The Customer Voice

Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Supports Local Economy With Dynamics Solutions

Cindy A Evans — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:47:32 GMT

The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, recognized as the 2011 National Chamber of the Year by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives and the leading voice for business in Knoxville, Tenn., and beyond, has switched to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP to help innovate and develop new programs and benefits for its member businesses.

"Before Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP, the Knoxville Chamber was working in a box," said Mark Field, senior vice president of membership. "This box impeded us from helping our member businesses reach their potential, but now we feel ahead of the technological curve. More importantly, our customers can see that shift as well."

With the help of Microsoft partner LMBC Technologies LLC, the chamber created one of its most beneficial resources, Chamber Member MD, which helps small business owners identify potential hazards that might be in the way of achieving their companies' full potential. The tool then offers customized recommendations to ensure they avoid those hazards if at all possible.

Microsoft Dynamics also enabled the chamber to launch an online interactive business directory called iKnowKnoxville.com. The directory is search engine optimized and allows member businesses to create customized pages that include videos, slide shows, coupons and more, further highlighting their unique business proposition and supporting the local economy.

"The support process that used to take 15 hours each week has been reduced to one hour each week, and the chamber is able to be more relevant to businesses by providing these individualized resources," Field said. "This benefits us because we are providing much-needed resources to our members, and it benefits our members by allowing them to focus on doing what they do best - running their businesses.

"Later this year, we intend to upgrade to the latest versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP," Field said. "These improvements will ensure that the Microsoft Dynamics implementation will continue to grow with the chamber, but really, I've told my peers that Microsoft should be considered for chambers across the nation."

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Dynamics CRM a #1 Priority for Berkshire Partners

Cindy A Evans — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:45:11 GMT

In a Private Equity webinar recording with Brad Koontz of Microsoft Dynamics partner Customer Effective (www.customereffective.com), Eric Souza, Director of IT for Berkshire Partners talks about their CRM Implementation. The topic was CRM for Private Equity and Souza described their CRM journey and what made them successful.

Berkshire was founded in 1984, and has invested in over 100 companies with more than $20 billion of acquisition value. Their investors include many of the world's largest endowments, foundations, pension funds and insurance companies. Berkshire Fund VIII is a $4.5 billion fund that was raised in 2011.

Private equity firms typically use CRM to manage some of their key processes, which include fundraising, deal flow, and portfolio company management. Berkshire started their CRM journey with fundraising. "This was priority number one for us....We were in the process of fundraising for our latest fund, so there was a strong institutional need to improve this process," said Souza. "Our old method of tracking limited partner activity was using Excel files and passing them around in email. This was not an efficient way to work," said Souza. "With CRM, we are able to track our Limited Partners and their past and future interactions. From this information, we are able to generate what we call our fundraising profile report."

The recorded webinar can be viewed by following these links:

Part 1: Intro to Customer Effective 6:03
Part 2: Berkshire Partners CRM Journey 11:52
Part 3: Demonstration of Customer Effective: Private Equity, inc. Outlook integration, company 360 degree view.
Part 4: Demonstration of Customer Effective: Private Equity, inc. deals, fundraising opportunities.

Cloud-based CRM solution a great move for Global Manufacturing company

Cindy A Evans — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:19:00 GMT

A recent strategic initiative challenged packaging manufacturer Ball Corporation to align more closely with key customers and markets. To help manage customer accounts more effectively, Ball deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to three divisions in North America and Europe and is planning to make it available to its operations in Asia and South America. Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps Ball's customer-facing employees and activities aligned with customer and company goals. Making a single, cloud-based solution available to different business divisions ensures that employees benefit from global, collaborative account management across organizational and geographical boundaries.

"By using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, it's easy for us to scale to the global reach of even our largest customers and find ways to deliver the most valuable products in all their areas of engagement," says Bob Tettero, Director of Corporate Strategy and Business Intelligence, Ball Corporation

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/KBloWG

Recovering Lost Opportunity costs of over $350K a big boost to Dynamics CRM transportation customer U.S. Xpress

Cindy A Evans — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:30:53 GMT

As a result of acquisitions, U.S. Xpress Enterprises had a patchwork IT environment, made up of numerous, disparate systems. To gain visibility into its nationwide operation as well as the operations of its affiliate companies, the trucking giant established an enterprise data warehouse and implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The enterprise CRM solution facilitates end-to-end processes across strategic planning, bidding, sales, and marketing. Today, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM in place, U.S. Xpress Enterprises has streamlined preparation for sales calls, enabling the company to recover as much as $350,000 a year in lost-opportunity costs. The company has realized improved sales productivity and reduced IT support costs by tens of thousands per year, while improving its closure rates on new business.

