Transforming a Finance Brokerage with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Challenge 1: Legacy software was inhibiting day-to-day tasks

The client was previously relying on an older version of Dynamics 365 alongside a suite of Word documents, spreadsheets, and other systems, together with a mix of paper-based processes.  This not only resulted in duplication of data but also made it increasingly difficult for employees to access information quickly and execute their day-to-day tasks efficiently.

Solution: Upgrade existing Microsoft Dynamics 365 system

We upgraded the client to a Dynamics 365 system to the latest version, with added customisations to suit the business’s current processes. This upgrade ensured that the client could access all their information quickly and easily, without having to search through multiple systems and spreadsheets. Additionally, as the system accurately reflects the way employees work, staff can perform their daily tasks more efficiently and ensure that the high level of customer service that the client provides, is not comprised.

Benefits:

• 360-degree overview of business data and operations
• Single truth of customer
• Ability to work from anywhere
• Increased productivity
• Improved efficiency

Challenge 2: Employees worked outside of the system in multiple spreadsheets and documents

As the previous system no longer supported the way employees worked, sales teams often worked outside of the solution in multiple spreadsheets and documents, developing workarounds that suited their processes. As a result, finding important data was laborious and relied heavily on individual knowledge. Management also lacked insight into the end-to-end sales process, which is essential for making informed decisions

Solution: Rearchitect the end-to-end sales process

As part of the implementation, we rearchitected the end-to-end sales process to accommodate specific requirements and fit around the way clients’ employees worked. Overall, this improved the way in which sales opportunities were managed, from gathering financial requirements, creating and submitting lender proposals, processing transactions, and more.

Benefits:

• Increased productivity
• Streamlined processes
• Improved efficiency

Challenge 3: Documentation generation was a manual and laborious task

As part of the sales process, there is are various documents that need generating and sending to clients. Previously, this was a manual and time-consuming administration task, that could be more efficient.

Solution: Implement a document generation tool

We implemented a documentation generation tool to replace the manual workload around lender proposal generation. This replaced the manual workload around lender proposal generation and allowed documents to be created quickly, efficiently, accurately and in a professional manner.

Benefits:

• Time saved on admin
• Ensure accuracy of documentation

Challenge 4: Managed lacked insight into the sales process

As mentioned in ‘Challenge 2’, management lacked important insight into the sales process and other areas of the business. This was due to the use of disparate systems, documents, spreadsheets and paper-based processes that were being used alongside the legacy Dynamics 365 system.

Solution: Centralise data in a cloud-based solution

By upgrading Dynamics 365 and aligning it with their current way of working, employees are now leveraging the solution and tracking all business information in an efficient, systemised way. Managers can now gain a full view of the end-to-end sales process, allowing them to make more strategic decisions, train staff more efficiently, identify trends, and forecast effectively. Through the system, the client can actively track the performance of lenders. This allows them to monitor and identify areas to drive and increase performance and provides tangible data to support negotiations.

Benefits:

• 360-degree view of all activities
• Make more informed decisions
• Improve forecasting

Challenge 5: Employee productivity was hindered due to manual communication between departments

Across the organisation, employees communicated manually between departments. With a growing team, this was becoming unmanageable and hindered productivity.

Solution: Automate manual processes

To improve operational efficiency and the flow between departments, multiple processes were automated. To assist with this goal, department-specific apps were developed to give each team access to what they needed. This eliminated both the need for manual communication and time spent searching for data.

Benefits:

• Improved the flow of communication between departments
• Increased productivity
• Streamlined processes
• Easy access to data

Challenge 6: Concerns around whether the previous system could cope with significant business growth

In the last few years, the client has grown significantly and has plans to continue this growth into 2022 and beyond. As the previous system was no longer fit-for-purpose, concerns arose whether the system would be able to come with the significant increase in business activity, potentially hindering future plans.

Solution: Upgrade Dynamics 365; a stable platform to build on in the future

Dynamics 365 is fully customisable and scalable, meaning that the solution is designed to suit your specific business needs and extra functionality, or applications can be added as and when needed. Additionally, as part of the Microsoft eco-system, twice-yearly ‘wave’ updates are rolled out alongside incremental updates, to ensure your system is always up to date and working on the latest features. For the client, we were able to implement a solution that provides a stable platform to build on in the future, as the business continues to scale and requirements change.

Benefits:

• Future-proof system
• Regular technology updates
• A solution that fits around how the client works, rather than changing processes to fit a rigid solution

Our comments on the project…