Category: CRM

What is Data Integrity and Why does it Matter?
Data integrity refers to the consistency and accuracy of the data in your organisation. Within the context of a CRM system, maintaining robust data integrity ensures your customer records are current, accurate and free from duplication. The greater the number of errors that exist within a CRM, the less effective it is as a business tool and ROI starts to decline.

Maintaining data integrity ensures all departments has access to the same up-to-date information, allowing for better decision-making and project coordination. It makes it easier to create timely, relevant and personalised interactions between you and your audiences, fostering trust.

Accurate data enables businesses to segment that data to better understand their audiences and create tailored solutions to meet their needs.

Inaccurate data could mean that communications go awry or don’t get through. It could also mean that your personalised customer experience is based on a false understanding of who that customer is. Reliable data helps to get the messages to the right people at the right time. Maintaining data integrity should therefore be a focus for every business.

Defining data integrity in a sales context

The purpose of a CRM system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 is to record all the critical details for every customer. This includes (but is not limited to):
- Business name
- Contact names
- Website
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
- Business address(es)
- Market vertical
- Contact history
- Purchase history
You might also categorise them by pain points. You could even include personal details that support your relationship with that customer. But if any of that data is inaccurate, the entire entry becomes unreliable.

If emails bounce your ability to communicate has been significantly reduced – especially if the rapport with that contact would make a phone call unlikely.

Similarly, if your contact has changed position within the company you may have to start building a relationship with someone entirely different. Who, significantly, may not see your product or service as the best option.

Small details can equally have big consequences. A single incorrect digit on a postal or zip code can mean a piece of direct mail never arrives. Or, worse still, the client refuses to pay an invoice because the details are incorrect. Cash is king and when clients refuse to pay because you’ve made mistakes with paperwork, that king is little more than a hostage.

Fundamentally, bad data leads to bad outcomes, resulting in wasted time, effort and lost revenue. On the other hand, strong data integrity strengthens customer relationships and empowers your sellers to maximise the potential of the CRM.

Managing data integrity

The truth is, it’s all too easy for mistakes to be made that reduce data integrity. Especially as often fields are populated manually. Combine that with a fast-paced environment or a team member who doesn’t see the value in maintaining data integrity and your business is on a slippery slope.

Manual errors

If users are inputting data manually, errors will naturally start to creep in. Manually double checking will catch some mistakes but not all, and that is assuming users can be bothered. Data entry in a CRM rarely feels like an important part of the job, right up until it stops working.

To reduce manual errors, automate as much as possible. CRMs like Microsoft Dynamics 365 have integrations allowing data to move seamlessly between tools. It also frees up time. Where integrations aren’t available or manual entry is unavoidable, dropdowns, tick boxes and other pre-populated fields can help to offset errors.

Duplicate records

Associated with manual errors are duplicate records. This usually occurs when a name is entered incorrectly, the wrong title is added, or they have an alternative email address. Automation can help to offset this by linking your email tools with your CRM. This can help to reduce duplications, but your CRM should have de-dupe functionality.

Platforms like Dynamics 365 have de-duplication detection rules baked in as standard. This should catch most duplicates, but you should still practice good data discipline to minimise potential errors.

Keeping accurate records

If you’re fortunate enough to have the kind of rapport with your clients that they notify you of internal changes, your data becomes much easier to manage.

However, that won’t always be the case and personnel changes can often catch team members off guard. This is understandable; however, everyone needs to be clear on the procedure when a contact moves on.
- Confirm who the new point of contact is
- Double-check the title and spelling
- Capture email address
- Capture phone number
- Confirm if they are operating out of the same office
This information needs to go into the CRM immediately. Both creating a new contact and ensuring it has attached to the business profile as well.

Try to reach out to the new contact early on to understand what their objectives are moving forward. Or, if they’re not yet a client, if their requirements have changed. Establishing this early and giving the business time to pivot as needed will help to retain that opportunity. Because customers don’t always make you aware of a change in circumstances, it’s up to you to keep on top of them. That means making a habit of regularly checking contact details – for example, against email signatures – and having periodic conversations with the customer to ensure all the other information in your records is accurate.

How to sustain data integrity

Maintaining data integrity is part of a wider philosophy around the free flow of information. It can’t be one person’s responsibility to look after the data the business runs on. It, along with any other aspect of business sustainability, is a shared responsibility.

Culture

Data integrity needs to be woven into the fabric of the business. The culture of your business needs to reflect the company’s attitude towards data integrity. If the senior leadership team does not take it seriously then chances are no one else will.

The only way to maintain data integrity is for everyone to understand both the importance and need to proactively manage data. Rather than assuming it can wait or that someone else will do it.

Without a shared ethos around data integrity the CRM can’t work properly. If the CRM isn’t working properly, sales suffer. Make data integrity part of your induction process for new starters and hold regular training sessions to ensure everyone is fully up to speed. Both in terms of the platform and what’s expected of them.

This will also make it easier to spot anyone who is struggling with the CRM or has picked up bad habits.

Audit and clean-up

Task account managers with the job of auditing and cleaning up their accounts in the CRM. Depending on the state of your data integrity, you might need to do this monthly, quarterly or twice a year, but we wouldn’t recommend leaving it any longer than that. Check that the contact details are up-to-date and make sure you’ve acted on any new information that has been sent through. If the account managers are in regular contact with their clients, this information should be in a healthy state.

Consistency is key

Data consistency is an essential component of data management. That means standardising how fields are completed. Full country names rather than abbreviations or phone numbers with the country code or not, etc.

Establish the status quo and enforce it. Have a process in place to fix errors as they arise, whether it’s the person who owns the relationship with the client/contact or the last person who accessed the record.

You can also use your CRM to be specific about formatting, either using drop-down lists for things like regions or countries or insisting that mobile numbers all begin with a country code. Where customers are providing their own data, you can also take extra steps to secure data integrity by sending an email to confirm the information you hold on them is correct. You must be careful here as you can only contact an individual within an organisation about the data you hold for them, not anyone else. To do so could be a data protection breach.

