With the technology boom of the
nineties well and truly over ‘user groups’ became the first casualties as
businesses looked to cut back on expenditure. Most ‘user groups’ were looked
upon as an excuse for an IT Managers ‘Free Lunch’. The meetings were a mixture
of resellers trying to sell new products/versions or add-ons and the more vocal
of the attendees taking the opportunity to moan about specific issues
un-related to most other users. The result was a fairly negative experience and
resellers who offered ‘FREE’ user groups soon dropped them.
As a user of Sage for over 7 years and
a member of my reseller ‘user group’ (now defunct) what I needed was contact
with other users that were experiencing the same problems as me, but with
constructive help for me to get over or even round them. Responses from both
author and reseller are often ‘That is fixed in the next version’ or ‘it will
be fixed in the next version’. If I do not have the
finance/resource/requirement to go to the next version that does not make my
problem go away. My belief was that I couldn’t be the only person experiencing this problem. In the same vain I am sure I have
overcome other problems other are struggling with today.
When I first looked at joining ISTUG (and it took
them 18 months to persuade me) my concern was that it would be the same old
round of meetings where people would be trying to sell me something or topics
that would have no relevance to my particular system.
Back
in November I accepted an invitation to go along and discuss with ISTUG what I
expected from a ‘user group’ my preferred terminology would be ‘user support
group’ because I believe that’s what it should be. What I found in November was that the people
who accepted that invitation were of the same mind, to make the meetings more
constructive with real case studies by real users, with the opportunity for
discussion and the chance to ask questions of an on hand Sage expert in that
field. A web site where I can ask other
members if they are experiencing my particular problem and how they resolved it
or failing that pass it onto Sage through ISTUG for a formal response. Where I can be kept up to
date with the latest information regarding the product and others that may
benefit me.
Most
importantly ISTUG offers me a forum where I can comment and question
independently of my reseller or Sage. Where I can become part
of a collective voice that will have a direct link to Sage to offer
constructive comments for improvements within the Sage range of products. That collective voice will have a greater
effect that any one of us individually. The bigger the membership the bigger
the voice…..
The
mix of membership packages ISTUG has devised allows me to decide how many
individual members I can send to meetings to gain the best cost effective
benefit from my subscription.
The
top ISTUG subscription provides you with a year of help, information, advice
and contact with other users for the cost of approx 1 day’s consultancy with
your reseller. ISTUG have changed my opinion of ‘user groups’ I am sure they will
change yours as well.