Category: Uncategorized

When ERP and CRM systems are separate, data often needs to be entered manually into both systems. This leads to the risk of data duplication and inaccuracies. Mistakes can happen during data entry, leading to inconsistencies that can cause confusion and errors in financial reporting, customer interactions, and decision-making. 

Without integration, the finance team might not have real-time access to customer-related data, and the sales or customer service teams might lack current financial information. This can result in delayed responses, uninformed customer interactions, and missed business opportunities. 

QGate are proud to announce that we’re inviting Microsoft Business Central specialists, Dynamics Consultants (www.d-c.co.uk) to share their experiences and the benefits of integrating your ERP + finance solution with your CRM. 

Stuart Hardman is an experienced Dynamics Consultant having worked with Microsoft Dynamics Navision, NAV and Business Central for over 20 years, 18 of those as a lead consultant on numerous projects with various Microsoft Dynamics partners. 

cf He also has experience working and implementing solutions with major companies and groups in retail, distribution, and service management, as well as smaller companies looking to implement their first integrated ERP solution. In early 2020 Stuart took up his new role as Commercial Manager responsible for products and partnerships at Dynamics Consultants.

”Humans are hard-wired to dream, to create, to innovate. Each of us seeks to do work that gives us purpose — to write a great novel, to make a discovery, to build strong communities, to care for the sick. The urge to connect to the core of our work lives in all of us. But today, we spend too much time consumed by the drudgery of work on tasks that zap our time, creativity and energy. To reconnect to the soul of our work, we don’t just need a better way of doing the same things. We need a whole new way to work.” – Microsoft

AI is no longer exclusive to large enterprises; it has the power to transform small to medium-sized businesses worldwide, unleashing practical implications for growth, efficiency, and innovation.

Join us for an exclusive webinar on Microsoft Copilot, the revolutionary AI-powered assistant. Discover how Copilot can supercharge your employee efficiency, increase productivity, and allow your people to learn and implement new skills, quickly.

Learn about its key benefits, real-world use cases, and practical implementations. Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock the power of AI and take your business to new heights.

In this webinar, we will address the challenges faced by businesses working with disconnected solutions, which lack visibility into marketing activities, and experiencing a gap in understanding of what truly converts. 

By implementing a solution that brings everyone onto a single platform, our experts will guide you through seamlessly combining your CRM and marketing efforts, eliminating data silos and streamlining your processes. 

Agenda: 

Challenges 

Sales and Marketing working in siloed solutions 

Not having visibility on marketing activity 

Marketing not understanding what converts into prospects and leads 

Create Single solution so everyone is on one platform 

Mapping emails, forms etc. back to contact/lead record in CRM 

Automate marketing journeys 

Outcomes 

Full visibility of the overall marketing activity 

Saving time on duplication of work and efforts 

Consistently updating CRM data from marketing efforts

Are you looking to start a digital transformation project? Implement a CRM? Automate your processes and optimise your business operations with technology? Well, 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 vital 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. Here, 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.

1. They look to understand your business

They focus on understanding your organisation and how it ticks. They want to know its culture, goals, operations, customers, competitors, and difficulties. Technology can do anything you ask of it and should be treated as the enabler – not what sets the direction.

Understanding your business and its objectives, critical activities, pain points, wish lists, future goals and aspirations is essential to saving time and budget – but most importantly in creating great user and client experience. Your business should shape the technology, the technology should not shape your business. Consider it more of a merge than system or business taking precedence, do not let your partner shape your system to their limitations in ability with the technology.

2. They ask ‘why’ a lot

During the discovery, scoping, building, and support stages, they should always be asking WHY you want to do something. This is not to challenge to your abilities or decision, but to seek to understand ‘why’ will enable them to use their experience to offer top guidance on an approach and budget. You may also find that why something is needed could also be “that’s the way it is”, and “because that’s the way we have always done it”, and now with technology there is a better way or it is no longer needed.

With every step of your process, you need to ensure that something like QGate’s process methodology is applied. Can a step be removed? Can it be automated? Can it be made to be easily repeatable? You can only answer these if you are asked ‘why’ something happens that way. They keep asking you ‘why’ and challenging the reasoning to help change happen.

3. They prioritise their customer support and aftersales

When clients have provided positive feedback regarding the exceptional support they have received long after the completion of their projects, you are on the right track. Implementing a CRM is an investment in the future and it is essential to support, maintain and continually improve it with a partner who wants to do the same.