"Over the course of the year, each salesperson was applying around $10,000 worth of their time gathering customer information. Now, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we have that time back, know our customers even better than before, and can reapply the lost-opportunity costs of around $350,000 to reaching out to new prospects," says Bob Poulos, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, U.S. Xpress, Inc.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/MLx4Fv

Insurance Distributor Delivers Mobile CRM App to Agents, Drives Adoption and Sales Growth

Cindy A Evans — Thu, 31 May 2012 22:05:24 GMT

Insphere Insurance Solutions, one of the nation's largest independent, career-agent distribution groups, serves small businesses and the middle-income individual market and aims to be the leading distribution channel for each of its strategic carrier partners. Aiming to double the size of its sales field over the next few years, Insphere wanted to streamline its career-agent experience. The company implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM and then worked with Pariveda Solutions to build a fully integrated, cross-platform mobile application. With this efficient field-selling environment in place, Insphere now drives more productive agent activities and gives managers greater visibility into those activities. The unified software environment has become a key component of the company's value proposition for retaining and recruiting agents.

"Just four weeks after providing functionality from Microsoft Dynamics CRM in our mobile applications, user adoption increased by 40 percent," says Steve Jensen, Vice President of IT, Insphere Insurance Solutions.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/KZWHNW

For more information on the RhoMobile CRM mobile application from Motorola Solutions, read today's press announcement: http://aka.ms/nq2oss

STIHL saws it's way to the top with Dynamics CRM

Cindy A Evans — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:15:00 GMT

STIHL Inc., maker of the world's top-selling brand of chainsaws, aims to provide the best possible experience to the dealers it sells to. The field sales teams at the company's network of six distribution facilities had stopped using an existing contact management solution because it was unhelpful in dealer engagements and . STIHL replaced the solution with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and integrated the Microsoft Dynamics solution with business analysis and enterprise resource planning systems. Now, sales teams have full visibility into dealers' histories with STIHL and can efficiently address dealers' issues and help them meet revenue targets. Company leadership has a high level of insight into market trends that affect dealer sales. STIHL is taking Microsoft Dynamics CRM to other business groups to support business growth and maintain productive dealer relationships.

"By working with the dealer relationship records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, territory managers can approach dealers with just the right products and promotions, help them reach their revenue goals, and more efficiently meet their own sales targets."

Joe Quartararo, Manager, eCommerce and Branch and Distribution Systems, STIHL Inc.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/KakMIl

IT Services Company Reduces ERP Support Costs by 60%, Improves Customer Service with Dynamics AX

Cindy A Evans — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:04:00 GMT

Global IT services provider Computer Aid Inc. has maintained an entrepreneurial culture that is typical of much smaller companies. Its management approach rewards individual ownership and success, which helped the firm achieve US$300 million in revenue in 2011, $50 million of which was new business. Computer Aid competes with other global professional IT services providers in providing technology support and managed staffing services. Maintaining that culture of personal investment became painful and difficult, however, as people interacted with outdated software. To manage its business, Computer Aid had integrated its highly customized general ledger software with Intuit QuickBooks, which the firm's overseas offices used; multiple time entry programs; and other client service and administrative applications. Company leaders realized that this system would undermine responsiveness to clients and hinder the company's prospects for further expansion. Andy McIntyre, CFO at Computer Aid, remarks, "It's in our DNA to build rather than buy, but over time, this resulted in 15 individual systems that were aggregated through internally developed tools and held together with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets."

To improve access to profitability and performance management information in a flexible, modern technology platform, Computer Aid deployed Microsoft Dynamics AX and went live with it in March 2011. Computer Aid uses project accounting capabilities to track all labor against customer billable projects or a selling, general, and administrative expense. The firm relies on professional-services automation functionality for costing, billing, and project accounting.

Computer Aid can consolidate financial and business management of all its operating units in Microsoft Dynamics AX, helping people deliver highly responsive client service and manage operations confidently and profitably. McIntyre says, " Now, with robust, self-service reporting based on real-time data in Microsoft Dynamics AX, people can understand what is happening in the business, see trends, and act on them. Self-service reporting fits our culture of individual ownership and contributes to our corporate success. People can use a familiar tool, Excel, to access it and, because the reports connect to Microsoft Dynamics AX, the spreadsheets update with the current version of the data."

The firm reduced ERP support costs by $400,000 annually, slashed its billing cycle in half, and improved cash flow. Having aggregated operational and financial data into a single ERP system, Computer Aid is well-positioned for its next stage of growth. "By using Microsoft Dynamics AX, we've tightened our revenue-to-cash cycle while providing more detailed, timely, and actionable operating information to our leadership team," concludes McIntyre.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/IYnf6u

Dynamics AX 2012 Brings Advanced Agility to Kent Watersports Family of Companies

Cindy A Evans — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:37:24 GMT

Kent Watersports goes to market with some of the most valuable brands of watersports products in the industry, including O’Brien, Liquid Force, HO, Connelly, and Hyperlite.