Data integrity matters because people matter

We have established in other articles that people buy from people, and that the more personalised the customer experience, the more valued they feel. Data integrity is critical to personalisation and aids user adoption by making the CRM more reliable and more valuable to sellers. An advanced CRM system, data integrity and user adoption go hand-in-hand – just like the fire triangle, you need all three to create a flame. So, if you are in any doubt as to the integrity of your data, we would strongly advise you to audit and clean up your CRM and instil a culture of data quality as soon as possible. It’s in everyone’s interests to maximise data integrity, and with new tools and integrations, it doesn’t need to be a labour- or time-intensive task.

If you need help implementing a new data integrity strategy, get in touch.

Let’s talk!

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we help businesses like yours navigate Microsoft Dynamics 365 recovery and deployments.

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July 8, 2024
The Role of User Adoption in Maximising CRM ROI
Like any tool, the CRM can only provide value when it is well used. User adoption is integral to a CRM deployment’s success or failure. Low user adoption is almost always why CRMs don’t deliver the expected return on investment (ROI). Acknowledging this risk enables you to prepare accordingly and eliminate those issues that obstruct or dilute a successful CRM deployment.

Equally, so is understanding the human factor behind low user adoption. Some team members may fear the technology, and others may fear for their jobs. In most cases, the reluctance to adopt any new solution usually comes from a lack of understanding.

This is entirely forgivable considering how broad the term CRM has become and how complex a platform like Dynamics 365 can be.

While it may seem straightforward to state the benefits of a CRM, the reality is getting to grips with Dynamics CRM takes time, support and training.

However, before you can consider training you first need to establish what you hope to gain from deploying a CRM. Defining what success from your CRM project is fundamental to its success from the perspectives of user adoption and ROI.

How to calculate the ROI of a CRM

Return on investment, or ROI, is a simple measurement to evaluate how well an investment has performed. For something like an ad campaign, this is straightforward: the cost of the campaign versus the revenue it generated. Calculating the value of your CRM can be harder to quantify. It’s not easy to put a price on better customer service. Similarly, it’s not always apparent how many opportunities would be lost by team members not being able to collaborate via a single platform.

As with other SaaS platforms, establishing a means of measuring performance will indicate how your CRM is performing. For example:
- Time to close – With a stronger customer relationship and a better-informed approach, it should be easier to close deals, reducing the time spent on each sale.
- Increased deal size – As above, a CRM supports sales and should help increase the value of every deal.
- More sales – With a smarter sales approach, you should also be able to increase the number of deals closed.
- More repeat customers – Happy customers return for more, so if you’re using the CRM to strengthen the customer relationship you should see customers returning and referring.
There are, of course, additional benefits that may be harder to monitor. Closer collaboration across departments results in an improved work environment. Happier staff stay in their jobs for longer, meaning your team gains experience. It must be said, though, that a good CRM tool alone cannot achieve all these things. It’s just a tool – designed to make the job easier, not to replace people or the relationships they form. So, the number one key to CRM success is user adoption.

User adoption – the make or breaker

The success of any software deployment hinges on both the rate and duration of user adoption. The faster your team picks it up and the longer they use it, the more successful that deployment is.

In our experience, low user adoption is the main reason CRM systems fail to deliver the expected ROI.

Despite the sophisticated capabilities of modern CRM systems, you have to think of them as a tool, just like any other. Any tool used incorrectly will, over time, degrade or even break.

This is true whether you’re using a hammer, machinery or sophisticated software. But rather than blame our poor adoption or lack of training, we usually blame the tool, replace it and the whole thing starts again. The frequency and severity of the misuse will directly correlate to the speed at which it becomes unusable.

User adoption is a journey; it cannot be forced, although many try. In WalkMe’s annual report State of Digital Adoption 2022, 60% of decision-makers are concerned about whether digital projects will provide the expected ROI because end-users aren’t adopting the technology quickly enough.

Low user uptake results in poor performance and poor performance results in lower user uptake. It becomes a vicious cycle that’s hard to break. The key, therefore, is understanding what obstacles exist in your organisation that could hamper adoption.

This is something of a hard look-in-the-mirror conversation, as those obstacles can be anything from capacity to budget to individuals.

Failure to Adopt

There are many reasons why users don’t engage with new software. The first and most obvious is resistance to change. People may not be entirely happy with the status quo, but at least they know where they stand. Introducing new software, especially something as vast as a CRM, can be intimidating. Not least because it can often mean a change in process, or a formalisation of processes when historically team members have been free to operate as they saw fit. Some may perceive the CRM deployment as an unnecessary change – especially if they haven’t understood the benefits.

Be under no illusions, you need to get your deployment right. Bad software deployment can cost time and money to remedy or replace. In extreme cases, they can be an existential threat when you factor in the potential data loss that can ensue.

To make your deployment successful, you must treat your team like customers. Take them on a journey of the new CRM and get their buy-in.

Another common reason for low user adoption is poor communication around the new system. This encompasses both the ‘why’ – the reason for bringing in a new CRM – and the ‘how’. If users aren’t properly trained to use the CRM, they won’t understand how to maximise the benefits. It’s unreasonable to expect users to ‘have a play’ and ‘come back to us if you have any questions’. Especially with something so complex and feature-rich as a CRM like Microsoft Dynamics 365. Take a user-centric approach to both CRM design and rollout to ensure maximum adoption.

Anything that stands between your CRM and user adoption also stands between your CRM and ROI.

It’s critical to think about CRM rollout and onboarding while you’re choosing which CRM to go with. Not only the functionality and how quickly it can be deployed but how quickly it can be adopted.

How to improve user adoption

The best way to improve CRM user adoption is to help users understand the WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Communication is key, and it must start before you introduce the new system.

Involve users in the selection process

Talk to users about what they like or don’t like about the current way of working. This will allow you to build a picture of what they need from a new CRM system. Make sure they understand the change is to benefit them, so you need their feedback on what ‘better’ looks like. Of course, they won’t necessarily know all the capabilities a CRM can offer and what those benefits could be. Take the time to introduce the options fully before making a decision.

