General Consultant Discussion

Is anyone in this group, or does anyone know of any partners that are Altec/Doc-Link certified to install/configure/train? @JimWoodhead /DSD? We have a client that wants to move pretty quickly but Altec is scheduling new implementations for April right now.

And that is exactly the problem with Altec. They are at least a month or more out for business process reviews and two plus months for implementations. We had a potential sale last year that was put on hold by the client, and I'm sure the delays were a contributing factor. As an endorsed solution, this is not acceptable. I guess that's why they have money to sponsor events and take me to dinner at Summit. Sorry - no, we are not certified.

Unfortunately I am not qualified to install/configure. We use doc-link directly for those tasks,

You can always check out ACOM to see how far backed up they are. I have a client using ACOM and they seem to be satisifed with the support.

Not to get off track but is it a big process to be certified? Seems like a group opportunity.

@JeffSchwenk Because Altec is the Mercedes of document management systems? (according to Altec)

@WayneSchulz That's an excellent idea - at least make sure there is one member firm for each region. This is also a very profitable consulting area. I'll check with Richard.

Many flavors of cars in SOCAL. Why buy a Mercedes if a Lexus, BMW, Audi or Chevy will get the job done. If you make the product difficult to obtain, it opens the door to others offering a higher level of customer service.

No, I agree. I can't get one of the new Lamborghini Veneno's because there are only 3, and they're already sold. Oh, yeah, and I don't have $3.9 million. Not being able to implement in a reasonable timeframe is almost like not having the product. Perhaps Sage needs to rethink the one endorsed solution per function. The problem for these third party companies is they pay a great deal to Sage to be endorsed, and ACOM may not want to do that. Again, it's a Sage issue.

So the major reason to offer the Altec/Doc-Link solution is that they are endorsed by Sage. And the only reason they received the Sage endorsement is that they had the money and where withall to be the highest bidder for this endorsement? Seems to me that this is an excellent way to become complacent and lazy. Wasn't Scanco a Sage Endorsed solution at one time?????? Sage needs to be more focused on innovation and customer service than who is willing to pay the piper!!!!!!

I completely agree - but I have seen all of the Doc mgt solutions, we have a few clients using Cypress, I've seen several demos of ACOM, and I believe Altec is the best product. So even if there is a 2-month wait I have a hard time recommending something else. Plus, they bought us like 200 Cadillac Margaritas (thanks to @JimWoodhead)...

Those Cadillac's were awesome!!!

Actaully, if you think about it, it usually takes about two months to get everything ready for the implementation, so maybe it isn't such a long wait! And the margaritas WERE good!

Perhaps the first step is for us to know how to do the process review prior to the implementation. We do a preliminary survey in order to identify a ballpark number for the software and Altec's implementation, get commitment from the client, schedule Altec, and then spend the 1-2 months doing a detailed process review and documentation.

I am confident that Altec would help us in this arena. Richard is definitely open to suggestions.

I'm heading to Altec next week to get the technical background demo I've been asking for this past year. The point being that I want to see under the hood (Mercedes, Austin-Martin, whatever) and find out how big a deal this is to support. I recall about a year ago, talking with one of their implementation tech's and they said it's not that hard to teach the implementation, but perhaps Altec got wind of that and changed policies. I'll let you know what I learn.

@MoiraGoggin That's great! Let us know what up with that.

Information on the demo, from my notes, is attached. (Sorry if I'm not the best note taker) To answer the question raised by @EricAnderson - Brandt Morrell, Pres/COO, said they are putting a more formal one together, but didn't give any specific dates or details. Much like X3, they are going to want you to shadow the first couple of installs for your client before you take the reins. That's fine and fair since there is a good amount of setup to get the system to perform at peak level for the client. The quote from their site: ""On the initial sale or two, we recommend allowing us to take a leadership position as your sales engineer while you coordinate and facilitate the sales process. As you gain comfort with the tools and solution, you are able to take a greater role including being certified to resell the solution with attendant support from Altec."" I did let them know that there is a level of frustration with the implementation calendar, after being put on the spot by a question from Richard Simmons. Expressed the need to let a reseller at least get the ball rolling with the client even if the install & implementation would be weeks later. It was meet with a good deal of nodding agreement. It was a long demo, so if you have any specific questions, please feel free to contact me, moira@chismet.com. I asked them to send me the slide deck too.

Is there a comparison document anywhere showing Altec vs Acom?

thanks @MoiraGoggin for the update!

@PhilMcIntosh - not that I'm aware of. There are differences in their products, but Altec was wisely not specific. Paraphrasing here they said to a similar question, ""a competitor is adding new features to their product all the time just like Altec"". One difference is Acom is using a more generic OCR and Altec is using Readsoft OCR.