Kent Watersports is implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, replacing a number of legacy systems. Microsoft Dynamics AX will be the ERP solution for all six organizations within the Kent Watersports family of companies. Sharon Zimmer, Corporate Vice President, Systems and Technology, says, "We wanted a solution that would stay current with evolving innovation from a vendor that was also a strong technology leader. With that in mind, we were ready to bet our future on Microsoft continuing to be a powerful technology leader. For us, Microsoft is the partner and Microsoft Dynamics AX is the ERP system that can continue to move forward with us."

Some of the key advantages of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Kent Watersports:

Simplified technology management: "I can help more people and go home feeling like I really accomplished my job," Zimmer comments. "In fitting Microsoft Dynamics AX to our business, there's nothing I can think of where I won't be able to say, 'Yes, we can make that happen.'" A small team of four IT professionals will support the solution and its users in the six Kent Watersports companies. Because the team has the skills to configure and manage the Microsoft technology, it will no longer be necessary to incur the delays and costs of custom programming by hard-to-find contractors who know their way around the legacy technologies.
More efficiency and agility in business operations: "By using Microsoft Dynamics AX, we have many different ways to gain efficiencies and improve operations," says Zimmer. "Because of this we anticipate being able to grow and evolve without a lot of additional headcount."
More value in key relationships: Kent Watersports will set up the ERP system to closely follow the business interests of customers and business partners. Our customers and business partners around the globe will be able to get information immediately," explains Zimmer. Providing our vendors with instant access to order information and shipping details means we will be able to respond more quickly to our customers' needs."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/Hyd3BC

SOC creates happy, long term customers with a switch from SalesForce.com

Cindy A Evans — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:18:28 GMT

Specialists On Call (SOC), the largest provider of emergency telemedicine consultations to US hospitals, used Salesforce.com to manage its sales cycle, when it brought new hospitals into the fold, but had no automated customer or patient management systems.

"Salesforce.com was expensive and inflexible, and didn't help us after hospitals became customers," says Karen Deli, Executive Vice President for Specialists On Call. "We had very manual processes for managing our customer relationships and individual patient cases. We realized that these were two very important pieces of missing technology, and we needed systems for both that were reliable, scalable, and flexible."

To solve this, the company switched to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in only 90 days-a project that cost US$200,000 less than other solutions and gave SOC a single system for managing sales, hospitals, and patient cases.

"By using a single system to manage sales, customers, and patients, we can more holistically manage all our customers over the long haul, in terms of tracking performance and customer satisfaction," Deli says. "A happy customer is likely to be a long-term customer and a good referral source."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/zNQctc

Educator Gains Insight and Agility with Dynamics CRM for Student, Teacher, and Trip Management

Cindy A Evans — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:28:00 GMT

Ambassadors Group is an education company with three subsidiaries: People to People Ambassador Programs, World Adventures Unlimited, and BookRags. To manage customer relationships, the subsidiaries relied on a custom-built customer relationship management (CRM) system. Over time, however, the system became too hard to maintain and customize, and to gain insight into customers required staff to call on IT to draw on disparate data sources from as many as 30 IT systems. To improve insight, ease IT support, and ultimately improve the customer experience, Ambassadors Group decided to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM. With a tailored deployment for each division, Ambassadors Group subsidiaries now have a 360-degree view into their customers. Furthermore, IT management is now greatly simplified, with the time-to-market for new functionality now as much as 440 percent faster.

Aiming to gain a 360-degree view into its student, teacher, and partner relationships, Ambassadors Group chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM after considering competing solutions.

"We didn't want Siebel because it required a massive IT staff to support and Salesforce.com was unable to integrate with our core systems," says Chad Whisenant, Director of Technology, People to People Ambassador Programs. "Microsoft Dynamics CRM, on the other hand, could fit with SAP and Travel Studio and required a more widely available IT skill set, which would ease IT support and enable us to establish an agile business by rolling out new functionality and customizations rather easily."

And now with Microsoft Dynamics CRM in place, the company has a 360-degree view into its student, teacher, and, in the near future, partner relationships and has drastically eased IT support and development, enabling newfound levels of business agility.

"We're a company that primarily focuses on selling a high-quality educational experience to our customers, so it's critical that we provide that high-quality experience across all facets of our business," says Whisenant. "With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we now have a 360-degree view of our customers, which helps ensure that when we talk to our customers, we know everything about them-for example, if they have been on previous trips with us or have siblings in our programs."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/zcBLDf

Become a Member of the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Reference Program

Cindy A Evans — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:02:00 GMT

The Microsoft Dynamics Customer Reference Program assists market-leading organizations in showcasing innovative ways to use Microsoft Dynamics solutions.

Program Overview

The Microsoft Dynamics® Customer Reference Program highlights real-life results of customers successfully using Microsoft solutions and shares them in a variety of ways across the industry and the broader marketplace.