Talk up the benefits

You know the pain points from both a business and user perspective. Use this information to communicate the benefits of the chosen CRM – and communicate them widely. Don’t rely on sporadic updates to get the message across. Think about what channels are available to you and how they can be used to get your message out. Put posters on the wall if that’s what it takes.

Build a pilot team

Often when new software is rolled out across a business, you start with a core team who are committed to the project and willing to be the guinea pigs. Starting small doesn’t enable you to get the full benefit of the CRM, but you can hope to develop an evangelical group of ‘experts’ who have familiarised themselves with the system enough to help communicate those benefits to the wider team. These evangelists will help boost adoption.

Streamline and customise the CRM to meet user needs

As a result of that earlier work liaising with and seeking feedback from users, you should have a good idea of what you want to achieve with your CRM and how you can tailor the system to meet your usage. Customising the interface to directly align with those needs demonstrates that you’ve listened to and understood your users’ WIIFM and ensures they can get maximum use out of the CRM.

Provide comprehensive training and support

If people don’t know how to use the CRM, they won’t use it. Or they’ll use it poorly, which amounts to the same thing – a low ROI. We would suggest training is offered on both a mandated, regular basis during rollout and on-demand long term. Easy-to-access resources allow users to solve issues as they arise. Long, information-heavy, webinars are unlikely to inspire anyone; you’re better off with a little-and-often approach, such as weekly ‘lunch and learns’ that break down the CRM’s capabilities piece by piece.

Establish clear expectations The less people use a CRM, the less effective it is. Make it clear from the outset that this tool is not optional; it is mandatory – not just for the individual user’s benefit, but for the entire business. Be strategic about the rollout and set clear goals. Your CRM provider should be able to help define those with you and set out ways to measure progress so that you can assess how successful your rollout has been.

Pulling the Trigger

An advanced, customised CRM system can transform your business through effective management of customer relationships throughout the sales and after-sales process. But this is only made possible by people using it properly and often. Low user adoption is the number one reason CRM implementation fails, so getting users onboard from the outset is critical.

Think about this as a sale – you’re selling users on the concept of CRM, so you need to pull out all the same tools you would ordinarily deploy to close a deal. Understanding their pain points; refining the solution; talking up the benefits and supporting them once the deal is done to ensure you end up with a happy customer. This is how you guarantee a good ROI.

If you want to ensure a successful CRM implementation, talk to us about how we can help you maximise your ROI.

Let’s Talk

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we help businesses like yours navigate Microsoft Dynamics 365 recovery and deployments.

Learn more
July 1, 2024
Understanding Sequences in Dynamics 365
Sequences within Dynamics 365 Sales offer a powerful tool to refine your sales operations by establishing a structured regimen for managing leads, opportunities, and customers. This structured approach ensures that sales activities are executed with uniformity and accuracy, leading to more efficient and effective sales processes.

Sequences help sales teams follow a predefined set of actions tailored to various stages of the sales cycle. By automating these sequences, you can ensure that no crucial steps are missed, reducing the risk of human error and enhancing the overall customer experience. This not only improves the reliability of your sales operations but also provides clear guidance to your sales team, making their workflow more predictable and manageable.

Moreover, sequences allow for better tracking and analysis of sales activities. Managers can easily monitor the progress of each lead and opportunity, identifying bottlenecks and areas for improvement. This level of oversight helps in making informed decisions and adjustments to strategies, ultimately driving better sales performance.

Using sequences also promotes best practices across the sales team. By standardising processes, you can ensure that all team members are following the most effective methods for engaging with customers and closing deals. This consistency leads to improved results and a more professional approach to sales.

Guidance for Sales Personnel

Sequences provide clear, step-by-step instructions, aiding sales representatives, particularly in areas where training or documentation may lack consistency.

Task Automation in Dynamics 365

By mechanising monotonous tasks, sequences free up time for salespeople to concentrate on sales, thus elevating productivity.

Standardisation of Best Practices

Managers can mandate adherence to best practices through sequences, aligning sales efforts with organisational processes.

Activity Prioritisation in Dynamics 365

Sequences assist salespeople in identifying and focusing on high-priority tasks, enhancing the chances of successful engagements.

Minimisation of Errors

The systematic nature of sequences aids in reducing mistakes and ensuring vital tasks are completed promptly.

Incorporating sequences into the sales workflow facilitates a more streamlined and effective customer engagement, significantly bolstering sales performance.

Understanding Sequences

In Dynamics 365, sequences are prearranged sets of actions guiding sales representatives through the sales cycle. These actions, triggered automatically in a designated sequence, may include email sending, phone calling, or task scheduling. Sequences aim to:

Streamline Sales Processes

Offering a clear task roadmap, sequences improve operational efficiency and minimise errors.

Uphold Best Practices

They ensure consistency in sales processes by enforcing standard practices.

Boost Productivity

Automating routine tasks allows sales staff to dedicate more time to strategic selling.

Enhance Customer Interaction

By covering all potential customer engagement points, sequences can improve customer relations and potentially increase sales conversions.

Sequences are crafted to optimise sales operations, aligning them with strategic sales goals.

Sequences vs. Workflows in Dynamics 365

Sequences and workflows within Dynamics 365 serve distinct objectives:

Sequences

Focus on guiding sales representatives through predetermined sales steps, triggering specific actions in an ordered fashion. Primarily used in sales to streamline activities and enforce best practices.

Workflows

Aim to automate business processes without requiring user intervention, capable of running in the background to execute a variety of actions based on certain conditions. Workflows are adaptable across different Dynamics 365 applications, extending beyond sales.

Sequences cater to a sales-centric, user-driven approach, whereas workflows automate complex, broader business processes independently of user input.