A CRM business partner who emphasises the importance of aftercare is committed to the long term relationship and is determined to make sure that both parties benefit from the partnership, and are not out to make a quick buck in building your system.

4. Their own business is in order

It would be unwise to accept guidance and counsel from an organisation that is not managing its own business properly. Currently, the economic world is challenging for SMEs, and its unfortunate that many businesses will not survive the economic and social challenges we are all facing. Ensure your partner will still be around in years to come – financially and culturally.

5. They have expertise and experience in multiple services

What I’m talking about here is that your partner is an expert at building, licensing and supporting systems. Even the biggest partners cannot be an expert in every possible technology and product on offer, but they can be in how they provision that offer, and what their process is when they are unable to deliver or support. The cheapest initial service provider can’t necessarily support you longer term, particularly if they are an individual contractor or similar.

6. They are curious about the latest technology and skills

Technology is moving so fast in every sector, and it’s a huge job to keep up-to-date and aware of what’s coming, as well as the strategic impact of these developments and how that can affect you.

Our QGate Intelligence program is focused on leveraging the cutting-edge concepts in the market and using them to drive our business forward, building a secure economic and cultural foundation to facilitate further growth and expansion.

We offer these cutting-edge concepts to our clients at an affordable cost, tried and tested by us so we can all succeed.

7. Their contracts do not prevent you from using any part of your system development if you were to part company

It happens in the business world, whether it be due to change in leadership, change in direction or simply looking to reduce costs. At some point you may want to depart from the relationship with your provider. Statements of Work and Term and conditions can be challenging to read, let alone understand, but invest the time in finding out who owns what you are building and how that is provisioned if you were to decide to go your separate ways. We have seen this underhand approach catch out potential clients too many times and is a sad reality of the software services world for some.

Selecting a CRM business partner is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your business’s success. A good partner will prioritize understanding your organization’s objectives and work to build a system that aligns with your goals. They will ask ‘why’ and challenge your reasoning to drive positive change, prioritise customer support and after-sales care, and keep their own business in order. When choosing a CRM business partner, it’s crucial to find a partner who has expertise in multiple services, stays up to date with the latest technology and skills, and does not have contracts that prevent you from using any part of your system development if you choose to part ways. By following these guidelines, you can find a CRM business partner that will support your organisation’s success and growth. If QGate sounds like the ideal CRM partner for your company, contact us – we’d love to chat. 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a powerful sales, marketing and customer service tool as well as a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrates with a variety of other applications to streamline business processes and improve efficiency.

How does Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrate with other applications?

One of the main ways Dynamics 365 integrates with other applications is through the use of connectors. These connectors allow Dynamics 365 to communicate with other systems, such as accounting software, marketing automation tools, and e-commerce platforms. By using connectors, businesses can easily transfer data between Dynamics 365 and other systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors.

Also, Dynamics 365 integrates with other applications through APIs. APIs, or application programming interfaces, allow third-party developers to access and use the functionality of Dynamics 365. This allows businesses to customise their Dynamics 365 implementation to meet their specific needs and integrate it with other systems they use.

What other Microsoft applications can Dynamics 365 integrate with?

Integration is possible internally, not just with third-party apps. It can integrate with Microsoft’s own Power Platform, which includes Power Automate, Power Apps and Power BI. Power Automate can automate repetitive tasks and integrate Dynamics 365 with other apps and services, Power Apps can be used to create custom apps to run on the Dynamics 365 platform, and Power BI can be used to create interactive data visualisations and reports.

Dynamics 365 integration also works with Office 365 and SharePoint (both Microsoft programs) – allowing users to access Dynamics 365 data from within the Office apps they are already using. This integration allows for seamless collaboration and data sharing across teams and helps improve productivity.

How can different industries integrate their Dynamics 365 to get the most out of their CRM? 