Why Participate

By taking part in the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Reference Program, your business can benefit from increased exposure to diverse audiences and help influence organizations around the world. You'll be able to:

Showcase Business Leadership. Participate in customer advisory boards and executive briefings.
Promote Your Brand. Being a Microsoft reference is an opportunity to increase awareness of your brand and extend marketing efforts.
Share best practices with other organizations facing similar business challenges.

Reference Opportunities Time Commitment & Usage

Case Study. A two- to four-page, in-depth analysis of the business challenges that the customer faced, the solution deployed, and the benefits achieved.

Time Commitment: Two one-hour interviews and one content review approximately at 30 minutes.

Usage: Case Studies are typically posted on http://www.microsoft.com and are viewable for up to two years or until a new version of the product is released.

Video Testimonial. Typically 2-5 minute video short used at events, posted on the Web, and shown to other customers, press, and analysts globally.

Time Commitment: Three to five 30-minute interviews. A final 10-minute review of the video to provide any feedback.

Usage: Video Case Studies are typically posted on http://www.microsoft.com and are viewable for up to two years or until a new version of the product is released.

Press Interview. Journalists are often interested in speaking to customers about their IT deployments for news, features, or special focus articles.

Time Commitment: 15 minute prep meeting and 30-60 minute interview depending on the length of the press piece.

Usage: This is typically a one-time use for magazine, newspaper, etc. The content may also be available via the Internet.

Speaking Engagement. These are aimed at senior decision makers, press, and analysts, and provide a unique opportunity for you to share your experience and in turn benefit from the best practice of others.

Time Commitment: Speaking engagements may take up to 30 minutes and in some cases more. The time depends on the venue and speaker availability.

Usage: This is a one-time speaking engagement made available to the invited audience. Video and other content may be made available via the Internet.

On-site Customer Visit. Creates a unique face-to-face environment where customers can exchange ideas and experiences and build on mutual success.

Time Commitment: An on-site customer visit typically takes up to 60 minutes, depending on the presenter availability. The two companies will agree on the actual time commitment.

Usage: This is a one-time event. Content and materials are not used outside of this opportunity.

Customer-to-Customer Call. Provides customers with the added assurance of talking to an existing customer before finalizing a sale.

Time Commitment: A customer call may take up to 60 minutes depending on customer availability.

Usage: This is a one-time event. The discussion is not used outside of this particular opportunity.

Customer Quote. May be used in sales presentations and marketing collateral.

Time Commitment: 20 minutes to develop, discuss, and review the customer quote.

Usage: This is a one-time event. Customers will be contacted to discuss each opportunity.

Logo Use. May be used in sales presentations, corporate events, and marketing collateral.

Time Commitment: Minimal-simply requires permission to use customer logo for specific opportunity.

Usage: This is typically utilized for short periods of time, or for the life-cycle of the collateral.

How To Get Started

Join the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Reference Program today! Simply:

1. Review the Customer Reference opportunities that most interest you.

2. Choose as many activities as you wish and e-mail us with your information and any questions at dynaref@microsoft.com.

3. A reference manager will contact you soon for a brief profile-gathering interview.

Saab North America Divests, Supports New Call Center with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Cindy A Evans — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:15:00 GMT

When Saab divested from General Motors (GM) in 2010, it needed to go live with a new call center and call center solution in only 30 days. "As a part of our divesture, we were switching to Microsoft Outlook from Lotus Notes," says Craig Whaley, CIO of Saab North America. "In addition, we relied heavily on Microsoft Office applications. Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online worked with and like those applications, we felt it would help us dramatically reduce training and meet our aggressive go-live date."

Successfully going live in only 30 days, Saab North America now reaps the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and eyes a future full of possibilities. Says Whaley, "Although Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online provided a lot of functionality out-of-the-box, which helped us go live quickly, it is also extremely flexible," says Whaley. "We can decide how we want it to work and then make a change in the system to support that. Because of this, we are highly confident the solution will continue to support our needs as our company continues to change."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/wmI5UB

Safety-Kleen saves more than $500K by switching from Salesforce to Dynamics CRM

Cindy A Evans — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:10:00 GMT

By moving to Microsoft Dynamics CRM from Salesforce.com and eliminating several stand-alone systems, Safety-Kleen Systems generated substantial financial savings even though the solution is available to many more employees. "By a conservative estimate, we save at least $500,000 per year in licensing costs, although we acquired many more Microsoft Dynamics CRM licenses than we ever had for Salesforce.com," says Carla Rolinc, VP of IT. In addition, the company is saving close to U.S.$12,000 per year in no longer necessary licensing and maintenance fees for a mapping analytics tool that was previously in use, and avoided a one-time expenditure of $25,000 to have a programmer rewrite the tool to work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM and integrated, updated supporting technologies, Safety-Kleen Systems employees can rely on a single resource to understand and connect with customers. In communications and engagements with customers, representatives rely on a unified, comfortable software environment for all tasks. Across Safety-Kleen Systems's sales organization, Microsoft Dynamics CRM has introduced efficiencies for representatives and managers. For starters, accessing a single software tool instead of five of them is much easier for mobile users in the field. "Today, salespeople are free to sell," says Rolinc. "By navigating a streamlined, integrated customer relationship management system, they can reduce the time they spend on administrative duties. On average, these tasks now demand between 10 to 15 percent of a salesperson's time-less than half of what it used to be. In producing customer quotes, sales representatives, on average, spend 20 percent less time than they used to."