Implementing Sequences

To initiate a sequence in Dynamics 365 Sales, follow these steps:
- Login: Access your Dynamics 365 Sales application.
- Navigate: Move to Sales Insights settings via the Change area in the page’s lower-left corner.
- Access Sequences: Within the Sales accelerator section, choose Sequence.
- Create a New Sequence: Click on New Sequence, then specify your sequence’s properties, including name, description (if needed), and the targeted entity type.
- Design the Sequence: Utilise the sequence designer to incorporate steps, conditions, and actions. Remember, appropriate licenses and security roles are essential for sequence creation and management.
Sequence Management

Editing or deleting sequences is manageable via the Sales Insights settings:
- To Edit: Access the Sales Hub, navigate to Sales Insights settings, and select Sequences. Open the active sequence, edit as necessary, and reactivate.
- To Delete: Follow a similar path to find the sequence, then select Delete permanently.
Assigning sequences involves choosing the sequence, selecting Assign, and inputting the relevant user or team information. Necessary permissions are required for these actions.

Optimising Sequence Management

Effective management of sequences can significantly uplift sales efficiency and customer engagement. Planning, leveraging templates, monitoring performance, adapting to feedback, and training are essential. Common pitfalls like overcomplexity, resistance to change, and neglecting feedback should be avoided.

Wave 1 Updates 2024

The 2024 Wave 1 update introduces enhancements like sequence step previews, multitasking capabilities, improved teamwork functionalities, and a detailed sequence panel, further advancing the efficiency and user experience of sequences in Dynamics 365 Sales.

Enhancing Dynamics 365

Sequences in Dynamics 365 Sales are instrumental in revolutionising the sales process. They offer a systematic framework for managing customer engagements, ensuring consistent and efficient sales activities. With ongoing advancements, sequences are set to offer even deeper insights and greater adaptability, catering to the unique requirements of businesses.

If you’d like to know more about how you can enhance your Dynamics 365 CRM or you’re interested in moving your CRM to Dynamics, we can help.

Let’s Talk!

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we help businesses like yours navigate Microsoft Dynamics 365 recovery and deployments. Learn more
April 11, 2024
How AI is Revolutionising CRM Strategies and Operations
The better you know your customers, the more you can offer them. For SMEs in particular, the value of this resource should not be underestimated.

But just because the tools exist to mine this data gold, it doesn’t mean businesses know how to use them. One of the core challenges QGate helps people deal with is rescuing CRMs that are underperforming – either through low user adoption or a lack of understanding around the features and opportunities on offer. One way QGate can help address these challenges is through AI-based tools that help create efficiencies, generate insights, and generally leverage your data for improved sales performance.

The AI revolution in CRM

CRM systems contain some of your most vital and valuable data, ripe for AI-driven efficiencies.

AI can save you precious time and put you in a great position to increase sales, from aggregating and sorting relevant customer information to help you decide on marketing strategies or even product development to providing insights and sales forecasts that would previously have taken you days to write up.

Some examples of how AI can help your business succeed include:

Talking the talk

Many businesses use chatbots to help answer customer questions and act as a triage to direct questions to the most appropriate respondent.

Chatbots have come a long way in recent years, and the availability of AI-powered chatbots with natural language abilities ensures you can provide personalised service 24/7/365. And of course, your CRM can record all these conversations for further analysis and follow-up.

From the customer side, receiving a quick, helpful and ‘human’ response will help ensure customer loyalty.

AI prompts

The kind of data analysis offered by AI goes beyond what most people would be able to manage themselves.

It’s possible to analyse everything from customer interactions, like clicks on your website, to customer sentiment, such as on social media or chatbot conversations, to empower salespeople to make the right offer at the right time. These nudges might include specific products or offer recommendations that help drive sales.

Sales forecasts

Gone are the days of spending hours – if not weeks – of your life trying to build a detailed sales report, including a forecast for the next quarter. AI-powered algorithms can analyse historical data and relevant market trends, providing comprehensive reports that enable you to plan and ensure you’re well-placed to meet demand.

AI can massively streamline some workflows and replace others altogether. However, to make the most of this opportunity, businesses must have a joined-up strategy that connects the dots across all CRM-based workflows.

It’s also vital that AI tools are provided with good, accurate data to help them work more accurately and efficiently. Implementing AI-powered CRM tools to improve the performance of a system full of inaccurate or incomplete data won’t bring the desired results.

Addressing common CRM pain points with AI

In our experience, there are five core pain points with CRM systems:
- disappointing ROI
- lack of strategic alignment
- operational inefficiencies
- low user adoption
- deteriorating relationship with the current CRM partner
AI can help address many of these challenges and support end users to get more from their system.

Disappointing ROI

A disappointing ROI is often the result of low or inefficient use of the system. AI-powered CRM automation helps reduce workloads – making the sales process more efficient – but also opens up new opportunities by delivering customer insights and prompting salespeople to create the right offer at the right time.

Strategically using these tools will empower salespeople to make data-driven decisions that increase ROI.

Lack of strategic alignment

When a CRM isn’t meeting its potential, it’s often because there’s no alignment between CRM use and business goals. Are you mining the CRM for relevant data to help meet those goals? Did you use CRM data to help inform your strategy?

If the answer to these questions is no, then you have, if not a problem, a missed opportunity. AI-powered CRM tools analyse your data to provide insights that can shape your strategy. Plus, they can automate many processes that help you reach your targets.

Operational inefficiencies

If people don’t know how to use the CRM fully, or they’re not aware of all the available functions, then they won’t see the value of it. They might even see it as just another job on their list – when, in fact, the AI-powered CRM tools within an advanced system like Dynamics 365 could reduce their workload.

Automating repetitive tasks and using AI assistants like Microsoft Copilot, which integrates with Dynamics, enables you to automatically input data with a simple click – for example, updating contact information or copying across meeting summaries or task lists. These features streamline workflows, enabling you to gain efficiencies.

Low user adoption

Low user adoption is usually a side-effect of other challenges – when users do not see the benefit of a system, they won’t use it.

Every CRM implementation should begin with a good roll-out plan and ongoing training. You can also utilise AI to support this process with personalised data-led recommendations, such as those prompts mentioned above, which increase user engagement and adoption rates.

Deteriorating relationships with current partner

If you have lost faith in your CRM supplier due to poor results, talk to our team. We can help rescue your CRM and empower you to achieve the performance you hoped for – or even better – using all the functionality (AI and otherwise) of your CRM system.

