Updated on August 18, 2020 
Microsoft Dynamics 365 was named the winner for both Enterprise and Small-Business CRM categories at the 2018 CRM Market Awards. This is for a reason, so let’s reveal some facts about one of the most popular systems to track the processes common for many organizations.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 was launched in 2016 as a combination of ERP and CRM applications. Typically, companies employ it to manage customer accounts, organize lead contacts, collect business opportunities, maintain daily operations, and so on.
The processes in various establishments may be different as night and day, so each CRM needs to be significantly customized to ensure that it covers all the required functionality. The following 10 Microsoft Dynamics case studies provide great examples of how businesses benefit from using it in everyday life.
1. Gaining Insights Across the Student Lifecycle to Drive Actions
Company: Campus Management Corporation
Industry: Computer Software for Higher Education
Uses Dynamics 365 to improve collaboration with students and higher institutions
Campus Management Corporation delivers a higher education platform and services to better engage students, transform academic delivery, and operate with greater output. The company was named the 2018 Microsoft Global Partner of the Year Award Winner for Education. They were looking for a solution that reflected the uniqueness of the higher education environment.
The team found out that Microsoft was going to build an extension within their Common Data Model that was relevant to the higher education industry. The Campus Management was built on Microsoft technology, including Accelerator to provide the foundation for applications. They were excited to be able to identify students at risk and intervene earlier, gain new insights by working with data, and use a single platform to collaborate within the team and other institutions.
“The combination of the Power platform, Dynamics 365, and the Accelerator is really enabling Campus Management to bring a next-generation set of features and functions to the market that are highly relevant, and we think it addresses the modern problem facing institutions today.” – Mark Armstrong, chief strategy officer at Campus Management Corp.
2. Increasing CRM Adoption and Productivity of Brokers
Company: JLL
Industry: Commercial Real Estate
Uses Dynamics 365 to help their brokers work more efficiently
JLL is a Fortune 500 company which specializes in commercial real estate and investment management. They operated on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and looked for innovative approaches and more flexibility they required to grow. With nearly 300 offices around the globe, they wanted to improve the system adoption among their 83,000+ employees as well as to integrate more data into their system.
“We need technology that grows with us and allows for customization across all business lines globally.” – Greg Adams, Managing Director of Information Technology for JLL
Our company integrated their Microsoft CRM into another product which helped to simplify the CRM usage. The system allowed fast and secure integration of real estate data such as sales, leases, properties, and other opportunities which helped brokers work more efficiently. Also, some customization was made to apply the requirements of specific locations. This increased the company’s workforce adoption by about 6 times.
3. Keeping Up with the Rapid Data Growth and Going Mobile
Company: Copper State Bolt & Nut
Industry: Building Materials
Uses Dynamics 365 to become fully mobile
Copper State Bolt & Nut is a manufacturer and distributor of fasteners and related products in North America. They had 37,000 different part numbers, sold about 125,000 items, and served 6,500 customers per month, so the selling process needed to be done efficiently. Keeping up with the speed the company was developing was hard without having a good cloud-based mobile CRM solution.
The company moved to Dynamics 365 CRM to become fully mobile and keep up with the complexity and rapid increase of the amount of data.
“One of the main advantages of going to D 365 is no more implementations. They’re expensive, they’re time-consuming. This is the last time we ever have to touch any ERP system. We’re customers for life.” – Karl Spackman, vice president of finance for Copper State Bolt & Nut.
4. Improving Processes and KPI’s with Better Data in Hands
Company: Handicare
Industry: Hospital & Health Care
Uses Dynamics 365 to access better data on the go and reallocate they team
Handicare drives innovation in the area of mobility issues. They sell slings, floor and ceiling lifts, bathroom safety aids, and manual transfer solutions. The issues were that their combination of systems required manual updates and the front and back end didn’t work with each other properly. The team wanted a robust solution to meet their business and customer needs around the globe.
Microsoft Dynamics offered such a solution with features like mapping and scheduling company’s personnel, tracking services agreements, and giving access to better data at the fingertips. This helped to improve KPIs significantly.
“Management and operation staff now has access to more accurate data and our processes have been greatly improved.” – Marcel Bloemraad, marketing & communication manager at Handicare.
5. Generating More Leads with a Practical Business Tool
Company: Stiles
Industry: Commercial Real Estate Development
Uses Dynamics 365 to boost their lead generation
Stiles is a full-service commercial real estate company that provides development, architecture, realty, property management, construction, tenant improvement, and financing services in Southeast of the US. The challenge they faced was that the same prospects were unknowingly processed by different divisions. Stiles has been using Microsoft Dynamics CRM but needed to add functionalities, practical features, and a user-friendly interface.
After the renovation, their CRM stores client data and allows file sharing between divisions. Lead generation strategies are now refined and dispersed teams are connected. The system has been transformed to become a practical business tool with an easy-to-navigate interface. As a result, the workforce adoption increased.
“The new system has proven to be an essential operating tool.” – Adrienne Zalkind, head of marketing at Stiles shares her Microsoft Dynamics CRM success story.
6. Having a Player Management System to Serve NFL Players
Company: Stiles
Industry: Nonprofit
Uses Dynamics 365 to uncover the best opportunities for NFL players
The National Football League Players Association(NFLPA) is a nonprofit union for NFL players. NFLPA protects the rights of all professional football players, negotiates and monitors retirement and insurance benefits, and provides a number of other member activities and services. The organization wanted to manage players’ data quickly to be able to find more opportunities for nearly 2,200 current and 3,200 former players. Also, they wanted to reduce capital and maintenance costs to free personnel to work on new member services.