The workflows in Microsoft Dynamics CRM help all solution users to consistently take the right steps in serving customers and record the progress of customer engagements accurately. Integration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with other critical software tools, including the company's ERP system, delivers more than efficiency. It also fosters a decision-making and planning environment that can draw on current, reliable information. Says Rolinc, "Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be more and more pivotal in providing strategic data to the company. With data feeds in all directions and close-to-real-time, automatic updates, we can finally facilitate the comprehensive, consolidated reporting that leadership has demanded for a long time. It's also great that we can do this efficiently now, with a turn-around on reporting and other integrations that is at least 30 percent faster than it used to be."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/zm7P4P

Tribal Government Adopts Dynamics CRM to Accelerate Member Services

Cindy A Evans — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:29:18 GMT

For the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, serving 200,000 members worldwide became increasingly difficult because its proprietary membership management software was inadequate. Members experienced long wait times, and for IT, making even simple customizations to the software typically required consultants, and therefore became cost-prohibitive. The tribe faced these issues:

Slow service. Members experienced delays and long wait times.
Delayed decisions. Melissa Jones, Director of the Tribal Membership Department at Choctaw Nation, says, "Extremely lengthy processing times tended to slow down everything, including decisions."
Legacy software that was difficult to manage and use. Says Dustin Stark, IT Director at the Choctaw Nation, "We needed a solution that would be more adaptable, enabling our internal staff to make minor modifications."

To gain a holistic view of members, services, and needs, the Choctaw Nation deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premises. Members receive faster service, and the tribe's care agents, IT staff, and elected leaders benefit from a solution that is easy to use, tailor, and manage independently of third parties. "With minimal time investment, our own staff can configure and tailor the solution to fit our needs," notes Stark. "In fact, we gain a lot of independence and flexibility with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. If we eventually need support, we aren't locked into a single provider." Now, the Choctaw Nation looks to the future, equipped to serve its members and fulfill its mission of helping them succeed. "The user screens have such a clean, user-friendly appearance that everyone quickly learned their way through the application," says Jones.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/wRE63y

Centene Corp Replaces Legacy Call Center with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Cindy A Evans — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:18:00 GMT

Coinciding with recent expansion, company leaders at Centene Corporation wanted to drive operational efficiencies and achieve new levels of business insight through IT. To do so, the company replaced its legacy call center solution-used primarily for call documentation-with the more robust and flexible Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Glen Schuster, CTO of Centene Corporation, says, "We were very impressed by the robust capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and its ability to grow with us. We could implement the solution rapidly at a single call center, tailor it to meet our needs, and then roll it out across the company. With functionally comparable competing solutions, the planning and initial implementation would have been a massive upfront undertaking, requiring us to implement a complex infrastructure such as those from other market-leading systems and then incur the associated resource needs and cost of such solutions. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, on the other hand, provided a rapid time-to-value, thus lowering overall cost and risk."

With the new solution in place, the company can support all member and provider service activities while collecting data related to those activities in a single database, helping to manage customer expectations and proactive outreach, thus improving overall customer service. In addition, the company has improved productivity in expansion call centers by 10 percent, reduced training time by 30 percent, become more agile, and gained business insight into the distinct needs of its customers.

Says Jennifer Weigand, Vice President of Member and Provider Solutions for Centene Corporation, "Switching to Microsoft Dynamics CRM has been enlightening. Now that we have a central source of service center information, we can gain insight into emerging marketing trends and customer expectations. We now have the ability to expand our customer view to include inbound inquires, outbound education, care gaps, outreach, and field visits. And better yet, all our teams can see, through a single solution, all the points of contact that a customer has made with us so that we can be more effective and streamlined at meeting their needs."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/y94lLJ

CH2M Hill changing the face of Service Management with Dynamics CRM

Cindy A Evans — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:04:00 GMT

CH2M Hill, a global provider of infrastructures, facilities, and related services, rolls out a new help desk solution based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM to 23,000 employees worldwide, replacing a highly customized legacy system. During the process, the company added thousands of employees, but did not have to add help desk staff. "With the same team of close to 300 support specialists, we help thousands more customers," states Diane Sharrock, Director of IT. "On average, help-desk analysts handle 15 percent more support tickets than they did in the past." What's more, technology-related expenses have also gone down. "Although the implementation cost of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is comparable to that of other solutions, the ongoing costs are 80 percent less than the competitors'," says Sharrock.