QGate’s approach to AI-powered CRM recovery & optimisation

We have a four-phase approach to helping customers rediscover the value and potential of their CRM, including AI-powered CRM recovery and optimisation. It begins with a system audit, where we seek to understand your business, goals and ambitions and how you currently work. We then conduct a thorough review of your CRM setup to identify the performance gap between where your usage currently sits and where you need it to be to meet your business goals.

At this stage, we’re looking at the quality of your data, how it’s structured, to what extent you’re using the features included in your CRM and your business processes. This leads us to phase two, in which we gather user feedback to understand pain points from the end user’s perspective, as well as areas for improvement. This helps us understand priorities as we move forward with fixes and enhancements.

Phase three is where we customise and optimise your CRM based on the information gathered in the first two phases. Depending on your priorities, this might include adjusting workflows, improving data quality, or integrating with other systems to enhance functionality.

Finally, we reinforce user training and support to ensure everyone is empowered to use the system to the best of its ability. We can offer ongoing training sessions and a helpdesk for CRM-related queries if required.

The future of AI-powered CRMs

Looking to the future, it’s easy to imagine a time when you will have an AI assistant managing many of your tasks. You might come into your office in the morning and ask your assistant – is today a good day to approach X company? – and rely on your assistant to draw on what they know of a contact’s calendar, business and market context, plus history with your own company, to give you an answer. Better yet, they will probably be able to trawl your CRM to tell you (without waiting for you to ask) which customers should be on your target list for the day. With AI tools developing at speed, all of this will be on the radar sooner rather than later.

For SMEs, this means less time wasted and more time selling, shorter sales cycles and more personalised, higher-value deals.

Of course, just as with existing CRM technology, availability does not necessarily equate to a good user experience. It remains important to align CRM use with business strategy, to take the time to communicate both things to end users and to support people to get the most from their CRM. Also, bear in mind that not every system will suit every business, so take your time before investing to ensure you have selected the CRM and integrated tools that work for you.

If you have questions, we’re always happy to advise. Get in touch with our team today for further advice and information.

Start the Revolution

AI and CRMs are natural partners: one a data mining and analytics superstar and the other a hub for all your customer-related data. Their co-evolution will bring tremendous benefits to businesses – but only if businesses are both open to and aware of the value on offer.

We’re excited about the transformative potential of AI and highly focused on providing a kind of ‘translation service’, bridging the gap between the two and empowering businesses to make the most of the services and solutions available to them. If you’d like to talk about how AI-powered CRM can transform and supercharge your business performance, get in touch.

Let’s Talk!

Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we help businesses like yours navigate Microsoft Dynamics 365 recovery and deployments. Learn more
April 3, 2024
Unlocking Business Potential: The Benefits of Software Financing

Staying ahead in terms of technology is crucial for success but the cost of acquiring and maintaining cutting-edge software and equipment can be a significant challenge for many businesses. This is where software financing steps in, offering a strategic solution to help businesses thrive.

Software financing is a credit agreement that allows you to spread the cost of your investment in a new CRM with QGate through affordable monthly payments spread out over a period of between one to five years.

Arranging finance for your business software provides your business with the purchasing power of a cash buyer, enabling you to make strategic investments in technology without depleting your cash reserves. This financial flexibility allows for agile decision-making and quick adaptation to market trends.

Cost-Efficient Cash Flow Management

Financing offers a structured approach to paying for capital purchases with low fixed monthly repayments. This method allows businesses to budget effectively and manage cash flow efficiently, providing stability and predictability in financial planning.

Obsolescence Management

One of the significant challenges in technology is the rapid pace of obsolescence. Financing addresses this issue by allowing you to upgrade outdated items as needed. This ensures that your business is always equipped with the latest technology without the burden of paying out or writing off large capital sums.

Optimised Capital Employment

Financing frees up capital that would otherwise be tied up in equipment purchases. This liberated capital can then be strategically invested in areas where a higher return on investment is achievable, enhancing overall business profitability.

Access to Tomorrow’s Technology Today

Financing bridges the gap between what your business needs and what it can afford. With a finance arrangement, you can have access to tomorrow’s technology today, staying competitive and future-proofing your operations.

Tax Efficiency

Finance payments are fully allowable against taxable revenue, providing a tax-efficient way to acquire and use essential equipment. This advantage makes financing an attractive option compared to similar outright purchases that may not offer the same tax benefits.

Flexible Terms

Financing provides flexibility in lease terms, ranging from 12 to 60 months. This ensures that businesses can choose a duration that aligns with their specific requirements and financial goals.

No Upfront Deposit

Unlike traditional financing options, there’s no requirement for an upfront deposit. The first payment is due in accordance with your purchase terms, simplifying the acquisition process and easing financial strain on your business.

Upgrade Options

QGate understands that technology needs evolve. With an upgrade option available, businesses can seamlessly adapt to changing requirements within the term of the lease, ensuring continued access to state-of-the-art equipment.

In conclusion, financing offers a comprehensive and strategic approach to acquiring and managing essential software and equipment for businesses, from unlocking the purchasing power of a cash buyer to providing tax-efficient solutions.

Whether you’re an existing QGate client or not to find out more about how flexible payments can help you accelerate the investment and deployment of software in your business please contact us.

February 16, 2024
Dynamics 365 vs Business Central – which one should you choose?

Business Central vs Dynamics 365 – which one should you choose?

Which is better – Business Central or Microsoft Dynamics 365? It’s a question that comes up a lot, and of course the answer is ‘It depends what you want it to do’. But let’s break that down a bit and explore what each system offers, and whether it’s possible to just use one.

What’s the difference between Business Central and Dynamics 365?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system designed to help you manage the supply chain needs of your organisation. It’s largely focused on things like logistics, inventory planning, and billing, but does have other capabilities too. Businesses use ERPs like Business Central to ensure that resource planning is aligned across the business, and that everyone has access to and can learn from the same information.

