Men shake hands in a corporate office building
Article

Empowering business growth with Baker Tilly’s IFS Support offering  

IFS Cloud offers significant benefits to its software customers and end users, but with any leading-edge technology, there will always be issues that arise from time to time.

Baker Tilly’s IFS Support team assists clients with a variety of critical services on a day-to-day basis, helping clients leverage the capabilities of their platform, solve functional and technical issues and generate more value from IFS than they ever have before.

Who should take advantage of this offering?

Any company leveraging IFS across most versions, can take advantage of the Baker Tilly IFS Support offering. Outsourcing the support services to Baker Tilly allows internal IT and business analysts to focus on higher value initiatives that drive the return on investment from leveraging IFS rather than managing the volume of requests that can come from end-users.

How does IFS Support unlock success for users?

All members of the support team have at least one IFS certification which demonstrates the quality of expertise provided. The highly skilled and experienced team respond to incidents and requests on a 24x7 basis within a clearly defined service-level agreement (SLA). This means that we not only provide the client with specialist knowledge but can also provide cover for shifts, busy periods and other absences.

The client will be assigned a point of contact who they will meet with on a regular basis to review the service and can reach out to when they simply need to discuss a specific topic. Raising a ticket and communicating with Baker Tilly is easy: the client can simply send an e-mail to our support desk, and it will be assigned to the most appropriate consultant. Our focus is on the client and so we will proactively engage in a way that suits them; we are happy to jump on a call or simply correspond by e-mail.

Perhaps they are struggling with a standard function that is not performing correctly, or maybe they want to do something differently that they don’t currently have the IFS capabilities or knowledge to achieve. They also may be new to their position or filling in for a co-worker who understands IFS and its processes and functionalities better than they do.

Each solution is unique in its implementation due to modifications and other client developed customizations. IFS will support their modifications and can support the client developed customizations if this is a requirement.

These are just some examples of how Baker Tilly’s IFS Support team can help users get back on track toward a productive day. Our team also handles technical queries. For instance, an IFS end user may need a data report or guidance on where to locate and extract a data report. The depth of issues and situations that we can assist with is fairly extensive.

“People want to start using areas of the system that they’re less familiar with,” said Baker Tilly Digital senior consultant Rachel Clifford, who is certified in finance, manufacturing and supply chain. “They want to get more out of the system. They want to explore more of the benefits of IFS.”

Does it matter if we’re using IFS Applications or IFS Cloud?

The short answer is no; our team has on average seven years of IFS experience and have worked across versions dating back 20 years. This means we can navigate seamlessly between different IFS user interfaces, technology and functionality. Clients use a variety of versions from 7 to IFS Cloud, so our team is well versed to support any needs on any platform. As IFS continues to innovate new versions, the industry familiarity of the legacy versions decreases but the Baker Tilly team can come into any situation with knowledge to help support it.

IFS Cloud provides a long list of potential benefits, including a more responsive level of service – quicker fixes and more frequent changes and new releases on the cloud. Additionally, there is a greater level of flexibility and personalization for end users on IFS Cloud.

On the other hand, a complicating factor is that there are many versions of IFS, some of which are more outdated than others. Naturally, that creates more potential errors to investigate, address and resolve – everything from technical errors to system errors to issues with data and critical financial errors.

In any case, IFS users need a support team that is available around the clock for timely requests and urgent needs. In many instances, they need to keep their business moving forward. That means specialists who can get straight onto their system and resolve issues quickly.

When an issue arises, where does Baker Tilly step in?

“We are their point of contact if something goes wrong,” Clifford said. “Our support team has a breadth of knowledge of different environments. We invest time during onboarding to understand the unique aspects of each setup. Then, of course, there are unique customizations within each client’s setup. So they need a team that knows their idiosyncrasies and can get them back on track, quickly.”

Baker Tilly’s IFS Support offering manages your entire IFS platform, so you can focus on other areas of your business while we keep your users online. How does our offering compete with others? Learn more about how our 24/7 dedicated service is perfect for users seeking top-notch support with unparalleled expertise, personalized assistance and seamless integration with your business needs.

Paolo Zaino
Director
life sciences professional in lab
Next up

Automating the traditional KOL tiering process for life sciences companies