In this part, I want to reveal such a thing as 1C Franchising.Why did I decide to devote a separate article to this phenomenon? The fact is that my practice as a business consultant shows that many businessmen do not understand what it is. People are constantly confused in terms, some even say with confidence that they were installed by the program from the 1C company itself. Why this happens, I will tell you later.
Now I would like to emphasize the fact: people who order services for the implementation of 1C software products do not understand to whom they are sending the order, what kind of specialists, and what are the pros and cons of 1C franchising.
Most often these are 1C partner companies, which received certificates in due time, since a certain number of their employees passed certification. Today, those specialists who received certificates may work in a completely different place, and completely different, sometimes random people, new employees of the 1C partner company are involved in the implementation of 1C.
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What is 1C franchising?
1C franchisee is a company, i.e. a legal entity that received a certain status due to the fact that it met a certain list of criteria that 1C company puts forward.
Previously, obtaining the status of 1C franchisee was simple. Over the years, the requirements have become stricter. Moreover, 1C has become to divide its partners into different directions. Some
n-type franchisees
*** specialize in the production direction, some - in trade, someone is a developer, etc.
*** Here I deliberately added the words "n-type" because in fact all this specialization is rather conditional. More on this, I will tell below.So, based on the category that 1C assigned to its partner franchisee, companies have the right to engage in certain areas: the implementation of this part of software products, etc.
How to get 1C franchisee status?
In order to obtain this status, the company must meet certain criteria that were introduced by the company 1C.
The most important requirement is for a company applying for franchisee status, a certain number of 1C certificates must be registered. What does it mean?
Employees of the company, including freelancers or even specialists involved in one project (often exclusively to obtain the necessary certificate), are certified by 1C, in other words, they pass an exam, which shows a sufficient level of knowledge of software products and 1C platform .
The company pays for these certificates, and the programmer declares as his own employee. As a result, 1C writes these certificates to a specific company. And if the number of certificates and their specialization match the application, the company receives franchisee status.
Today, freelance exchanges often have ads like “buy a 1C certificate” or “need a person to get a 1C certificate”. Those. It is known that this person will not work in a company that is seeking to obtain a certificate. But the certificate is written to the company, as a result, everyone is happy, except for customers who hope to get work at a high professional level from official 1C partners, and get very different results, since the work is performed most often by people who have never been certified.
So, certified specialists can quit and work at a completely different enterprise or even be freelancers who were hired specifically to receive a certificate, but the status has been obtained and the franchisee is actively exploiting it.
Another option for obtaining a certificate is to pay for 1C courses and the subsequent exam for a programmer who would like to undergo such training. Sometimes such contracts are made right in training centers. Courses and exam - paid, and in 1C the rule works: if the certificate is paid for by a legal entity, then the certificate is written to this company.
In some cases, in order to obtain the status, franchisees generally hire a ready certified specialist who, for a fee, writes an application to 1C company with a request to assign its certificate to a specific company. Further, as well as a specialist after the courses, this person may actually work for a franchisee company, may not work at all in the staff of this company, and after some period of cooperation, he can resign. But, no matter what, the certificate is already assigned to a certain legal entity, and the status remains.
Thus, a good start (certification of the company's specialists, i.e., verification of their level of knowledge to become a franchisee) turned into a simple making money. And the status of the franchisee, unfortunately, is not related to the guaranteed high quality of the work of specialists.
Why do I need the status of 1C franchisee?
The status of 1C franchisee is needed, first of all, in order to sell certain software products. Those. if a company seeks to sell 1C. Accounting, it needs franchisee status according to 1C. Accounting, likewise for sale 1 C. Management of an enterprise needs the status of a partner in this configuration, etc.
An important feature of the status of the franchisee: each franchisee partner is obliged to timely pay affiliate contributions to 1C. Thus, the company 1C receives a steady profit from the very fact of having partners. And, of course, she is interested in the development of an affiliate network and an increase in the number of franchisee companies.
Many companies that work with 1C are ready to receive and pay for certificates, pay fees, buy certain volumes of products and fulfill all 1C requirements in order to receive and maintain franchisee status. The main reasons are getting the right to sell 1C software products, the presence of the company name in the list of 1C partners on the official website (very good advertising), as well as the status of the franchisee, which increases the degree of customer confidence.
At the same time, 1C does not encourage its partners to provide quality services, since 1C does not receive anything from the sale of services by the franchisee. But on the increase in sales of software products, 1C motivates its partners with significant discounts and other types of incentives, since it is in sales that 1C is very interested.