There are a variety of industries that can benefit from Dynamics 365 integration with third-party applications. Some examples include:

There are a variety of industries that can benefit from integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 with third-party applications. Some examples include:

• Professional Services: Dynamics 365 can integrate with customer service and support systems, such as Zendesk, to manage customer interactions, track support tickets, and analyse customer satisfaction.
• Manufacturing: Dynamics 365 can integrate with manufacturing execution systems (MES) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to manage production processes, track inventory levels, and schedule production.
• Financial Services: Dynamics 365 can integrate with accounting software, such as QuickBooks or Xero, to manage financial data, track expenses, and generate financial reports.
• Non-profit: Dynamics 365 can integrate with fundraising and donor management systems to track donations, manage volunteer information and manage events.
• IT Services: Dynamics 365 can integrate with security and identity management tools, backup and disaster recovery solutions, as well as helpdesk and IT service management tools.
• Education and Learning: Dynamics 365 can integrate with learning management systems (LMS), learning analytics and assessment tools, content creation and sharing platforms as well as accessibility and assistive technology tools. 

Any industry that requires the management of customer or business data, automated processes and gaining insights from the data can benefit from Dynamics 365 integration. 

These are just the basics of integration with Dynamics 365. There are endless possibilities for customised CRM systems with the apps that you need for your business. If you’re considering integrating other programmes with your Dynamics 365, and don’t know where to start – or simply have any questions, contact us – we’d love to chat. 

Are you curious about the role of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives? Have you ever wondered why AI is such a hot topic right now? Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming a major part of our lives, and it’s important to understand what it is and why it matters.

 

What is Artificial Intelligence?

At its core, artificial intelligence (AI) is the concept of computers performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. This includes tasks such as learning, problem-solving, decision-making, and more. AI is a broad and complicated field, and it has grown rapidly in recent years. This growth is due to advances in computer hardware, software, and data science.

 

AI can be divided into two main categories: weak AI and strong AI. Weak AI is also known as narrow AI, and it is designed to perform specific tasks. Strong AI, on the other hand, is designed to mimic human intelligence and is often referred to as artificial general intelligence (AGI).

 

What is AI used for?

It’s obvious that AI is something that is beneficial to companies and individuals, but what is Artificial Intelligence used for?

 

While it has a wide range of applications, one of the most popular uses of AI is within the field of robotics. Robots are used for a variety of tasks, from manufacturing to customer service. In addition, AI is used in facial recognition technology, autonomous vehicles, natural language processing (NLP), and more.

It’s important to note that AI is not a single technology; instead, it is an umbrella term for a range of technologies and techniques. These techniques include machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing (NLP), and more.

 

It is also used in various fields of research. For example, AI is used to analyse large amounts of data and make predictions about the future. This is especially useful in fields such as healthcare, finance, and weather forecasting. AI can also be used to automate tasks, such as customer service and data analysis.

 

 

AI is also used in the field of gaming, where it is used to create virtual opponents that are able to respond to the player’s actions. This technology is also used in the creation of video games, as well as in the development of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences.

 

Benefits of Artificial Intelligence

Using AI has numerous benefits, from improving efficiency to saving time and money. AI can help businesses automate mundane tasks, as well as gaining insights from data and make better decisions.

 

 

AI can also be used to provide personalised customer experiences. By analysing customer data, businesses can create tailored experiences for customers and provide them with the products and services they need. It can also be used to identify customer needs and preferences, allowing businesses to better serve their customers.

 

 

AI can also be used to improve security. It can identify and respond to potential threats quickly, allowing businesses to protect their data and networks. AI can also be used to identify fraud and suspicious activity, helping businesses protect their customers and assets.

 

The Growing Popularity of Artificial Intelligence

Why is AI important? In recent years, the popularity of AI has grown exponentially, which can be attributed to advances in computer hardware, software, and data science. As AI technology becomes more accessible and affordable, businesses are increasingly turning to AI to automate tasks and gain insights from data.

The growing popularity of AI has also been driven by the availability of massive amounts of data. This data can be used to train AI models and improve their accuracy. As AI technology continues to advance, more businesses are starting to explore the possibilities of AI, from automation to predictive analytics.

 

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning (ML) are closely related technologies. Machine learning is a subset of AI, and it is used to create models that can learn from data. ML models are trained on data sets, which can be used to create predictions and recommendations. This is especially useful for businesses, as ML models can be used to identify customer needs and preferences, recommend products, and more.

In addition, ML can be used to automate tasks such as data analysis, customer service, and fraud detection. By leveraging ML models, businesses can save time and money, as well as improve efficiency.

