. If motivation to embrace change comes from the top down, people will be more likely to get on board. Most people don’t like change to the software they’re using, and in general, we’re adverse to change. But if top management and sponsors support it, then it really does trickle down.
In this scenario, it’s more likely that end users are properly trained and can do the work they need to do throughout implementation so once the system is up and running, it’s not scary to begin using.
In my experience, you can tell the difference between companies in which users have ownership of the software in contrast to ones where they expect external consultants to step in at every turn. When users have ownership, they take charge of learning the ins and outs. Not only are they the most likely to maximize their investment in the solution, they are the happiest with it.
Questions about using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central?
Get in touch with the experts at DSWi.