Dynamics 365 is Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, which provides a full and comprehensive history of the relationship (i.e. interactions) with a customer, giving the insights needed to progress that relationship in the future. Like the ERP, the CRM aids alignment across the business, so that every department that has a touch point with the customer (e.g. marketing, sales and after sales) has access to the same information. The better your CRM, the less likely you are to miss sales opportunities. Like Business Central, Dynamics 365 has additional capabilities, but its core strength is in customer relationship management.

Can you use Dynamics 365 as an ERP?

Yes, to an extent. Dynamics 365 does have some capabilities that crossover with Business Central – it was originally formed from a combination of ERP and CRM systems, after all. But as Dynamics 365 has evolved, it has developed its CRM capabilities and Business Central has grown as the core ERP tool. Essentially, these are two separate systems built with different goals in mind.

Can you use Business Central as a CRM?

Yes, up to a point. But its capabilities are limited, so it depends what you want from your CRM. If you’re looking for basic functionality, Business Central has a Relationship Management tool that enables you to manage contact information, opportunity tracking, targeted campaigns, and so on. This information will be available across the organisation and will ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to customer history. For more advanced capabilities, however, you’ll need a purpose-built CRM.

What does Dynamics 365 offer that you can’t get from Business Central?

(You can get these things from Business Central, but they offer a different functionality.)

Customisation

Dynamics 365 can be customized according to your sales process, enabling you to have a CRM that perfectly fits your market, your workflows, and your buyers’ journey. The more customized your CRM, the more you can make it work for you, using business and process automation, purpose-built templates, and more. CRMs for membership organisations are entirely different than CRMs for B2B service providers, for example, which will be different again to a retailer’s CRM. If you’re using a one-size-fits-all CRM system, you could be missing out on opportunities for more personalised interactions with your customers.

Additional capabilities

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a modular solution, which means it offers many capabilities via different apps, which you can add on. These include things like customer behaviour modelling, self-service tools, marketing campaign management, and a sales module that provides insights regarding prospective customer sources and customer engagement data, as well as monitoring sales productivity and performance.

This is advanced CRM stuff – the kind that goes beyond managing data and becomes a core tool in the sales process, helping companies grow and develop.

Automation

Business process automation and Robotic process automation reduce the admin burden on workers, giving them more ‘time on tools’ to get on with their actual jobs. Marketing automation tools similarly enable workers to achieve more with less, expanding their reach and their effectiveness by automating marketing campaigns. All these tools are available with Dynamics 365 and can be used to increase efficiency and performance. For example, you can use marketing automation tools to track the buyer’s journey, see how they engage with your content, and use that data to adjust your approach for maximum effect.

What does Business Central offer that you can’t get from Dynamics 365?

Enhanced data

As a purpose-built ERP solution, Business Central provides centralised and real-time reporting of all connected data, such as customer service requests, cash flow, inventory, etc. so that you can easily identify trends and make decisions accordingly. You can also integrate Business Central with Power BI for enhanced data visualisation, which helps turn data into actionable insights.

A different kind of automation

Like Dynamics 365, Business Central also can use automation to make workflows more efficient and more effective. Integration with tools like Dynamics Copilot eases the burden of repetitive manual work and provides AI-based insights that help business decision-making.

Advanced supply chain management

The supply chain is where Business Central really comes into its own, providing unrivalled visibility on inventory, purchase orders, sales orders, and production orders, as well as warehouse management solutions that help optimise the way you structure your warehouse operations.

How to make the most of Business Central and Dynamics 365

The good news is – you don’t have to choose between Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365. They’re all part of the same ecosystem and can be integrated seamlessly to give you the best of both worlds. All the Microsoft 365 systems work on the same common data model, ensuring easy communication and alignment between tools.

Integrating Dynamics 365 with Business Central, Teams, Outlook, Office, SharePoint, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, etc. enables you to work more efficiently, without wasting time switching between apps or repeatedly inputting information, which can lead to mistakes. Having a fully functioning ERP system and a customised CRM maximises your opportunities for efficiency across the business, providing end-to-end support for both your organisation and your customers.

Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help you with your CRM and ERP systems.

January 16, 2024
CRM for Membership Organisations

Membership organisations have a lot of data to keep track of. Whether they are academic institutions, geared towards professional certification, or more commercial enterprises catering for specialist interests, the more these membership organisations know about their members, the better they can serve them. But managing that data grows more complex as the organisation evolves, and the old ways of doing things don’t always support current needs.

Let’s look at the specific needs of membership organisations and see how an advanced CRM system can help.

Tracking accreditation

Some membership organisations bestow upon their members a certification or accreditation that is necessary for their professional practice. To keep this accreditation, members must renew their membership periodically and perhaps provide evidence of their continued expertise or employment in this field. Reminding members that renewal is due, giving them the information they need to fulfil requirements, and removing those who don’t renew from the ‘active members’ list are all tasks that can be automated using an advanced CRM.

Selling events

Many membership organisations will offer professional development courses, in-person events, exhibitions, etc. either as part of or in addition to the membership package. Making sure the right people are targeted with the right communications is another job for the CRM and can also be automated if you’ve captured the detail for every member. For example, if your organisation is open to all boat owners, you would want to distinguish between people who sail dinghies and people with super yachts, knowing they have different interests and different budgets. Likewise, if your events are location-specific, it makes sense to target members geographically. All this information can be held by your CRM and utilised to produce a targeted marketing campaign.

Long membership durations

There are membership organisations that are most relevant for specific periods of your life. For example, most people will only be part of the National Union of Students for a few years. Whereas there are other organisations, like the Royal College of Physicians, whose members remain for the duration of their career. Long-term membership organisations have to deal with the challenges of keeping up with members throughout the many moves and changes that take place through their lives. Managing this data, or allowing members to manage their own data, can also be conducted through an advanced CRM and usually with very little manual intervention.

Managing lots of data

Membership data will vary from one organisation to another, but can end up being very complex. Some older organisations, due to the nature of the technology available at the time, have separated data across different systems, making it hard to access all the data, let alone keep track of a member’s history within the organisation. This can lead to confusion and missed opportunities, as it’s hard to approach members in a targeted way if you don’t have all the information readily to hand. An advanced CRM has greater capacity to hold, sort and glean insights from your data, enabling you to really make the most of what your members are ‘telling’ you with every interaction you have with them.