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, CH2M Hill is successfully changing the ratio between self-service and telephone support requests. Says Sharrock, "The new help-desk solution based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM will let us resolve 75 percent of all support inquiries in self-service style and the remainder over the phone, which is the exact opposite of what service management used to look like."

CH2M Hill completed the implementation with the help of Microsoft Services and Microsoft partner and Microsoft Dynamics CRM specialist xRM.com. "xRM.com already had created more than 80 percent of the functionality we looked for in a help-desk solution above what Microsoft Dynamics CRM offered," explains Sharrock. For CH2M Hill, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was already a well-known product that close to 1,000 sales professionals at the company used. "We liked that the user interface in Microsoft Dynamics CRM provided a familiar experience to employees, and we had already proven that a single instance of the solution could well support a global organization," says Sharrock.

CH2M Hill continues to explore what Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help the company accomplish. "Incorporating standard operating procedures and process documentation from a variety of business groups in the same system, we are still discovering new efficiencies for the support systems at CH2M Hill," says Sharrock. "Even beyond the important help-desk capabilities, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a powerful change management tool for us."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/nWwG38

Managing and Growing a Complex Business with Microsoft Dynamics ERP

Cindy A Evans — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 16:28:00 GMT

Rypos, a provider of clean technology that reduces diesel emissions in a variety of applications, implemented Microsoft Dynamics GP, replacing a QuickBooks system the company had outgrown. At Rypos, Microsoft Dynamics GP functions as an extremely reliable ERP system that reflects the company's complex business model. "With Microsoft Dynamics GP, we can focus on growing our business both with innovative companies that embrace sustainability and with the logistics providers and other customers who need to comply with regulatory mandates," says CFO Don Simoneau. Rypos worked with Microsoft partner Altico Advisors in the implementation project.

With Microsoft Dynamics GP, Rypos can practice efficient financial management in a way that optimally fits the company's business. Says Simoneau, "We reduced the time needed for month-end closing by half, because it is much easier to access comprehensive information, get to the right level of detail for a given query, and rely on the integrity of the data. As the CFO, that also gives me more control over business events, which helps my peace of mind."

GP also facilitates full serial and lot traceability. As Simoneau explains, "With Microsoft Dynamics GP, we have an effective vehicle to collect and manage critical information. We frequently sell into highly regulated industries, where customers purchase clean technology to be in compliance with regulatory mandates. Serial and lot traceability helps us ensure the highest possible accountability for the consistent quality standards of our products." The complex Rypos manufacturing business model, which combines made-to-order, custom manufacturing and made-to-stock production of high-demand products, is completely manageable through Microsoft Dynamics GP. "We can accommodate both of our manufacturing disciplines in a very flexible ERP system," says Simoneau. "Microsoft Dynamics GP helps us keep the complexity in our business under control, assess the financial impact of manufacturing activities, and run a productive operation."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/oeCW6G

Legacy ERP System No Match For Microsoft Dynamics AX For a Growing Business

Cindy A Evans — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:51:19 GMT

Facing the challenges of its legacy ERP system, JD Edwards, Amalie Oil Company made the switch to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Says Gianni Barkett, Chief Technology Officer of Amalie Oil Company, "We considered implementing Oracle E-Business Suite or upgrading our existing JD Edwards solution to NetSuite OneWorld. But with Microsoft Dynamics AX, we found that it supported the broad range of functions that our business needed and we could customize it to work the way we do, which we couldn't do with the other solutions."

And with Microsoft Dynamics AX now in place, the company has seen tremendous results. Says Barkett, "Amalie Oil is doubling in size every six years and we have only had to increase our workforce by 25 percent. We would have been unable to effectively scale to that level of growth without Microsoft Dynamics AX."

Want to learn more? Read the full case study at: http://bit.ly/q1Fd0T

Microsoft Finance Advances Successful Two-Tier ERP Strategy with Dynamics AX 2012

Cindy A Evans — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:27:41 GMT

By standardizing worldwide expense reporting on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the finance team at Microsoft is replacing its diverse expense-reporting systems with a single, centrally managed solution that was easier to use and yielded more consistent, detailed information. The solution created on the basis of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, MS Expense 2.0, will dramatically reduce the burden placed on employees. At the same time, the finance operations team will simplify audits, and the IT team can retire old, inefficient solutions and take advantage of product innovation in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Other companies can use this two-tier ERP solution to similarly improve their own line-of-business processes requiring employee self-service and benefit from the simple integration with SAP and other corporate systems. Hal Howard, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Dynamics ERP Research and Development, says, "Our implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for the finance group proves that a two-tier ERP strategy can deliver a standardized solution that helps companies generate valuable process efficiencies and enable rapid innovation."

