SBaugh - Opinion regarding VAR support 2

[Beggar]

Hello Scott.

I presume many share my view but let me say thanks for your participation here. I imagine there are some other VAR folks lurking but I find your input valuable.

So, I'm looking for your opinion, and those of anybody else who cares to share.

Last year I was with a company that bought SWX 2004. We couldn't afford training and I had experience with SE & INV so I just worked through the tutorials and learned on the fly. The VAR support was outstanding; they always answered my questions, even the times when it was a "stupid" question. I called a fair amount early on but after I caught on, much less frequently.

I'm now in a position of deciding between INV and SWX. The latter is obviously the leading candidate, especially given my experience with it. However INV is a bit less expensive and the routing feature that they include would really help us out. That said, the Inventor VAR said something that really turned me off.

...support is limited to installation issues, bug fixes, error messages, system performance issues, etc. How-to questions are best addressed through training. We will answer a few training related questions, but if it is apparent you need training, we will recommend that you attend training.

My SWX VAR never balked at answering how-to questions. I suppose if I had called all the time, they might have but they certainly accepted the role of helping a new user up the learning curve.

So, from the VAR perspective, what's your opinion? I think the VAR has a responsibility to help you out along the way without trying to force training on you. Training is appropriate sometimes but I've found it can also be a huge waste of time and money.


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Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

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[rockguy]

I'm not affiliated with any VAR but I totally agree with you. I demoed Inventor a couple years back when we were looking at SWX and INV. I had some SWX experience and felt it was a more capable program. I'm not sure how they stack up against each other now? The INV VAR we dealt with was practically willing to give the software away. We could buy a seat of INV with AutoCrap and MDT for $1499. Unbeliveable price. When I talked with the SWX VAR about pricing and showed him our INV #'s he had one thing to say.

"We don't need to discount our software to rock bottom prices to sell it. We have a quality product and that quality continues to sell our software at the retail price. It says something about the product when you have to give it away to have people use it".

That statement really struck a cord with me. Our SW VAR has been great ever since. If your paying for yearly support then you should be able to ask any question (no matter how stupid) and they should bend over backward to answer it. My .02

 

[SBaugh]

Thanks Beggar that means a lot to me! I'm always willing to help each of you when time permits me.

rockguy makes the best point about INV, from his VAR's point of view. I'm not an INV fan, nor an AutoCAD fan in the least little bit. So my opinion is for SW all the way. But each person has to make their own mind on what product is best for them. That is why you must test the software thoroughly.

Support is a very important part when dealing with a CAD system. If I have a customer that continues to call me time, and time and again, on basic stuff. I do recommend that that user not only go through the online tutorials but I also try pushing that user into the help before contacting me. It's not that I'm not willing to help the user. The users must learn to take care of himself, before contacting me. But if everything fails and they can't find the information I will then proceed to help them out. I do make a note and contact the Salesman of that users area, and he will push for an Essential Training course. That course alone for a beginning user is sometimes a must, just because most users are making a switch.

It is the VAR job, if your paying Maintenance. To provide reliable, and competent support. True sometimes your questions will stump us Tech guys, but in the end you get and answer.

Before the last few months, I was tracking everyone’s issue mentally... for the most part. Since then, we have moved over to a DB system were every ones call, voicemail and Email is put into it. Now as long as the information is entered, an issue will not be missed. This IMO makes for better Tech support and no one falls through the cracks. The only way a user would not get an answer is if their information was not put in the DB. I'm not sure if INV or AutoCAD, takes much pride in their software to provide support like this. If I get a call from a user and they leave a voicemail message. I try to get back with them within 15-30 minutes. By the set rule I have a lot longer to get back in touch with them. But God knows I hated waiting for that call to come back to me, when I was the user on the other end waiting. So even if I don't have an answer I at least try to call them back and get more information. The Thread I posted the other day "What is your VAR's response time?" (Which I plan to reply to ASAP) I see that most of those that posted are having good luck with their VAR's. And that's great news. I'm glad to here it. I think Since SW has moved over to a new DB, which gives us a better way of turning in bugs and issues, etc... I think this is going to make things somewhat easier (it already has for me), and I do know that SW is fixing things faster for user then they ever have in the past. This is great news for all users.

A VAR can only do so much for its users. Then we have to fall back on SW. SW is strong and their support is very strong and they have some very intelligent people working there. Without them the rest of us would collapse. We have to remember most big problems or issues are fixed by the parent company and a lot of the smaller issues are fixed by VAR's. I don't think I have heard anyone ever say "I sent a file into AutoCAD today and they had my problem fixed by the end of the day". Heck, I think they said it was fixed weeks, to months later. You can't run a business like that!! And IMO that is why AutoCAD is not in the mid-stream anymore. They dropped the ball, because they didn't support their users properly and they didn't give the user what they wanted when they wanted it. SW IMO gives the users what they want 90% of time when the users wants it. After the statement you quoted above Beggar I think they are still using the same Tech support staff that they used when ACAD was the only product they had to sell.

Yes SW makes mistakes we all do. IMO It's even harder when your writing such complicated software to get all the bugs out. I'm sure they know this. But that is why there is a beta testing. And that is in place to help us all. I know some people disagree with that statement, but I don't. SW has made my life easier in just about every way. I'm a Die-hard SW user and I always will be, until something better comes along. But from what I have seen so far there isn't anything better. Because if you look at the whole picture, and not just the software, but the support, the training, the material that is out there on the software already, the NG, this forum, the people that are so willing to help you, including SW. You just can't beat a company or software like [red]Solidworks[/red]



Sorry for such a Long thread, but I do hope I made my point to you Beggar. Yes some of the above is ("IMO" - in my opinion), but this is the way I see SW and all the stuff around it. I have seen it for years. I have seen people walk in and walk out. I don't plan on walking out on SW. I went 10 months without a job, because I was holding out for a good SW job. Go figure... I got this job as a Tech support Technician for a VAR. I think I fit in alright here... it's what I do best.. helping people... or trying to anyway.

I hope that doesn't sound to much like a Sales pitch, but that is my true feelings about SW.

Best Regards to all of you in this NG!

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
faq559-716 - SW Fora Users

 

[MadMango]

SW has an add-on called Routing (at an added price) that handles harnesses and nailboard drawings. A demo might be in order to help you compare functionality.

[green]"But what... is it good for?"[/green]
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
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