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Danos

Danos uses the xRM customization capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to optimize their sales productivity, streamline processes, and ensure customer satisfaction.

Challenge
Danos needed a customizable CRM solution that would adapt to their unique business processes, provide a centralized database, boost sales productivity, and streamline processes.
Solution
Microsoft Dynamics CRM and HCLTech PowerPack Add-ons
Key Benefits
Danos uses the xRM customization capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to optimize their sales productivity, streamline processes, and ensure customer satisfaction

Challenge

Danos was utilizing a very basic system that lacked any reporting functionality. The system could not export data into Excel, and the team was unable to run metrics or create charts and graphs—requiring them to look through hard data. This system created inefficiencies within the organization and without the ability to easily view and track data, employees had to spend a lot of time digging for the information they needed.

Overall, Danos needed a CRM solution that would:

  • Consolidate data and make it easier to search, view, and run reports
  • Improve sales productivity by automating and streamlining processes
  • Have the flexibility for easy customizations and integrations
  • Provide a familiar look and feel with an intuitive user interface to improve user adoption

Solution

The team at Danos realized they needed a CRM solution and started researching potential solutions. The Danos IT department narrowed their choices down to two options: Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.com. “We chose Dynamics CRM over Salesforce.com and the main reason was because of the team’s familiarity with Microsoft products. During the decision process, we found HCLTech and the fact that they could host our CRM on their servers and provide us with customer support was a major factor in our decision. We had very limited IT resources at the time, and we needed a third party to take care of it for us—HCLTech was the partner we needed,” says Melanie Toups, Business Analyst at Danos.

Another big decision came up for Danos last year when they decided whether they would upgrade to the next version of Dynamics CRM or take the opportunity to switch to a different solution. “When the topic came up, it came down to Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.com once again. We looked at both options and although both solutions had functionality we could use in our organization, the customization capabilities and the customer support that we received from HCLTech really convinced us to stick with Dynamics CRM and upgrade to the next version,” says Toups.


Key Benefits

With HCLTech as their Dynamics CRM partner, Danos can now request customizations and quickly receive support for their system. With their previous system, the organization had to rely on their IT department for any database support. “We had to get in line if there was an issue because we only had two IT resources and they weren’t experienced in database administration. We rarely made any customizations to the system because it took too much time and no one had the time or energy to deal with it. We had to rely on using what came out of the box. Now we have HCLTech who can suggest solutions for us, solve issues, or help with customizations. Instead of having to wait, we can put in a support ticket and get it resolved within a couple days. This also saves us money since having a partner to work with is a lot cheaper than hiring an internal resource strictly focused on CRM,” says Toups.

Danos primarily uses Dynamics CRM for sales and marketing. The organization tracks all customer data and opportunities in CRM, utilizes the sales pipeline, and creates customized dashboards for their sales representatives to track their goals in real time. “From the beginning of our sales process to the handover of projects, we use CRM. We have opportunity reports that are scheduled to be emailed once a week and we use workflows a lot to streamline our processes and save time,” says Toups. Danos has also started using the case function in Dynamics CRM to track their customer feedback. “We’re using the case feature in a different way—but its working out very well for us. If we have customer comment, complaint, or recognition we open a case for it,” adds Toups.

Danos also utilizes HCLTech’s PowerPack add-ons to extend the functionality of their Dynamics CRM system. “All of our users use PowerOneView and PowerGlobalSearch on a regular basis. We also use PowerSurvey and PowerMailChimp as a part of tracking customer satisfaction in Dynamics CRM.”

“We are in the process of becoming ISO9000 certified and in order to do that, we must have documented improvement of our customer satisfaction and feedback. With CRM we can now breeze straight though those requirements to get the certification. PowerSurvey and PowerMailChimp have completely revolutionized the way we track our customer survey data. Because they are integrated with CRM, it’s now a lot easier for us to track customer satisfaction,” adds Toups, “We are at the point where we are doing all of our customer surveys within Dynamics CRM and because of that we have been able to increase our response rates. It has streamlined the entire process and the add-ons have made it that much more powerful.”

As a part of the Microsoft stack, Dynamics CRM’s familiar look and feel and intuitive user interface helped the team at Danos with user adoption. “The flexibility and ease of use of Dynamics CRM really improved the way we operate at Danos. When we first implemented Dynamics CRM, we began with a data dump and immediately we could see everything in a much more organized way. It would be impossible for our sales organization to be where we are today if we had kept our previous system.”

The team at Danos has been able to tailor their Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution to fit their business needs by using its extensive xRM capabilities. “I really like the fact that it’s easy to make customizations in Dynamics CRM as I go. There is a lot we can do with Dynamics CRM and we have found ways that it can adapt to the way we run things—we’re trying to utilize it as much as possible throughout our organization,” says Toups.

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM and HCLTech as their partner to provide CRM support, Danos has a scalable solution that adapts to their unique business processes, provides a centralized database, boosts sales productivity, and streamlines processes.


The flexibility and ease of use of Dynamics CRM really improved the way we operate at Danos. When we first implemented Dynamics CRM, we began with a data dump and immediately we could see everything in a much more organized way. It would be impossible for our sales organization to be where we are today if we had kept our previous system.

Melanie Toups Business Analyst, Danos