After Ultimate IEM solutions are lunched, a happy customer signs the contract for technical support with one of Ultima’s authorized partners.
You may choose any one of them.
Can you provide support with your own IT staff, without involving an outside Ultima partner?
Yes, you can.
A few details on each of the support schemes.
But before that, let us remind you that every Ultima solution consists of the two main parts:
- the Ultimate Solid platform
– the system kernel which is unchangeable and identical for all installations; - configurations
– implementation of business logic, specific for a certain customer.
The terms ‘platform’ and ‘configuration’ are absolutely identical in meaning to those used by 1C.
There is no need to study local programming languages in order to become competent in Ultimate IEM solutions support. It would be enough for a programmer to know languages that are standard world-wide: C# and SQL.
The system is fully documented in English. The same language is used for source code comments and as an alternative interface language. So there are tens of millions of Tadjik Indian potential support providers.
For those taking deeper interest – more details on the system architecture.
1. Contract with an outside Ultima partner
Works are completed and paid for on a time & material basis – i.e. according to the quantity of man-hours.
The minimum support budget is 4 programming hours per year per one Ultimate Solid license.
Hour rates are fixed, our partners cannot change them:
| Russia, Belarus |
Ukraine | Kazakhstan | Other countries |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programmer (per hour) | 3 690 р | 1 490 ₴ | 15 900 ₸ | € 70 |
| Analyst (per hour) | 4 690 р | 1 990 ₴ | 18 900 ₸ | € 90 |
Rates seem to be just a bit lower than those of SAP. This suggests that the cost of post installation support of Ultimate IEM solutions is about the same as the cost of SAP solutions support. This conclusion it wrong, however.
The final cost is a result of multiplying the rate by the man hours spent. According to the statistics we have accumulated on implementation of comparable tasks in Ultima and in SAP, the latter case requires time by an order of magnitude more.
Literally, ‘by an order of magnitude’: to implement the same task, an Ultima developer will spent 10 times less man-hours, than a SAP developer.
The customer pays only for completed works.
No payments for nothing – like 20% of the cost of licenses yearly that our dear foreign colleagues take just
because.
The works are executed only according to the requests from authorized employees placed via an online tracker.
Which, by the way, has lots of features, such as budgeting, analytics, linked tasks management, appointing activity owners, etc. It’s all transparent.
Each quarter the Ultina Partner Center (independently from the partners) assesses the level of customer satisfaction with post-installation support according to the following questionnaire:
-
A
Use of Ultimate IEM solutions has a definite positive effect on the company’s operational
performance. The Ultima servicing partner’s consultants have high business competence
and regularly suggest effective solutions for business processes optimization, which lead
to increase in profits and/or decrease of costs. -
B
It’s difficult to draw a distinct line between the positive effect of the Ultima solution
and other factors; however, we are definitely satisfied by both the results of using
the software and the co-operation with the Ultima servicing partner. -
C
The Ultimate IEM system is installed. It is up and running.
There are no other significant achievements. -
D
We’ve been cheated. The reality has nothing to do with what you promise on your website.
If the service level assessment of a partner is not complimentary enough, it loses our authorization.
So, Ultima takes more than good care of its customes’ satisfaction even after the system has been launched.
2. In-house support of Ultimate IEM solutions
First of all, here’s why you shouldn’t support Ultimate IEM solutions (as well as any other solutions) with your own staff.
Then again, a homo sapiens is a creature that can only learn from his own mistakes.
Moreover, not even every member of the species is able to do that.
So you’d better:
— certify at least one business analyst and one developer,
— pay yearly subscription for a self-service Ultima license (see the prices)
| Russia Belorus |
Ukrain | Kazakhstan | Other countries |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total per year | 0 р | 0 ₴ | 0 ₸ | € 0 |
| Montly payment | 0 р | 0 ₴ | 0 ₸ | € 0 |
and — good luck with your in-house support.