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It's hard to run any successful business with more than a handful of employees without the aid of a software designed to handle the endless amount of information that is required. A business management system like Infor/Lawson does this very well, as anyone who uses it can attest.

The system can manage everything from payroll to taxes to procurement to inventory control to invoicing and information management. The system is highly complex and flexible. It's easily adaptable to the needs of any company. But because of this complexity, the system does require frequent maintenance, patches and updates.

The problem with this is that these tasks, while important, do consume a great deal of time and human capital that could otherwise be utilized elsewhere. Going directly to Lawson is at best problematic because they only have so many people to help, and the wait time is often months. And even if you can get help directly from the parent company, it can often be cost prohibitive.

While independent consulting firms exist that can solve your issues in a variety of ways, this may or may not be a cost issue also. And sometimes, you may have minor things that really don't require a person to come out and fix them, which means expenses for travel, lodging, food and time. Though a consultant is arguably the best solution to most problems, he or she may not be the best answer for the budget.

So what then does a company do that needs help but cannot afford a consultant or Lawson tech support? Well, there is something that can be a good fit for these needs. It's what we call the Lawson Virtual System Administrator. Thanks to the internet and the speed at which it can be accessed, as well as Lawson's online capabilities, many of the tasks required in the maintenance and upgrading of the system can be done remotely. Here are some advantages to utilizing this new and innovative method:

Advantage 1 - No ancillary costs

By using the Lawson Virtual System Administrator solution, you can get all the common tasks of installing fixes and patches, adding modules, reviewing and updating documentation, improving process flow and so forth done remotely. This means that you don't' have to pay for someone to fly or drive to you, their hotel and daily food, and any other associated costs. You simply create a service contract that deals with the work at hand.

Advantage 2 - Immediate solutions

With the Lawson Virtual System Administrator you can get almost instantaneous responses to issues that may crop up. These types of emergencies never happen when it is convenient and more often than not need immediate action to correct. With a Virtual System Administrator, the solution and troubleshooting is only a phone call or email away when they have direct access to your system.

Advantage 3 - Constant monitoring

When you set up your virtual administrator contract, your system is now monitored at all times. The great advantage of this is that your Virtual System Administrator can often see upcoming maintenance and issues and problems even before they happen. They can get a long-term picture of how your system is functioning and where it might be improved. This form of preventative maintenance can save a great deal of time and money and lost productivity.

Advantage 4 - You are not limited

We want to make it clear that the Lawson Virtual System Administrator is not the end all be all solution. It does have some limits. But none of these limits are on you. In other words, even with the solution in place, you can still hire a consultant, you can still get a great deal out of having them come in and physically inspect or repair your system, or do some hands on upgrading based on the monitoring that has been done. And best of all, a good consulting firm can offer in-house training that is far superior to the remote training that is the standard. The virtual solution just gives you the ability to have the day to day maintenance and upgrading issues monitored and handled by a skilled professional. This frees you and your staff to do those jobs that you need to do for your business.

Whatever your needs, there is a solution for you and your company. We wanted to present this short dissertation on the Lawson Virtual System Administrator as a way to show that no matter how large or small your company, no matter what you do, there is a cost-effective and viable solution to the care and maintenance of your all-important Lawson ERP system.