Important: without the status of the franchisee, the company is not entitled to sell 1C products.In fact, this restriction has been successfully circumvented for a long time; even a whole market has developed around it. If a company would like to sell a particular 1C product, but does not have franchisee status, it can always turn to those who have already received this status. As a result, the sale will be issued through the franchisee, for which the intermediaries take a certain rollback (today, as far as I know, this is 33%).
Thus, if a client buys a software product, for example, for 100 thousand rubles, the company that found this client receives 33,000 rubles. (33%), and the franchisee company receives an income of about 20,000 rubles. (20%) from the sale of software.
By the way, another reason why many 1C companies are so eager to get franchisee status: 1C makes very large discounts for its partners, up to 55% of the product value! Those. if the software product will cost the same 100,000 rubles for a client, the partner will pay 50,000 rubles or even less for the same product.
In addition, even if the franchisee works simply as an intermediary who helps to complete the transaction, they receive additional profits by selling additional products and services. For example, a client will not be able to legally update 1C unless they subscribe to information and technical support. And you can get such a subscription only from the official 1C partner.
Certificates 1C: what is it?
1C company today issues many different certificates. They differ in the level of knowledge assessed (specialist or professional), as well as in areas. In fact, for each direction, for each of the typical configurations with which the 1C specialist plans to work, you can and should receive a separate certificate.
In fact, these certificates can be compared with the USE system in the sense that in terms of status, the certificates obtained are very useful. But from the point of view of practical skills their value is extremely doubtful.
Of course, it is useful to know the features of the software, to understand how this or that configuration works from the point of view of the programmer. But the client doesn’t need a theory or even pure programming. He needs to solve some specific tasks, and here knowledge of accounting (accounting, tax, management), understanding of the characteristics of the wholesale warehouse, retail store, manufacturing enterprise, etc. is much more important. If the programmer knows at least the basics of accounting and understands how to put them into practice, he will be able to understand what the customer wants, can formulate and set the task correctly. And even then you will need to recall the skills of programming 1C.
In addition, 1C certificates quickly become obsolete, because configuration updates are published regularly, and after six months, knowledge of a particular configuration, which the programmer confirmed on the exam, is no longer relevant. Of course, the certificate remains with the specialist, and he can play his role in attracting clients or to confirm the status of the franchisee for the company. But the knowledge that this certificate confirms is already outdated.
Inconsistency between certificates and practical knowledge
One of the global problems of 1C is a big discrepancy between the client’s expectations and the real knowledge of a certified specialist. For example, even a good programmer who has mastered 1C. Accounting, can not cope with the task simply because he does not have enough knowledge of accounting. And the fact that he knows the program superbly will not help in this case.
At the same time, the certificate says “1C: Specialist-consultant for the implementation of the application solution“ 1C: Accounting 8 ”.” accountants, their problems, and offer them the best solutions. But in fact, most often, this specialist managed to sell 2-3 boxed solutions of 1 C. Accounting, prepared for the exam on this configuration, passed and successfully received a certificate. But about accounting, it’s like didn't know anything so e knows.
But still, a certificate is not only a condition for an organization to receive franchisee status, it is also a great sales tool, because customers trust certificates and choose a specialist with an eye to these documents.
Certification as a commercial direction for 1C company
Today, our country has already formed a whole market based on obtaining certificates from 1C. Certificates are sold (the specialist writes a statement asking to write his certificate for a certain company), certificates are received not only for prestige, but also for a company that seeks to get 1C partner status, including for a fee.
In order to successfully pass this exam, many programmers are enrolled in 1C courses, which are also paid, the exam itself is also conducted on a fee basis. As a result, obtaining 1C certificates, the ability to record these certificates on a specific legal entity, preparation for the exam - all this forms a separate market. As a result, certification loses its original meaning. It becomes necessary not to assess the knowledge of specialists, but so that 1C company can get more profit.
ISO 9001 certification
For 1C partner companies, another type of certification has recently emerged that is intended for legal entities - this is ISO 9001 certification.
The 1C company itself writes about this:
The most authoritative and largest international certification organizations - Det Norske Veritas GL (DNV GL) and Bureau Veritas Certification were approved as 1C certification bodies in Russia.
Also on the site 1C proudly reported that more than 9,000 companies were able to pass this certification under strict international standards. It also explains in some detail how strict and objective the companies that issue such international certificates are.
But the practice again puts everything in its place. And a company that has managed to get an ISO 9001 certificate, in terms of quality of work and the level of knowledge of specialists, is no different from many companies that do not even plan to receive such a certificate. In general, the international certificate ISO 9001 is nothing more than a marketing ploy aimed at attracting gullible clients. He has no practical value.
