By Thomas Gudman
The world of business – and society at large is being transformed by dominant and disruptive trends that are deeply influencing our lives, both at work and at home—most notably, the rise of cloud computing, the proliferation of mobile devices (BYOD), enterprise social, the rise of touch computing and big data analytics.
More than ever, modern software that enables a business to be dynamic and capture business intelligence to identify opportunity and risk in rapidly shifting conditions is essential for true success.
When I talk to customers and business partners about these trends and rapid pace of changes, nowhere is this more evident than in the customer relationships space.
Growing market share…
In Australia, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) sector is an active, growing market across businesses of all sizes. Overall, the CRM software market according to IDC, is expected to grow around 4.2 per cent in 2013.
I am seeing a lot of Australian businesses invest in CRM, and at level that is higher than ever before. This level of investment in CRM for business success is very exciting to me. We see it every day and we continue to consistently outpace the market growth.
The growth we are experiencing is across all organisational sizes. Customers are increasingly seeking to leverage the innovative technologies from Microsoft, to transform their business. And this is the keystone in our growth: We are growing our market share, because we are in the business of transformation. We want to help our customers on the journey of transformation and enable them to use the modern technologies to connect people, reach new markets, and increase their productivity.
Customers betting big on Microsoft Dynamics CRM…
One of the favourite parts of my job is to ’stop, look and listen’ to our customers: I want to hear first-hand what their experiences are so that Microsoft can continue to service their evolving needs as well as to help them embrace and respond to the bigger forces that are shaping the world.
To give you more insight on this, it gives me great pleasure to share some customer stories with you from Colliers International, Metricon Homes and Servcorp.
Servcorp Gets Connected With Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Servcorp, the world’s leading provider of Serviced and Virtual offices, is a great example of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (“CRMOL”) has helped their employees be more productive by enabling greater collaboration and streamlining of processes. Their CRM deployment is the first part of multi-year modernisation program for the company.
In making its choice, Servcorp evaluated two other vendors from the Gartner Magic Quadrant but made the decision to adopt Microsoft Dynamics CRMOL as it felt is the first part of a multi-year modernisation program to ensure that our business processes and information systems are current and continue to be a strong source of competitive advantage,” said Matthew Baumgartner CIO, Servcorp. “A key reason in our strategic decision to adopt the Microsoft business solution was the ability to build and customise the platform to fit our specific needs.”
Colliers International Drives Better Customer Insight with Microsoft Dynamics
Colliers International has consolidated its customer information into a single system through its implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. The implementation delivers on the company’s customer engagement strategy to improve client conversions and the ability to target the right information and initiatives at the company’s existing and growing customer base.
“Through a culture of service excellence, we empower our teams to partner with clients, to listen to their unique business needs and design an integrated service offering, and technology is a key enabler,” said David Coorey, General Manager, Information Technology, Colliers International. “In property, efficiency gains are a paramount objective, so the quicker we can supply our customers with essential data, the greater the opportunity to negotiate a deal for our clients,”
Metricon Homes Finds Competitive Edge with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
With the real estate industry traditionally lagging behind other industries in technology usage, Metricon Homes wanted to sharpen its competitive edge by being a frontrunner in professionalising its business processes and increasing its market share across Australia.
The company found its fast-expanding customer base, in a market where a typical sales cycle can lasts between six to nine months, coupled with a lack of customer, was impeding its marketing efforts. Metricon knew it needed a customer-centric platform to centralise its leads database and enhance its customer experience. The exponential increase in queries through Metricon’s website and call canter drove the company to look at a CRM system to effectively handle customer interests and streamline its sales processes throughout the long sales cycle.
“Microsoft Dynamics CRM was chosen for its good fit with our existing technology architecture and ability to easily configure data capture forms, workflows and business intelligence information,” said Mr Orsolic, Chief Information Officer, Metricon Homes Pty Ltd. “As we grow rapidly from a mid-sized company to an enterprise, efficiency is key to ensure that we can sustain this growth while remaining competitive.”
Looking ahead
I am very excited about closing off this financial year knowing we have helped customers change their business, and I am already looking forward to how we can help more customers transform their business in FY14. I feel as a company we are in a strong position to help our customers in Australia navigate the trends and changes in the marketplace and build a strong foundation for the future based on technologies they trust and can scale with their shifting needs and market conditions.
