As of April 2005, Fulcrum Business Solutions will add a new offering to its already extensive range of enterprise project management (EPM) and related technology offerings - client support services - making the company the first EPM service provider in SA to offer a formal and efficient support structure.
Fulcrum made the decision to formalise support as a service to enable customers to invest in support according to their needs and the maturity of the solution within their organisation.
"By formalising our support offering, we are able to commit dedicated resources to provide superior quality services to all our clients," explains Nadia Pistorius, Support Services Manager at Fulcrum Business Solutions.
There are a number of scenarios in which the client support services offering should be a definite consideration:
A formal support service can ensure maintenance of an investment by ensuring the solution stays operational, guaranteeing performance of systems, ensuring conformity of processes and expanding the knowledge base within the organisation.
Through the incorporation of new ideas and trends and the use of the latest technologies, support improves investment in a solution.
Support also plays a critical role when an organisation makes the decision to expand their investment to other areas of the business, or further embed the use of the technology within the group currently utilising the solution.
The return on investment of an EPM solution depends heavily on the quality of information used within the solution. Through a formalised support service, Fulcrum is able to ensure compliance with standard practices, accuracy of solution documentation and formal auditing procedures, all of which lead to a higher level of information integrity.
"Project management maturity of an organisation is measured by an industry accepted five point scale, which gives a good indication of the likelihood of success of an EPM implementation," explains Pistorius. "Many customers start their EPM implementations at Level 1. The Fulcrum Client Support Services offering has been designed to assist customers with friction-free growth in EPM organisational maturity." To ensure the support service is accessible to customers with large EPM implementations as well as those just venturing into the EPM arena, Fulcrum has defined two types of offerings:
A support contract with a SLA (service level agreement) where the client will pay a fixed monthly retainer, in return for support services at a reduced hourly rate and a guaranteed response time.
A support contract without a SLA where the client will pay a once-off administration fee. Services are then provided at an hourly rate as requested by the client.
Fulcrum Business Solutions has the largest single team of EPM dedicated resources within the country. The Support Centre has been set-up in such a way as to leverage both a group of dedicated support professionals, as well as circulating the team of EPM consultants and architects, to ensure the support provided is based on real-world experience and years of data built up in the Fulcrum Knowledge Centre.
Through this structure, Fulcrum is able to offer proactive maintenance and fast turnaround time on e-mail and telephonic service requests. Fulcrum has also established a call-logging and tracking system to ensure all support requests are registered and that the status of support requests and contracts is available at all times.
For further information on Fulcrum`s client support services offering, please contact Nadia Pistorius at nadia.pistorius@fulcrumgroup.co.za or 012 349 1590.
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Fulcrum Business Solutions is a certified Microsoft business partner focused on delivering enterprise project management (EPM) solutions and other related offerings to large corporate organisations with formal project management offices, to small businesses with single project managers.
In addition, Fulcrum is a certified K2.Net Workflow partner, with the skills and experience to integrate enterprise project management and workflow solutions.
Fulcrum`s mission is to extend EPM to the business management arena and deliver a spectrum of project solutions and services to obtain project excellence. The opportunity for integration of core business applications and project management services represents the next wave in the business.
Fulcrum is undoubtedly the premier EPM player in the South African market, based both on the completeness of the offering as well as the number and size of implementations to date.
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