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Corporate Magazine No. 23 > June 2012
CRM implementation
review
Customer satisfaction first of all ERP implementation
Flexible ERP system in the distribution sector The growing numer of customers of Dotpay SA required the implementation of a system allowing for their efficient servicing. The new system was principally to improve Dotpay’s customer satisfaction by ordering and improving the sales and complaint handling processes. MS Dynamics CRM meets these and several other requirements. [p. 3]
CD Projekt needed an ERP class system straight away. Furthermore, they expected it to be flexible, so that it could be adjusted to specific needs, and so efficient that it would bear processing of hundreds of thousands records per month. – – says Robert Wesołowski, Financial Director of CD [p. 6] Projekt.
AvePoint solutions
Management of SharePoint infrastructure Bonair SA has become an authorised partner of AvePoint Inc., one of the globally most important manufacturers of utility software
for security and complex management of Microsoft SharePoint infrastructure. [p. 2] next page >
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012
Ladies and Gentlemen, In April, we ended another financial year and summed up the results. Owing to you, we have recorded another year of growing turnover, and our achievements have been recognised i.a. by Puls Biznesu magazine. We have again found ourselves among noble group of „Gazela Biznesu” prize-winners – small and medium enterprises that have recorded profits and growing revenue for three consecutive years (this time in the period 2009-2010-2011). In this issue of our quarterly, you will find e.g. description of the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 system at CD Projekt – publisher of such well-known games as The Witcher and distributor of many games on the Polish market. The project required development and execution of the dedicated functionality to support distribution processes, such as e.g. interfaces for automatic document exchange with commercial chains and the logistic operator. In this issue, you will also find the description of the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Dotpay, which offers electronic payment services. The project is interesting, as it is unique on the Polish market, because it is executed in CRM online version, namely in the cloud.
Jan Szymanowski Wiceprezes Zarządu Bonair SA
It is also worth mentioning that our representatives, like every year, participated in many global Microsoft technological conferences, including the jubilee, twentieth TechEd 2012 conference in Orlando. Enjoy reading our quarterly.
Bonair as Polish partner of AvePoint Management and security of SharePoint platform AvePoint tools support operation of IT departments and administrators in institutions using developed environments of the SharePoint platform. Their application allows for significant increase in business productivity of the administrators, reduction of the total cost of operation (TCO) and maintenance of the corporate security policy, including access rights to all documents and data. AvePoint solutions are used by banks, including ING, Santander, Rabobank, UBS, Credit Suisse, Barclays, Lloyds, government authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as organisations such as NATO, FBI, CIA, NASA or Mosad. Security policy of large organisations, employing many employees, are supplemented by the products of Canadian company Titus, which we have on offer. Titus solutions are an important element of security policy of organisations such as banks and financial institutions, governmental institutions, uniformed services and manufacturing companies. They are successfully used by over 2 million users in over 100 countries, both in governmental structures, and in corporations and financial institutions. Titus solutions operate e.g. in NATO, many governmental agendas of the G8, including the USA, Australian
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Department of Defence and banks such as: UniCredit Bank or Splitska Banka in Croatia (Societe Generale Group). DocAve 6 Platform includes six sets of tools that carry out specific tasks in each of the six areas of application related to the Microsoft SharePoint platform:
•• •• ••
Migration Management Security Integration Optimisation Reporting
In total, DocAve 6 Platform comprises over thirty modules that can be purchased separately or in kits, depending on the needs. There are e.g. kits for particular sectors, the contents of which are strictly adjusted to specific needs. All the tools simplify and automate administrative tasks. We will be pleased to provide more information or present the solutions described here. Contact: info@bonair.pl, phone 22 549 65 50.
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012
Customer satisfaction first of all Implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Dotpay SA The growing number of customers of Dotpay SA required implementation of a system allowing for their efficient servicing. MS Dynamics CRM meets this and several other requirements of the Company.
ing customers registering in our service. We lacked a tool that would quickly make available complete information about customers and allow for effective use of the time to service them.
Dotpay SA offers online electronic payment services. Companies interested in cooperation send inquiries using a form on the website, which are directly imported using webservice. Also questions, comments and complaints from existing customers – companies and end users – are sent by e-mail or notified by phone.
Because the cases of our customers often require cooperation of many departments (e.g. Commercial, Customer Service, Technical), we looked for a solution that would allow for access to the necessary information about customers at one place, in a short time. This referred to information obtained during customer acquisition and later in the post-sales period.
Before the implementation of the CRM system, notices from customers were received at e-mail addresses. Mail boxes were operated by various employees. E-mails were not grouped by cases or type of inquiries, and because there were several hundred of them daily, finding an e-mail was not easy. Replies to e-mail inquiries were sent from the mailing programme and it was only there that the information remained that a particular case had been solved. There was also no central system for relations management, therefore employees could not trace history of cooperation or plan actions on one common platform. Such an organisation did not allow for holistic monitoring of inquiry support by the staff.