The global organizational problem of 1C is that all work with partners, from franchisees, is aimed solely at increasing sales of software products, but not services. And for a client, software without a service, without implementation, does not make sense.As a result, 1C company declares franchising solely in words. It gives the sellers of box solutions significant discounts, calls them partners, but does not develop them at all, does not motivate them to raise the level of professionalism, does not introduce any quality standards. All actions that are aimed at the development of the franchisee, are aimed solely at increasing sales, while continuing education, professional growth and quality control remain only in words. In general, the company 1C declares, but does not perform virtually any of the actions that customers expect from a large company and its representatives (partners).
The reason for such passive behavior of 1C representatives, in my opinion, is the lack of interest in improving the qualifications of franchisee specialists, and improving the quality of their services because 1C does not receive royalties from the sale of services that franchisees provide to clients.
1C companies only have one thing in mind - these are sales of “box solutions”. This process is profitable. And what happens to the software after the sale, how the buyer uses it or why it does not use, 1C and its employees are not interested.
As a result, 1C franchisee is, in fact, individual companies that work completely independently, differ from each other in the level of knowledge of specialists, principles of work with clients, priority areas of work, etc. Unites them exclusively the name 1C, as well as directly software products. In all other respects, 1C franchising is present only in words.
1C franchisee: aggressive marketing or deception of customers?
I decided to single out one more advantage of the 1C franchisee status. The fact is that many franchisee companies use their status in order to present themselves to a client as 1C company.
How does this happen?
The same marketing scheme is working very widely here, which can be classified as work “on the verge of fraud”. The essence of the scheme is that the franchisee company, as it should be, is listed on the 1C website in the partners section, is a separate legal entity, has its own name.
But all this when communicating with the client is not mentioned without special need. They simply “We are 1C”, then they constantly say “We are about 1C”, the combination “We are 1C” is repeated in different versions. As a result, the client has the impression that representatives of 1C company are working with him. He associates representatives of the franchisee company with representatives of 1C, which is not entirely correct.
For comparison. People who come to your office to install Windows for some reason are not associated with representatives of Microsoft, right? And if such an association had passed, then the level of your expectations from the work of these people would be much higher, as well as the level of prices for services that you would consider normal.
So it is here. If a person does not understand that some of the many franchisees work with him, and not the representatives of 1C themselves, then he will perceive the inflated cost of services as normal, but, for obvious reasons, he will expect more than most franchisees can give him in principle.
1C Company “closes its eyes” to this, I have never seen them conduct an investigation on the facts of such misinformation or punish one or another partner, and therefore such an approach flourishes.
Even telemarketing companies and cold call departments of potential customers actively apply this principle. I personally saw how the department where they worked on such a telephone call from a woman used the following call script:
"Hello, we are 1C company", after which the real name of the company is pronounced very quickly. And further - “we offer 1C programs, services for setting up 1C software products”, etc.
As a result, the client has the full feeling that he received a call from the company 1CWhy is that bad?
It would seem, what's the difference, as the experts introduced themselves, because they do the work anyway? In fact, this approach is bad because the client places great hopes on the franchisee’s company, often even too large. This is also bad because the client does not choose, does not compare. It seems to him that he has already found the best, because what could be better than the developers themselves ?!
The client completely shifts all his hopes to the contractor company and is fully confident that they will cope, because in his understanding they are 1C!
If the franchisee company honestly explained that they are 1C partners, but not the 1C company itself, the client would most likely take time out for a while, perhaps, would compare the offers from different companies, but at the same time his expectations would be completely consistent with reality.
And with this approach, there is no alternative for the client (wherever I turn, it will be 1C), as well as excessive demands and expectations in relation to the company-contractor.
1C franchisee: lack of a systematic approach to work
Unlike many other software developers, 1C company has not yet developed any general requirements for the implementation of software, there is no standardization for any common system approach that is mandatory for all.
As a result, franchisee companies work as they see fit. Whoever understands, for example, the introduction of a finished software product, and performs this task.
The lack of a systematic approach and misunderstanding of how to actually act correctly leads to the fact that the heads of project departments are more concerned not with solving the tasks set by the client, but with proving their case in case of a conflict. They come up with rules and collect signatures, and all for the sake of one goal: to have at least some protection in case of problems.
This deficiency in the work of the company 1C interferes with the work of many franchisees, and customers often do not understand what they can demand for their money, and what is a separate service.
The topic of 1C franchising is very extensive, and therefore more in detail about how franchisee companies work, what advantages and disadvantages are present in their work, as well as in principle in 1C franchising, I will tell in the next article
“What is 1C? 1C Franchising Part 2 " .