The Implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM - Essay Example

Introduction The report is written to meet the requirements of ITEC N339 for Relationship Management. The purpose of this report is to highlight the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM software in a sustainable way. This stage prepares us to portray, in a concise and effective manner, the main points of the project. First of all, this project covers business solutions that Microsoft Dynamics software provides. The marketing information that CRM collects and how it is used in marketing campaigns will be discussed in this report. The report then moves onto how our chosen CRM helps to analyse the effectiveness of our company’s marketing campaigns. Finally sustainable benefits of our CRM software will be highlighted. Our business Virella Marketing is a Business Process Outsourcing company (BPO) which has currently undertaken a huge project from Sky Broadcasting Ltd in UAE. The main aim of the business is to sell Sky broadband connection and Sky Television channels to customers in various countries including U.A.E. CRM is an integral part of any BPO (Bagad, 76). Hence, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is extremely important in tracking the company’s marketing campaigns and also designing new ones. Business Solutions Microsoft Dynamics is a financial, customer relationship and a supply chain management solution that helps businesses work more effectively. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire business (Luszczak, 24). Sales One of the business solutions Microsoft Dynamics provides is improvement in sales planning and management. It will help Virella Marketing in setting up territories and teams and result in the company achieving organizational efficiency. The software creates price lists, discounts and unit groups and results in streamlining of offer management. Role-based and group-based permissions can be created to help the Virella Marketing in easy information distribution as is illustrated by the Figure 1 given below. Streamlining of data For Virella Marketing, automation of the lead system is very important. Microsoft Dynamics will lead to better coordination by tracking leads into one centralized system. The CRM software also automatically associates email messages with the leads and opportunities. Virella Marketing shall make full use of the segmentation feature of the software which segments the existing customer base to identify new leads. An illustration (Figure 2) is given below: Figure 2 Opportunities Management Microsoft Dynamics is also extremely useful when it comes to effective management of opportunities. It shall help in faster closing of deals due to centrally tracking key deal information. It makes provisions for effective team selling with team based ownership. Virella Marketing will be able to create and monitor customized offers. Due to the software’s embedded document management capabilities, better identification and leveraging of extended relationships can occur in the sales process. The software will also track generated revenue with out-of-box order and invoice tracking as shown in (Fig 3). (Figure 3) Collecting Marketing Data Market Segmentation Microsoft Dynamics is a software solution which is very helpful for collection of marketing data. It can segment customers into segments based on natural-language queries. Virella Marketing, being a BPO, will get queries from people of various backgrounds; this segmentation will certainly prove to be very helpful (Click, 241). A highly targeted list can be prepared and associated with campaigns. These target lists can easily be shared with colleagues and vendors. Virella Marketing can also export these lists into multiple formats for bulk or direct-mail communications. Figure 4 Campaign success A second marketing function the software performs is streamlining campaign planning. It helps in planning and tracking activities, tasks, budgets and details for each marketing activity (Steger, 15). Virella Marketing shall set up product catalogues, price lists and discounts for optimal offers. The company shall also tailor messages and offers to highly targeted lists of customers around the world. Internet landing page for campaigns can also be created without any coding. Marketing plans can easily be created with embedded document management capabilities as illustrated by the picture below. Figure 5 Data Management A third marketing function the software accomplishes is efficient management of data. Virella Marketing’s operations generate huge amount of data. It also needs enormous amount of data to be fed into the system. Microsoft Dynamics can import all that data from other sources. It has features like confirming data input status with automatic e-mail notification. Virella Marketing also cleanses its data to eliminate duplication and decrease the company’s cost per engagement (CPE). Figure 6 Calculating Marketing effectiveness Data Visualization Microsoft Dynamics helps in analyzing the effectiveness of a company’s marketing campaign (Paulen, 224). It provides key performance indicators (KPIs) which can assist in calculating marketing success. Virella Marketing can gain business insight with dashboards and inline data visualization and it can also track key campaign indicators with built-in reports. The software also provides robust data cubes for trending analysis as shown below. Picture 7 Global reach The software is not only built for office use but also mobile use. It can be accessed anywhere through a web enabled device. Marketing campaigns can be created or monitored even while being on a flight. Virella Marketing’s key marketing metrics could be tracked with the software’s feature of rich offline reporting. Sustainability of the Software Energy saving The Microsoft Dynamics CRM software is not only efficient but also sustainable (Springer, 250). With its unique features, companies can gather auditable data on four of the core environmental performance indicators. These indicators are identified by the Global Reporting Initiative for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, including direct on-premise fuel consumption and the carbon footprint of their power usage with utilities and other vendors (Robertson, 432). Based on this information, organizations can monitor their carbon footprint and institute business practices that are both environmentally and economically sustainable, minimizing their exposure to fluctuating energy costs, for example. Microsoft Dynamics- AX Transparency The dashboard not only improves business operations, but it also allows organizations to comply with the emerging regulatory environment and satisfy demands from customers and supply chain partners for greater transparency. As highlighted above the software monitors the company’s fuel consumption and gas emissions. This is a very vital feature of its sustainability. The software increases interdepartmental communication efficiency and hence reduces usage of paper. Much of the work is accomplished by the software without the usage of paper which adds to the sustainability of the software. Reduction in paper consumption Microsoft Dynamics software will drastically reduce the paper consumption for Virella Marketing. Increase in paper consumption throughout the world a major cause of concern for environmental sustainability (Lamberg, 14). Microsoft dynamics addresses this problem by reducing Virella Marketing’s’ over-dependence on paper. Works Cited CIMA Official Learning System Financial Management. New York: Butterwoth-Heinemann, 2009. Print. Luszczak, A. Using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. New York: Vieweg, 2009. Print. Click, R. Business Process Outsourcing: The Competitive Advantage. New York: John Wiley And Sons, 2004. Print. Paulen, B. Pro SQL Server 2008 Aanalytics: Delivering Sales and Marketing Dashboards. New York: Apress, 2009. Print. Springer, B. Information Technologies in Environmental Engineering: New Trends and Challenges. New York: Springer, 2011. Print. Bagad, V. Management Information Systems. New Delhi: Technical Publications, 2009. Print Landers et al, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Step by Step. New York: O’Reilly Media, 2009. Print. Lamberg, J. The Evolution of Competitve Strategies in Global Forestry Industries. New York Springer Science & Business, 2006. Print. Read More