Instead of entering details in free-form fields, employees now can choose categories from convenient drop-down menus. These improvements should result in an anticipated employee-satisfaction NSAT score of more than 115. "People complained of having to spend hours filing reports each month, and we have tens of thousands of employees around the world who travel often," says Jodi Ford, GPO Director, Global Accounts Payable at Microsoft. "So, although our primary goal is to improve employee satisfaction, MS Expense 2.0 can potentially recover millions of dollars in labor costs each year."

The finance operations team at Microsoft will also gain significant advantages in consistent and detailed expense-reporting information. "We can enforce our existing company expense-reporting policies much more effectively with MS Expense 2.0," explains Jasper Haarloev, Principal Solution Manager in Finance Solution Delivery at Microsoft. "Because everyone inputs expenses in a standardized manner, we expect to reduce the number of false positives during the audit process by 15 percent. More people will take the time to report their expenses because it will be easier to do so, but we still expect the number of reports that get audited to decrease by 30 percent because of the standardization."

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Grad School Gains Insight into 50,000 Constituents, Grows Relationships by Using CRM System

Cindy A Evans — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:09:49 GMT

Brown School implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM with help from Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Aspect Software to replace legacy systems and now has the insight it needs to understand and grow its relationships with more than 50,000 constituents.

In the past, keeping track of these constituent relationships had been a largely disjointed activity, because the school's academic and administrative departments and research centers maintained constituent information in as many as 16 different systems. "We lacked insight into our constituents," says Ellen Rostand, Assistant Dean for Communications at the Brown School. "Many of our constituents have multiple relationships with the school; for example, a constituent could be a graduate, an internship provider, and research partner, but we couldn't identify where that overlap was. Because of this, we didn't know where the school's deep relationships were, so we were unable to focus on relationship-building efforts with these individuals."

In looking for a constituent relationship management system, the Brown School chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Says Ben Geers, Director of IT for the Brown School, "We considered several competing options, but only Microsoft Dynamics CRM was flexible enough to meet our needs. In addition, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, our employees can work through the Microsoft Outlook interface, which 100 percent of the staff already knew and used, helping us get the adoption we needed." In terms of flexibility, Geers notes that, "Microsoft Dynamics CRM brought flexibility to the table that let us establish a common definition of a constituent while still letting each research center, department, and office track the information that was most meaningful to them."

For the Brown School, deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM as its new constituent relationship management system has proven to be the right choice. Says Ellen Rostand, Assistant Dean for Communications, "With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we gained the flexibility and ease-of-use that we needed to ensure adoption and establish a central source of constituent information. Now, we're able to act more strategically in how we engage with constituents, improving such relationships while eliminating the tedious, manual processes we relied on before."

In addition, as Rostand comments, "With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we can effectively elevate a conversation with a person to a long-term relationship. And because we have insight into all our touch points with our contacts and organizations, we can coordinate our interactions and provide a much-higher-quality experience." Having data readily available also means the Brown School now knows how much print material to produce. Says Rostand, "We now have a more accurate count of who needs to receive what, which helps us avoid the high cost of print overruns that were running 3,000 to 4,000 pieces. We've also been able to expand our reach. With better insight into our relationships, we've been able to expand the distribution of our magazine by 30 percent."

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At any time, we know what we bought, what we sold, and what our profit is--and that's a good thing

Cindy A Evans — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:22:56 GMT

A terminal market produce distributor, D'Arrigo Brothers Company of Massachusetts once relied on manual processes to manage its business. "When an order came in, employees would write a pick ticket for that order, pick those items, and then, sometime later in the day, subtract those items from a list of our inventory," says Peter D'Arrigo, President of D'Arrigo Brothers Company of Massachusetts. "We would then reenter the sales information into the accounts receivables of our accounting software."

Relying on manual process ultimately hindered insight at the company. Now, D'Arrigo Brothers uses Microsoft Dynamics NAV, however, bringing together all accounting and operational functions under a single, integrated solution. "By using Microsoft Dynamics NAV, we can see what's going on in real time with any given commodity, lot, or PO," says D'Arrigo. "At any time, we know what we bought, what we sold, and what our profit is."

Want to learn more? Read the full case study at: http://bit.ly/qiKelA

Print Distributor Strengthens Customer Ties with Flexible ERP Solution

Cindy A Evans — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:05:00 GMT

Already one of the largest print distributors in the midwestern United States, Print Management Partners is rapidly growing its base of satisfied customers that trust the company to manage their print and digital-publishing workflows. Print Management Partners was founded in 1995 as an employee-owned firm with an emphasis on customer service. Since its founding, Print Management Partners had used two different enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems specifically designed for the print distribution industry. However, as the company grew in scope and scale, it found that its old system was unable to handle changing business requirements, especially in terms of collaborating with customers and suppliers. "We outgrew the capabilities of our old system," explains James O'Brien, President of Print Management Partners. "And, we relied on the vendor to make changes-sometimes they could make those changes, and sometimes they could not. What was worse was that sometimes the changes didn't meet our expectations, causing further delays. Because of this, it was extremely difficult to do things like change the look and feel of our e-commerce component, integrate with a customer's ERP system, or even compile data into a single report."