The challenge of managing member data

Managing all this data in a way that is efficient and accurate can make all the difference both to organisation employees and to the membership experience. On the organisation side, no one wants to waste time inputting data if it can be reliably automated. On the member side, no one wants to be on the receiving end of poor customer service as a result of slow, faltering, or inaccurate comms, which is what can happen when the CRM is not up to task. Of course, members won’t know it’s the CRM at fault. They will blame the organisation.

So why do membership organisations often struggle with their CRM? What’s going wrong?

The problem with bespoke CRMs

Many membership organisations – but particularly the long-established ones – operate bespoke CRM systems that were designed especially for their purpose. This can prove to be a challenge in the long-term as the organisation evolves and the CRM ages. How do you get a bespoke CRM to grow with you?

Often, the CRM is designed to meet a specific brief, but over time a number of variables come into play. Hardware evolves. Other, interlinked software is upgraded. The old programme doesn’t remain compatible with new ways of working. The organisation that developed the software for you disappears or changes hands and can no longer provide tech support. The membership organisation itself changes so drastically that a new CRM is required.

These changes are like cracks spreading through the CRM, rendering it unstable. Glitchy software puts your data at risk of security breaches and technical issues. And if your CRM lacks the capabilities to support your needs, you can find your organisation’s growth and development is limited to ‘the way things have always been done’.

The potential of advanced CRM systems

This is why we would advise working with an advanced CRM provider that has the flexibility to tailor to your needs with the backup of global, high-quality support and an established backbone of tech to underpin your operations. This type of CRM can be designed to your specifications, with the fields, processes and workflows required to support your requirements, within the scope of a system that is regularly and automatically updated to the latest spec, and which is designed to integrate with your other core tools.

The additional benefit of advanced CRM systems is the potential offered by Business Process Automation and Robotic Process Automation to reduce the workload and keep on top of day-to-day data management. Things like responding to member enquiries, updating contact details, chasing renewals, etc can all be managed automatically, ensuring your system runs more efficiently, and optimising your operations.

If you’d like more information about how we can help your membership organisation improve customer service and optimise member insights, get in touch.

December 14, 2023
CRM and ERP Integration: Why Is It Important?

What happens when crucial departments don’t talk to each other? On a small scale, there’s the possibility of miscommunications and misunderstandings. But when those escalate, it can lead to further division, poor morale, and ineffective business practices.

In short: silos don’t work, and customers pay the price. Integrating related digital tools, like ERP and CRM systems, is one way to break down those walls and improve process transparency.

What is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system?

Whether your turnover is measured in millions or billions, ERP helps ensure that you’re properly managing the supply chain to meet the needs of your organisation, focusing on inventory, warehouse, shipping, logistics, and billing. For example, if you are a mover, you ensure you have sufficient boxes, tape, bubble wrap, vehicles, and people to complete the jobs you’ve been hired to do. If you sell paper, you need to know you have the supplies to keep up with demand, as well as the means of getting it from A to B.

Running your resource planning through a purpose-built platform ensures everyone within the organisation has access to the same information (process transparency), allowing them to contribute and learn from the planning process.

What is a CRM?

A customer relationship management system, or CRM is more than just a digital Filofax of names and contact details; it’s a history of a customer relationship, which provides you with insights into the future of that relationship, enabling you to track all customer interactions.

An advanced CRM includes a record of all correspondence, a summary of in-person meetings, details of what the customer is interested in, your proposals, and your sales. Again, this is accessible to all relevant parties, meaning the relationship is not in the hands of one salesperson or account manager – it’s with the company.

How do ERP and CRM systems work together?

Traditionally, salespeople have worked in isolation, developing and later closing a deal with very little input or interaction with other departments. However, a great deal of effort is being spent on trying to dismantle these silos to deliver a better, more streamlined customer experience.

In today’s busy workplace environment, structured ERP integration with your CRM system is as important as ever and is a vital part of the effort to streamline customer experiences. Let’s look back to the movers as an example: the salesperson produces a quote based on the size of the relocation project. If this information is passed to warehouse management, a stock check can be undertaken to be sure the required number of boxes, tape, packaging, etc. is available for the given date, keeping HR in the loop and ensuring staffing is sufficient to complete the job.

CRM and ERP Integration enable these ‘conversations’ to happen automatically so that the necessary stock is ordered or ring-fenced for moving day.

What are the benefits of CRM and ERP integration?

Accuracy and efficiency

Here is another (very simplistic) way of looking at the special relationship between the two systems: the CRM is populated with salespeople’s promises; and the ERP ensures they can deliver.

If you sell a product, you need to know that the product is available, and utilising CRM and ERP integration within your business processes ensures that these two important aspects are working together to meet expectations, both in terms of what is being delivered (accuracy) and when (efficiency). It also avoids the ‘human factor’ of forgetting to pass on a message, waiting to relay information until a specific meeting time, or even mixing up orders.

When the two systems are not integrated, the same data is often input into both systems, which is extremely tedious and time-consuming.

Improved visibility

Integrating the ERP and CRM systems enables greater visibility of demand so that inventory can be more effectively managed to reduce delivery times and prevent shortages. Over time, you can automatically build a better picture of customer trends, seasonal demand, etc., for more visibility of what’s coming to the business, enabling you to plan accordingly.

Improved synergy

When systems don’t work together, there’s less impetus for departments to work together. However, CRM and ERP integration allows you to align the different workflows, making all teams more efficient and enabling the organisation to deliver a better customer experience.

Cost savings

When your ERP and CRM systems are integrated, you can create automation across your quote-to-cash process. You gain cost savings from streamlining operations and improving decision-making. But you also free up your employees to focus more of their time on the jobs that they were employed to do, as opposed to all the laborious tasks that they have to do in order to do their jobs.

Bridges, not silos

Connecting departments by integrating key digital tools ensures business processes are moving in the same direction for the benefit of the customer but with the added benefits of improved cost-efficiency, better working relationships, and improved morale.

