The Client
A lighting and energy consulting company that specializes in servicing storefronts with high-efficiency technology. These systems are designed to help businesses save money on the cost of utilities.
The Challenge
More than anything else, this client struggled with visibility, in terms of data collection, tracking expenses, and cataloging various work orders. For several years, it had primarily relied on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for tracking data and changing it whenever necessary. This created time management problems and issues with accuracy.
The company also ran into difficulties related to reporting and tracking some of their supply chain and inventory management processes. For example, many of its products were delivered by drop shipping. In this situation, the client would order directly from the vendor and drop ship from there, but its purchase tracking methodology made knowing which purchase orders had been shipped and which ones hadn’t difficult to follow. That led to its own time management and efficiency issues.
The Solution
The TM Group recommended a personalized Microsoft Dynamics 365 customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. For reporting, TMG recommended Microsoft Power BI. Having been released more than nine years ago, Microsoft Power BI is now an industry leading solution for business analytics because it helps users perform a deep dive into their data to gain greater insight.
A lot of this client’s challenges as it pertained to reporting on drop shipment were resolved through Power BI. This was done by increasing visibility into when purchase orders were shipped so the client could get invoices out to customers on time. This helped with cash flow and made reporting faster and more streamlined.
The two Microsoft solutions we personalized for the client were Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement (CRM). The CRM solution is ideal for tracking leads. This client wanted a single point of entry when accessing and inputting data on potential customers. By integrating CRM with BC, it was able to enter contact information on leads, which could then be pushed over to BC once the leads became actual customers. Prior to the integration, the client had to type in the contact details more than once, first for lead tracking, then again for customer tracking. Data entry and visibility were improved dramatically with CRM and BC functioning as a unit.
Another aspect of business management this company was able to improve was in terms of profitability. The manual processes it was using before through Microsoft Excel made financial reporting more complicated than it needed to be and more at risk for errors. BC and CRM dramatically enhanced financial visibility by allowing the organization to create their own customized dashboards to track particulars like cash flow, cash cycle, and revenue forecasting. Additionally, Microsoft Power BI further enhanced financial reporting and metrics.
Before the implementation, this client was relying on a very ad-hoc, undefined strategy for data entry and reporting, using outdated software and inefficient workflows that were tedious, time-consuming, and confusing. TM Group set the firm up with a common business process and platform that was uniform.
Users had been going about accounting and reporting in a haphazard fashion that was unsustainable. Because it had been this way for so long, recommended workflows had to be reconfigured several times before arriving at the correct solution. This speaks to The TM Group’s commitment to ensuring the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Customer Engagement based solution is designed with the company’s reporting and tracking needs top of mind.
From field service to family office management, professional services to foundations, manufacturers and member associations, The TM Group has performed well over 1,000 implementations and helped hundreds of companies do more with their data by installing a personalized Microsoft Dynamics solution. We have the knowledge, energy, and experience to give your company the system tools and capabilities you need to become more efficient, more productive, and potentially more profitable. Contact us today to learn more.
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DePiy13ngA
https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/business-central/accountants/