Searching for a solution with greater flexibility, Print Management Partners looked into general ERP solutions from Microsoft, NetSuite, Sage, and SAP and eventually narrowed the field down to Microsoft Dynamics NAV and SAP Business One. "After considering our options, we chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV over competing offerings for three reasons: superior technical flexibility, the partner ecosystem, and a long-term cost advantage," says O'Brien. To customize and implement the solution, Print Management Partners teamed up with Solution Systems, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and member of the 2010 President's Club for Microsoft Dynamics based just outside of Chicago.

By replacing its inflexible, niche ERP system with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Print Management Partners gained a world-class solution that helps the company deliver superior service, eliminate inefficient financial management processes, and open up opportunities for international expansion. Print Management Partners uses Microsoft Dynamics NAV to respond quickly to customer requests, strengthening the company's advantage over competitors. Compared to the previous systems, employees today spend 50 percent less time processing customer orders. With help from Solution Systems, Print Management Partners configured Microsoft Dynamics NAV so that it can make changes to the solution without the help of software programmers, which the company was required to do with its previous ERP system. Employees at Print Management Partners today can make more informed decisions based on information from Microsoft Dynamics NAV. "No doubt, implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV was a significant investment for our company, but one that has proven absolutely worth every penny," says O'Brien. "And, for us, the solution came at a long-term cost advantage over the competing product."

Read the full case study here: http://bit.ly/izIbLU

Manufacturer & Distributor Dr. Miracles Enhances Operations with Dynamics ERP Solution

Cindy A Evans — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:52:00 GMT

After outgrowing its QuickBooks accounting software, Dr. Miracle's implemented Microsoft Dynamics GP as its new ERP system. "Out-of-the-box, Microsoft Dynamics GP helped us gain control over our raw materials, finished goods, and costs associated with blending our products." says Kate Goldberger, IT Manager for Dr. Miracle's.

In addition to Microsoft Dynamics GP, Dr. Miracle's also implemented a fully integrated and hosted EDI solution from SPS Commerce, eliminating the need for its outsourced EDI service and saving the company approximately U.S.$40,000 a year. With the new ERP system in place, Dr. Miracle's has gained comprehensive business insight, enhanced its control over operations, and improved customer relationships with retailers ranging from mass-merchant stores to local, single-proprietor beauty and barbershops. Says Goldberger, "With Microsoft Dynamics GP, we have easier access to data and can run customized reports in a much quicker, cleaner, and professional manner and then send those reports to our clients, providing a more efficient, higher-quality service."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/j4yV7V

State Regulator Improves Response Times by 66 Percent by Using Cloud-Based CRM Solution

Cindy A Evans — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Faced with growing numbers of consumer complaints in the wake of the global financial crisis, the California Department of Financial Institutions needed a solution that would automate manual processes and improve case tracking and record keeping. But their severely limited IT budget didn't allow for the costs associated with developing and deploying a custom application. "We needed a quick fix," explains Louise Amegin, Performance Chief at the California DFI. "Our goal was to become more efficient, automate more processes, and operate more cost-effectively. But as a small department, we lack significant resources and funding, and I wanted to avoid a protracted implementation or development process."

The department elected to implement a hosted solution based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Public Records Tracker, an electronic records request management and tracking system from Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Eskel-Porter. The solution automates many previously manual processes, provides a centralized repository for all records, and includes a public-facing web portal that automates communications among the department, consumers, and licensees. Since deploying the cloud-based solution, the DFI has improved response times by 66 percent while dealing with nearly three times the volume of complaints. "We've streamlined our processes and become a much more productive organization," says Amegin. "Staff members are very confident that they're able to complete their work more efficiently."

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There’s no place like together. And better with Dynamics AX

Cindy A Evans — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:49:19 GMT

When Exclusive Resorts decided to make a change from its hosted Oracle enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and replace other disconnected systems, it engaged Microsoft Services to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX within an integrated business management infrastructure. Exclusive Resorts transitioned to dependable, scalable business technology that assists the company in meeting its ambitious goals for customer service and organizational productivity.

Says Charles Livingston, Senior Vice President, Technology, "We can fit Microsoft Dynamics AX to our complex business. It helps us to provide excellent member service and to function as a more efficient and competitive organization." Exclusive Resorts realized its return-on-investment (ROI) from the ERP solution in fewer than 12 months. It also improved its reporting and decision support capabilities to maintain a close alignment between financial management and the direction of the business. Livingston remarks, "The strength of Microsoft Dynamics AX as a platform for growth with solid scale-out capabilities will help us to continue to grow our business and the usage of the system for the foreseeable future."

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/m5IYXd