Therefore, Dotpay needed a system that would facilitate contacts with customers and information flow among the employees and departments at the company. Its task was to gather full history of customer relations: information about phone calls, meetings, e-mails, course of negotiation and interventions notified.
System needed straight away The management of Dotpay SA realized the need for implementation of tools that would deal with the problem. Piotr Owczarek, President of the Board of Eurokoncept, shareholder of Dotpay SA, described the situation as follows: “The growing number of customers required an increase in time necessary for support of the customers acquired. We needed support with serv-
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In the post-sales servicing process, we also experienced problems with access to information. It happened that finding an e-mail from a customer presenting an inquiry took more time than providing the very answer.
The Company also cared to have the opportunity to use the tool to carry out marketing campaigns, facilitate mass mailing of promotional materials and other communications from Dotpay service. The new system was principally to improve satisfaction of Dotpay’s customers by ordering and improving sales and complaint handling processes. – Furthermore, it was the Management’s objective to implement a system that would allow for tracking employees’ work, clearing their tasks, that would give the opportunity of assessing the effectiveness of commercial activities and in consequence the possibility of market assessment – explains Piotr Owczarek, in charge of the implementation on the part of Dotpay.
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012 Implementation of MicrosoftDynamics CRM at Dotpay SA
« Sending the mass reply This function allows for sending the reply to many customers at the same time. Customer selection occurs by appropriate setting of selection criteria.
Analysis of prospect clients » In one window, the user can have all the information he needs, from phone and address data through the list of marketing operations on a particular customer.
Why MS CRM Specialists from IT, Commercial and Customer Service Departments of Dotpay SA developed a list of requirements for the new system. ”Microsoft Dynamics CRM functionality corresponded best to our expectations. An additional advantage is the manufacturer’s brand and the fact that other systems used at Dotpay, which integrate with MS CRM come from the same manufacturer,” says Piotr Owczarek.
Facts about the implementation What: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in the online version; 39 users. Where: Dotpay SA – company creating and supporting state-ofthe-art Internet payment systems using bank cards and channels offered by the Polish banks. Dotpay SA’s solutions include: aggregation of payments, card payments, opportunity of payment for goods purchased in the Internet in instalments, support of cash payments for purchases in the web on-line, and with e-transfer. The Company achieves its goals via electronic payment service. When: August 2011 – preparation of the project, analysis and modelling, POctober 2011 – solution building, November 2011 – preparation for launch, December 2011 – production launch.
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”In order to perform the implementation, we looked for a Company with experience on the market, confirmed with relevant certificates and references. This requirement was met by Bonair SA, which is an authorized Microsoft partner with the highest partnership status: Gold,” adds Owczarek.
No implementation without training The implementation lasted from August to December 2011. It started with the workshop of the implementation team, where the system’s functionality was determined. ”We had to implement in the system the processes carried out at the Company, integrate it with the Internet platform of the Dotpay service and author applications by Dotpay, partly adjust it to the existing internal system of Dotpay gathering customer data”, explains Piotr Owczarek. Meetings and analyses resulted in the system implementation concept document. After its approval by Dotpay, implementation works commenced. The fact that Bonair is based in Warsaw, and Dotpay in Krakow did not matter. Consecutively developed parts of the solution were presented at remote sessions. At that time, Dotpay presented comments and submitted inquiries. System handover for use had to be preceded with training. First, for the administrators who learnt e.g. how to allocate rights to users of the MS CRM system. Next, for employees of Dotpay SA: salespersons, staff at the Customer Service Department, Department of Settlements and Administration and managers. Within the training, employees sent notifications by e-mail, and then handled them. The CRM system was not new to them. However, switching to a different operational mode, new technology and the interface was a significant challenge. Yet we succeeded owing to the determination of Dotpay SA’s Management who strongly supported the entire integration process. As a result, all the staff started using CRM still before the official launch of the system, notified about minor defects and modifications needed. This was also possible after the launch of the system, because Bonair provides post-implementation support.
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012 Implementation of MicrosoftDynamics CRM at Dotpay SA
Working now MS Dynamics CRM, implemented at Dotpay SA, is available via web browser and in MS Outlook via a special overlay. Owing to this, CRM can be used on mobile equipment, as it is visible in Outlook on the phone, tablet, or laptop. The system principally operates at the Customer Service Department, supporting the handling of intervention inquiries and the sales process, including customer acquisition. The inquiries are directed to queues, where they are automatically categorised and allocated to appropriate teams of staff. Simple complaints are replied to by employees directly by e-mail. For complex inquiries, e.g. from many different customers and referring to the same or similar issue, the employee establishes a case in the system, to which all the inquiries are attached. Next, within the case, the employee allocates tasks to other employees. When each of them completes their task, the case owner, namely the person coordinating all activities, can close the case. What is important, by sending one e-mail, he can notify all customers related to the case about the phase of handling the customer’s inquiry. The e-mail will be saved in the file of each addressee. This is a unique solution, available owing to Bonair’s modification of standard CRM. Acquisition of companies interested in Dotpay’s services occurs as previously, including via form on the website. When a company sends an inquiry, it is directed to the CRM system. The system automatically checks whether such a company is present in the database, and if not, it qualifies the company as prospect customer. Salespersons contact the company, verify its needs, and assess the opportunities for selling the service. The entire process is recorded in the CRM system.
