By Desmond Nair, Business Applications Lead, Microsoft Canada
COVID-19 has spurred an unparalleled degree of business innovation around the globe. In an increasingly connected world, many organizations have pivoted their operations by taking services online to adapt to current conditions and strengthen business resiliency.
The adoption of digital infrastructure and integrated solutions has become a requisite for Canadian organizations – and for many, this crisis truly demonstrated that legacy systems no longer cut it. To thrive in the innovation economy, you need a connected cloud that allows applications to work seamlessly together for a 360-degree view of your organization, offering real-time insights that bring better business results. With the integrated solutions of Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, we offer trusted, extensible cloud solutions that are fast to deploy, with industry-leading AI infused. Now more than ever, we can support business decision makers to meet the demands of today and build a strong foundation for the future.
Before this current crisis, many of our customers adopted our solutions to fuel their transformations, so when the world went into lockdown, these same organizations were able to use this technology to help pivot their operations and accelerate their journey. One incredible example is canfitpro. As the largest provider of education in the Canadian fitness industry, canfitpro was tasked with transitioning its live, in-person training and certifications to virtual education.
With a legacy CRM system that impeded the company’s growth opportunity and services, canfitpro made the decision to upgrade its system to Dynamics 365 because of the exceptional user experience, robustness, and ability to seamlessly integrate with its existing Microsoft 365 and Azure ecosystems. Working with CRM Dynamics, a valued Microsoft partner, Dynamics 365 Sales & Customer Service was implemented in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit. With this digital infrastructure in place, canfitpro was able to pivot quickly and rapidly develop new, virtual programming within a matter of weeks.
The benefits of the new system are far reaching and will continue to drive business value, even when COVID-19 is in the rear-view mirror. canfitpro’s IT team is now able to shift their focus from maintaining their CRM system, to focusing on the business through actionable insights from data analytics. This includes greater collaboration with the Marketing team on developing new initiatives and strategies for member offerings, as well as shrinking the delivery window when customers purchase products and services from 48-72 hours to immediately. And, with consolidated data, the company has a 360-degree view of customers and their journey to inform outreach and drive impact.
While the COVID-19 pandemic forced an accelerated digital transformation for many Canadian businesses, the innovations put in place today will bolster business resiliency and will better position these organizations for the future. The old ways of doing things no longer suffice. Investing in the right technology and constantly innovating will help organizations stay ahead of disruption – either from competitors or unpredictable events like a global pandemic. To learn more about Dynamics 365 and Power Platforms and how these solutions can position your organization for future agility, please visit
https://dynamics.microsoft.com/ and https://powerapps.microsoft.com/