 

 

AI is quickly becoming a large part of our lives, and it’s important to understand what it is and why it matters. AI is used for a wide range of applications, from healthcare to finance, and it can be used to automate tasks, analyse data, and improve security. AI is also used in the development of robotics, facial recognition technology, autonomous vehicles, natural language processing (NLP), and more. The growing popularity of AI is due to advances in computer hardware, software, and data science, and it has numerous benefits, from improving efficiency to saving time and money.

 

 

If you’re looking to leverage the power of AI, it’s important to understand what it is and what it can do. By understanding AI and its applications, you can gain insights from data and create tailored experiences for your customers.

In today’s digital age, it’s more important than ever for businesses to stand out and connect with customers in meaningful ways. A successful CRM system can facilitate these efforts and make your company more productive, organised, and collaborative all at the same time. The word “CRM” stands for customer relationship management. It’s a type of business software that helps companies manage interactions with customers. These systems are widely used by businesses of all sizes, from small companies to multinational corporations.

What is a CRM System?

A CRM system is an integrated software programme that allows businesses to manage customer relationships. Such systems are designed to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction. There are six key elements of a CRM system:

1. Data Capture: A CRM system allows you to gather data on your customers and prospects, including their contact information, demographics, and purchasing history.
2. Data Organisation: keep your customer data organised and easily accessible, so that you can make smart decisions in real time based on this data.
3. Data Analysis: perform data analysis on your customers and their needs, so that you can make strategic decisions about your marketing and product offerings.
4. Data Sharing: share data with other departments in your organisation, such as sales, marketing, and customer service. This allows your employees to work from the same data set and stay on the same page.
5. Customer Engagement: easily engage with your customers through multiple channels, including emails, text messages, live chat, and social media, so that you can provide timely and personalised service.
6. Reporting and Analytics: track your performance and make data-driven decisions. A good CRM system will allow you to easily access reports and analytics from a central dashboard.

Why is a Good CRM Important for your Business?

A CRM system can help your business in a variety of ways, including:

Improved Customer Experience: It can help you manage customer communications and ensure that all interactions are timely and personalised. This can help you reduce customer complaints and improve customer satisfaction.

More Customers: A CRM system can aid you in being more strategic about your marketing efforts, helping you to reach the right audience and make the right offer at the right time. This will allow you to get more customers in the door and make more sales.

Improved Efficiency: A CRM system can help you automate processes and make sure that everyone in your organisation is working from the same page, so that you can avoid costly mistakes and make better decisions.

Better Collaboration: CRM can help you break down silos in your organisation, allowing different departments to work from the same data set and collaborate more effectively.

Types of CRM Software

There are two types of CRM system: on-premises and cloud-based. With an on-premises CRM (or on-site CRM), you essentially buy and install the software on your company’s server. Instead of paying a vendor to host all your CRM information, you store it on your own server, which requires a license.  A cloud-based CRM, also known as SaaS CRM (software as a service) is CRM software that is hosted on the CRM provider’s server, and accessible by its customers over the internet. Both types of CRM have different pros and cons to consider, depending on your business type, your company goals and your budget – however cloud hosted CRMs are far more common, are becoming the norm, and can be substantially cheaper to operate than an on-prem solution.

How to choose the Right CRM for your Business

If you’re in the process of evaluating CRM systems, you need to take some key factors into consideration first. The first is your Business Goals: understanding your business goals is the first step toward choosing a CRM system that will help you achieve them. If you want to grow your customer base, you’ll want to find a CRM system that helps you reach new customers. If you want to increase your customer retention rate, you’ll want a CRM system that allows you to better engage with your existing customer base. The next is Customer Segments: you should also consider the different types of customers that you want to reach. If you are targeting different types of customers, you’ll want to find a CRM that allows you to track and manage each segment separately. Thirdly, your Team’s Skill Sets: you should also think about the skill sets of your team members. If some members are more tech-savvy than others, you’ll want a CRM system that is user-friendly and easy to learn. And finally, Pricing: consider your budget. There are many different CRM systems on the market, and they come with different price tags. You should be able to find a CRM system that meets your needs and fits within your budget.

A CRM system can help your business in a variety of ways, including by improving customer experience, getting more customers, improving efficiency, and better collaboration. There are many different types of CRM systems, and you should choose one that fits your business goals, customer segments, skill sets, and pricing.

If you find yourself drowning in spreadsheets and are ready to digitally transform your business or have any questions around CRM – we’d be delighted to hear from you. Click here to contact us.