GP in the Cloud: A Tale of Disaster Aversion

We often tell horror stories from the Crestwood Cloud. Our cloud team has experienced countless tales of triumph in the midst of bleak situations:

• A recovery effort after a massive cyberattack
• Migrating lost data from a faux-cloud
• Immediate thwarting of a ransomware attacker

But today we bring you an exciting story of what happens when you act BEFORE an unknown potential crisis. The Edward Lowe Foundation’s story is one of impressive supreme preparedness and absolute disaster aversion in the wake of a generation-defining tragedy.

Where It Begins

For years, Edward Lowe Financial (ELF) had been looking to get rid of their on-premise accounting system. They were running (and loving) Microsoft Dynamics GP, but several aspects were becoming unsustainable. As a small nonprofit, server hardware costs were adding up and finding technical resources to maintain and secure their system was becoming more difficult and expensive. ELF was also a Mac family, which meant that they were utilizing third-party software parallels to access Dynamics GP. They had known for years that upgrading to the cloud was necessary, but for years, it seemed too cost-prohibitive. They finally took the leap in October of 2019.

The Switch to the Cloud

So, they enlisted the help of Crestwood Associates to make the switch to a multi-tenant cloud-based platform. Overall, it was a smooth and cost-effective move. Crestwood Associates was able to drastically cut the cost of hosting by utilizing a secure shared server and eliminating the third-party parallels for ELF. There was a slight hiccup with payroll and check printing, but we all worked together to get their processes running smoothly.

Edward Lowe Foundation quickly realized that the benefits of switching to the cloud are beyond compare to an on-premise system.  By collaborating with Crestwood, they got a secure, reliable, and comprehensive cloud solution to fit their needs.

• Free 24/7 protection and monitoring
• In the event of an attack, they’ll be back up and running within minutes
• Support at their fingertips – no more wasting hours with support calls
• Anticipation of their business needs: year-end audits, resource spikes, etc.
• Competitive pricing models for any size – so they’re poised for growth

Potential Disaster – No Problem

Three months later, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. States were locked down, businesses were shuttered. Workforces were asked to either make the switch to remote work or temporarily suspend operations.

While that may sound scary, the Edward Lowe Foundation was ready for this. They had no way of knowing a global pandemic would arise back when they moved to the cloud, but the investment that they made in their company’s system paid off immediately. While some businesses were left scrambling at the onset of a nationwide shutdown, ELF was running smoothly.

“All is well with GP and I am over the moon that we were able to get that transition done when we did,” said one satisfied employee at Edward Lowe Financial. Another raved: “Brandon Richards [of Crestwood] was so smart and responsive, and he did a great job of taking care of us through this.”

This all goes to show that good disaster preparedness can make all the difference to a company because you never know when a crisis might arise. In this case, preparedness looks like: a good, comprehensive ERP solution; a robust cloud hosting service; and an experienced partner to work through any mishaps. We at Crestwood Associates are proud to provide all three.

We want to help you find the best cloud solution for your business.  Contact us today!