The solution was to create a single, shared CRM for players based on Microsoft Dynamics 365. This cloud-based system was equipped with a few modules for sales and other business functions. NFLPA got one set of player data along with useful reporting tools which allowed the staff to uncover opportunities for players easier and faster. Many manual processes have been automated, thus NFLPA employees now have more time for being creative and developing more opportunities for players.
“Empowering our employees to search our player database by specific parameters and get results in minutes is a major benefit for us. We now have the ability to reach out to more players with opportunities than ever before.” – Rich Persons, director of information systems at NFLPA.
7. Connecting Building Data with Company’s Personnel
Company: MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions
Industry: Construction
Uses Dynamics 365 to consolidate all data in one place and speed up the decision-making process
MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions is a full-service mechanical constructor in the Pacific Northwest. They employ over 1,000 professionals, operate in 10 locations, and work with projects from lighting upgrades to planning an office building. The team needed a solution that allowed service technicians understand what was happening in the building and make informed decisions. They wanted to have a tool to help them identify the type of problem that was coming in from the field and avoid wasted man-hours and downtime for their customers.
Microsoft Dynamics helped the personnel make sense of data with now everything available at one system instead of two or three different systems. They decreased the amount of manual labor and speeded up the decision-making process for business and their customers. It became possible to anticipate critical alarms and failures before customers even find out about them.
“Through our partnership with Microsoft, we’ve been able to develop essentially a connector that connects to the health of that building with our dispatch system. If a building that we’re monitoring with IOT has an error, it would automatically populate Dynamics 365 for connected field service and show up on our dispatches dashboard.” – Bradd Busick, CIO at MacDonald-Miller.
8. Consolidating Core Business Processes and Cutting Costs
Company: TGI FRIDAY’S
Industry: Restaurants
Uses Dynamics 365 to integrate all core business operations and reduce manual work
TGI FRIDAY’S is a rapidly-growing restaurant franchise in the UK. They have 80 stores and plenty of business operations to consolidate from finance and inventory management to human resources and sales. Running six different systems wasn’t efficient, so their initial goal was to integrate all core business operations and ensure that the system was able to support their growth strategy for the future.
As the management reported, the rollout of the company’s finance system was as easy as they expected. This was a solution that staff could use hands-down because the look and feel of Dynamics 365 were pretty much the same as the Office 365 widely employed in the company. Another benefit was provided by the cloud-based tools that allowed users to access the system wherever whenever.
The number of manual manipulations was reduced because data could be uploaded and processed directly in Dynamics 365 CRM. The team is saving about a third of their time currently, and with the upcoming features they’re probably going to halve it.
“Besides cost savings, we have all the functional benefits that we never had in the past. Whether it’s collecting and gaining insights from data, or passing it on to relevant stakeholders in the business.” – Christian Redford-Smith, Finance Planning Manager at TGI Friday’s.
9. Enhancing Company’s Efficiency and Recruiting Abilities
Company: Colliers International Indiana
Industry: Commercial Real Estate
Uses Dynamics 365 to attract top talent
Another great Microsoft Dynamics case study is an example of how a company can use CRM software to become a more attractive employer. Colliers International Indiana helps its clients with selling, buying, and moving to a building. They are a fast-growing company that wanted to keep their pace and customize their CRM for a specific workflow.
Moving to Microsoft Dynamics was the right choice because it allowed to support their workflow and increase adoption of brokers which also gave the company excellent recruiting abilities.
“The system is unlike any other; it keeps track of deals, communications, and knowledge specifically tailored to the real estate industry, putting our brokers ahead of the competition.” – Saimir Qalliu, lead for the Indiana office for Colliers International.
10. Creating Personalized Patient Experience
Company: Providence St. Joseph Health
Industry: Hospital & Health Care
Uses Dynamics 365 to personalize the experience for patients
Providence St. Joseph Health is a healthcare provider of a comprehensive range of services across California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Texas, and Alaska. They also have an international line. 119,000 caregivers aimed to help patients access the right care in a timely manner and ensure a more personalized patient experience. The challenge was not knowing their patients when they were contacting the company.
Dynamics 365 platform was capable to personalize the journey patients undertook. When a call came, a caregiver saw a screen pop with who that patient was based upon his or her phone number. Moreover, a thoughtful data organization allowed to ensure that the right physicians were in place and available in a patient’s location.
“We’re able to capture insights on the patients that have been calling in to really help improve our health care organization. Whether it be through navigation, through online tools, or ensuring that we have the right physicians in place in different locations based upon demand.” – Kim Swafford, GVP Health Technology Strategy at Providence St. Joseph Health.
How We Can Assist
Do you want to repeat the above Microsoft Dynamics CRM success stories? We are here to help!
Ascendix is a Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultant with over 22+ years of experience in the CRM domain. We are experts in helping businesses use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to the best of its capability. The team follows the system updates, e.g. Dynamics 365 for Sales is now available, so that you can employ the latest technologies with expanded functionality.
Our services include:
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM consulting services
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We know how to use the platform and have some great Dynamics 365 cases to share with you. Contact us and let’s discuss your project!
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