Hopefully, this article has highlighted the importance of CRM and ERP integration to your business and how refraining from connecting the two systems can hinder your operations massively. If you’d like to know how we can help you break down walls and start building bridges, get in touch.

November 17, 2023
How CRM Automation can boost productivity in Recruitment
The recruitment industry runs on relationships. Without the ability to act as mediators, negotiators, and advisers recruitment consultants struggle to build trust. This is made harder still as they have to nurture relationships with two distinct audiences: candidates and clients. Both require much of the same level of care and attention, but have very different needs and measures of success. Without a robust CRM and CRM automation, maintaining these relationships becomes difficult.

With so many active candidates and clients, managing the flow of information and communication manually can create bottlenecks and manual errors. This should be where a CRM system comes into its own, automatically capturing key information and adding it to candidate and business records.

By creating a single source of truth for their data, recruiters can leverage all the information available to them. Without the tedium of searching through emails or spreadsheets. Despite this, some recruitment consultancies see CRMs as another tool to maintain, despite it’s capacity for integration and automation.

CRM – A Recap

Originally, the CRM was a way to store all customer details in one place; essentially a database with a decent UI. Today, CRMs still retain the capacity to house a lot of data, but they take care of how the data is gathered and provide the means to communicate.

The ability to gather, house and segment data allows businesses to gain actionable insights faster. Specifically, when it comes to candidates, a CRM like Microsoft Dynamics 365 allow you to identify which candidates have skills that match open roles.

This alone can save considerable time as candidate CVs no longer need to be screened. Rather an alert can be created so recruiters know when a candidate has come in with the desired skillset.

This shortens the hiring cycle as recruiters can draw up shortlists without manually scrutinising hundreds of CVs. Similarly, when a strong candidate lands in an inbox, recruiters can use Dynamics 365 and tools like it to cross-reference those key skills with the kind of skills their clients look for.

This increases the hit rate of speculative CVs when they go out.

In addition to all this, the CRM should also keep the specifics of every interaction with both candidates and employers. Everyone in the business can see the latest developments allowing for a slicker more professional experience. When used well, the CRM enables you to:
- Attract and engage the right candidates.
- Collect and maintain relevant and searchable candidate data.
- Facilitate easy communication with candidates and employers and provide accurate, real-time updates.
- Report on your processes. Reports give you oversight on the whole recruitment process and identify potential issues early.
What is CRM Automation?

Without functionality like CRM automation, working with so much data has the potential to be highly labour-intensive. With recruitment so dependent on building strong relationships and the ability to respond quickly, it’s hard to scale.

The challenge is that the processes exist for a reason and mistakes can be costly. Especially if a recruiter misrepresents a role or a candidate.

Similarly, as recruiters are often targeted on the amount of outreach they do each day, manual processes can cause good recruiters to fail simply because they’re busy.

Fundamentally, there are only so many vacancies that one recruiter can manage, and so many conversations they can have. This can lead to frustration on an individual and business level because it leaves roles unworked and stalls growth.

Reducing the level of admin and manual processes allows everyone in the business to go faster which allows for more profitable business outcomes.

Business Process Automation (BPA) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) come in. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, such as CV screening, interview scheduling, and reference checks, CRM automation allows recruiters to give their time to high-value people-centric activities, such as candidate assessment and client relationship management, and reduce the workload of administrative tasks.

How can CRM automation help recruiters?

Manual processes are always at risk of errors. Mistakes get made and a certain margin for error is acceptable. But the busier we get or the more pressure we feel, the propensity for making mistakes increases. Between the many steps of the hiring process and the number of people involved, it’s all too easy to lose a CV, miss an email, or schedule an interview for the wrong time. Any of which could impact any deals that are in the works. Automated workflow systems ensure that recruitment processes follow standardised procedures, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring consistency across the organization.

CRM automation allows you to:
- CV screening – CRM automation systems can scan CVs and applications, extracting relevant information such as skills, experience, and qualifications. By using predefined criteria, these systems can filter out unqualified candidates, reducing the chance of human oversight or bias in the screening stage.
- Skill matching – Automated tools can compare the skills and qualifications of candidates with the job requirements. By analysing keywords and contextual information, these tools can identify the best matches, ensuring recruiters don’t overlook qualified candidates or mistakenly shortlist unsuitable ones.
- Updates – Automated communication tools can send personalised emails to candidates at different stages of the recruitment process, providing updates on their application status, next steps, and relevant information. This keeps candidates informed and reduces the likelihood of miscommunication or missed notifications, while also freeing up the recruiter to focus on what they do best.
- Document-gathering – Leveraging functionality in tools like Dynamics 365, you can enable checks at various stages in the recruitment flow. This will ensure documentation is received, the candidate has the required right to work, references and visas. You can add and track various types of compliance documentation checks such as proof of ID, visa status, qualifications, or certifications, ensuring nothing is missed.
Scaling with CRM Automation

Above all, CRM automation helps you do more with less. Growing your revenue doesn’t have to involve increasing your headcount when you’re freeing up your team by automating labour-intensive tasks. CRM automation enables you to handle larger volumes of applicants and applications giving you a segmented talent pool that is easy to access and utilise. Automation can help recruiters shortlist candidates efficiently, and manage multiple hiring pipelines simultaneously without sacrificing the quality of the candidates or the service.

To learn more about how CRM automation within Dynamics 365 can transform your recruitment consultancy, speak to a member of the team, today.

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June 12, 2023
7 Factors to Consider when Choosing a CRM Partner (Webinar Recording)

Are you looking to do a digital transformation? Implement a CRM? Automate your processes and optimise your business operations with technology?

Choosing the right partner to help you do this is essential. Treat it with the same respect and care as you would a friendship, relationship, or business partnership.

When it comes to choosing a CRM business partner, it’s essential to work with someone who understands your organisation’s culture, goals, and objectives. Technology can enable any task, but the right partner should prioritise understanding your business, not just selling you a product.

In this webinar, we’ll discuss some of the key factors that you should consider when selecting a CRM business partner, from their level of expertise and experience to their commitment to customer support.

June 8, 2023