Many Deltek Vision users were led to believe that moving to Vantagepoint would solve long-standing challenges. But the upgrade has brought the same problems for most firms, just with a new interface and a higher price tag. Before committing to the move, it’s worth considering whether Vantagepoint truly delivers the improvements your firm needs or if there’s a better alternative.
For Deltek Vision users, a migration from Vision to Vantagepoint was a promise of improved efficiency, a more intuitive user interface, and higher user adoption across all teams. However, most users have found that the same challenges that existed in Vision continue to exist today in Vantagepoint, but with a much higher price tag. They get frustrated when they realize they are paying more without seeing a return on this investment.
Implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be a significant burden on any firm, especially for those that may not have several administrators to help manage the implementation process. The time commitment needed to migrate data, review data for accuracy, learn a new system, train staff, and then go live can take many months to complete. If not done correctly, significant risks can cause an implementation to be delayed or, even worse, completely fail. While moving from Vision to Vantagpoint may have seemed like an easy transition, for most it has proven to be much more difficult, especially for smaller to mid-sized firms.
Moving to BQE CORE comes with a dedicated implementation team, data migration experts, and training process to get your entire firm up and running smoothly, in a matter of months. Plus our software, implementation process, and training options are a fraction of the cost that Deltek charges. And you get access to 24/7/365 phone support.
Retaining data integrity is one of the biggest worries organizations have during implementation. The risk of data loss, corruption, duplication, and inaccuracy can lead to operational disruptions and cause target go-live dates to be delayed.
Vision and Vantagepoint were thought to have a common data infrastructure. For firms that needed to transfer data, the ideal scenario involved a process by which data could be transferred seamlessly. Or at least that is what is promised. However, in many cases, data had to be remapped and reviewed several times before the data migration could be completed. The unforeseen data migration challenges resulted in longer-than-expected implementation timelines, higher-than-expected consulting fees, and overall, more frustration for the customer.
This is why BQE CORE has built an entire team to make the data migration process smooth for any business that transitions to our platform. Losing historic data, or errors within active projects can be debilitating. We understand this pain point and have built a process to make this as fast and painless as possible. Meaning, a transition to CORE is just as easy as switching from Vision to Vantagepoint.
One of the major complaints from Vision customers is that no one outside of accounting knows how to use the system. Vision was built to be so complex, with numerous options in each screen, that it made seemingly simple tasks, like managing security permissions, burdensome even for experienced accounting teams. As a result, principals, project managers, and marketing teams were very limited in what they could access and were forced to rely on asking their accounting team for reports. Since data wasn’t readily available, teams had no choice but to be reactive vs. proactive in terms of managing projects and making decisions. Meanwhile, outside of accounting and finance, not many people in a firm use the software regularly. Making it an expensive tool that doesn't benefit the entire firm.
Vantagepoint, while more modern, has failed to remedy the defects that were part of Vision’s configuration. Employees primarily use Vantagepoint for project setup, time entry, and billing. Tracking proposals, building fees, and managing project progress are still primarily done outside of Vantagepoint using Excel and other software tools. This is counterintuitive for a system that is supposed to act as an integrated, all-in-one solution.
It's clear that Vantagepoint wasn’t designed by people who actually use the software. It is overly complex, challenging to learn, and has a poor user experience. It was not designed for A/E users who are passionate about design. And this is reflected in the fact that there is low user adoption across the architecture and engineering firms that use the product.
BQE CORE on the other hand was founded by an architect and an engineer to be a solution that is tailored specifically for the needs of architecture and engineering firms. It has a clean modern interface, intuitive tools, and customized options to make it a tool everyone at your firm can use to be more effective in their roles. From project managers and design team, to administrators and financial managers, CORE was built to empower everyone.
Many Vantagepoint customers have found building customized reports within Vantagepoint just as difficult as it was in Vision. Firms tend to still rely on third-party tools for reporting or depend on Deltek’s consulting team to build out customized reports, which can take weeks to deliver, and thousands of dollars in additional service costs.
The lack of real-time reporting has put a substantial strain on owners and principals, resulting in inefficiencies and lost profit. Data isn't helpful if you can't access it in a way that is both timely and informative.
BQE CORE has powerful reporting tools that are easy to use. With over 200 reports ready to go out of the box, plus customizations that are intuitive, everyone can get the reports they need to excel in their role. Plus, you can automate the scheduling of reports, so they get sent to the right people at the right time. The information you need to make business decisions shouldn’t be a headache. With CORE you have fast and easy access to reports and dashboards that make running a firm less chaotic.
Firms using Vision today may be tempted to move to Vantagepoint in hopes of an easy transition and cost-effective implementation. Knowing it won’t be as simple as Deltek may suggest, is moving to Vantagepoint really the best choice for your business? Is it just a step sideways instead of the improvement you are hoping for?
With its known flaws for low user adoption, lengthy implementation and data migration timelines, and high costs for customizations and ongoing support, it’s no wonder firms are searching for an alternative.
Built with an intuitive design, CORE helps both project teams and accounting teams gain access to all the information they need to carry out their day-to-day work, all in a single place. Plus, we’re there to help you every step of the way, through implementation, product consistent updates, over 100 software developers actively improving the software, and an unmatched customer support program. We are building the best tool for Architecture and Engineering firms to manage their business, and we’re laser-focused on serving the A/E industry. This pervades everything we do, from the product roadmap and user interface design to the resources, tools, templates, and professional development opportunities we provide.
The BQE CORE team is dedicated to serving the A/E industry and building the best tools to help firms like yours thrive. Schedule a free product demo to see how CORE would be a better fit than Vantagepoint.