Efficiency matters The described algorithm is simple, but its implementation required time-consuming programming work. This referred to CRM’s integration with the mail system and configuration of queues.
Benefits from implementation
efficient customer service and improvement • Min ore their satisfaction. uick access to complete information about • Qcustomers in one place for all stakeholder employees etter information flow among employees and • Bdepartments at the company. operation of customer service department • Randendering commercial department more systematic. monitoring of customer service department • Eandasysalespersons. Opportunity of monitoring the effectiveness • and profitability of Dotpay SA’s services. pportunity of carrying out marketing campaigns • Othrough mass mailing of promotional materials and other communications from Dotpay service.
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Piotr Owczarek President of the Board of Eurokoncept, shareholder of Dotpay SA Microsoft CRM tools allow for supervision of Staff activities, including determination of the number of tasks performed by them and estimation of labour for the benefit of the customers as compared to the results of services rendered to them. They also provide quick access for the staff to complete information about the customer in one place. This allows for effective use of time for rendering services to the customer. The queuing mechanism is available as a standard in MS Dynamics CRM, but queues had to be configured according to Dotpay SA’s needs. Queues are a reflection of various email addresses. Mail boxes to which e-mails get are located at Dotpay’s mail server. It was necessary to apply an additional module – e-mail router – which captures the e-mails and places them in queues in the CRM system. Capturing and queuing of e-mails occurs in real time. Because Dotpay SA receives several hundred e-mails daily and distributes it to 40 queues, including 7 main queues, the solution must be very efficient.
Goal achieved ”Within the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, sales processes were optimized, which supports company functioning by facilitating commercial decision-making”, summarizes Piotr Owczarek. ”Developed work flow systems were introduced, as well as notification system about the tasks allocated. Microsoft CRM tools allow for supervising activities of the staff, including determination of the number of tasks executed by them, as well as estimation of labour effort for the benefit of customers as compared to the results of services rendered to them. For this purpose, CRM system prepares sets of reports”. Data in the Executive Reports are presented in charts, as well as in the form of transparent, colourful diagrams. Gene- ration of such reports requires the Staff to input additional data to CRM, but this pays back. Owing to them, the Management can see what is going on at the Company: what is the workload of the employees, which products are the most timeconsuming, and thus – how much they cost the Company. ”MS CRM allows for post-sales support and full care over the customer of Dotpay.pl service by queuing inquiries from collective e-mail addresses, recording history of measures taken for the benefit of the customer, and recording information about the customer. Also, the data from the previous system have been migrated, and customer list has been ordered”, lists Piotr Owczarek. The most important goal has been thus achieved, as Dotpay can now take better care of their customers owing to the easily accessible, complete information about them.
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012 Nadtytuł
ERP system in the distribution sector Microsoft Dynamics AX at CD Projekt CD Projekt needed an ERP class system almost straight away. Furthermore, they expected the system to be flexible, so that it could be adjusted to specific needs, and so efficient that it would bear processing of hundreds of thousands of records per month. MS Dynamics AX implemented by Bonair has solved the problem. Before the launch of MS Dynamics AX, CD Projekt used two separate systems: Commercial and Financial-Accounting System. Unfortunately, due to problems with efficiency, functional limitations, as well as difficult and costly updates, it was necessary to implement a new solution.
System needed straight away The main drawback of the old solution at CD Projekt was lack of integration of the commercial and financial-accounting systems, which resulted in various complications. “Employees principally used the commercial system, from where the data had to be imported to the financial-accounting system. However, due to failures of the data synchronisation mechanism between the systems, errors occurred. In order to avoid them, we carried out settlements in both systems separately– data input in the sales part were recovered in the FA software and we checked for their correctness. This was double work,” says Robert Wesołowski, Financial Director of CD Projekt Sp. z o.o., in charge of the implementation. “We had on-going view of sales, but we could not trace how the Company’s result was building up during a month.” Because the commercial system was modified to a significant extent, this prevented its simple update to later versions. CD Projekt thus relied on an obsolete solution. Its adjustment to on-going regulations
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was time-consuming, costly, until it finally proved to be impossible. “We postponed the implementation of the new system as long as we could. In the meantime, another change of the VAT rate raised operating problems, as it could not be considered in the existing system. We had to replace it with some other solution,” reveals Robert Wesołowski. Microsoft Dynamics AX was selected mainly due to its flexibility and possibility of its adjustment to the Company’s needs. “We needed a system which would be easy to modify, to adjust to the greatest extent to the specificity of our Company. The option that we select a system to which we would have to adapt did not appeal to us much,” recalls Robert Wesołowski. “We trade with computer games, and the basis for their distribution are licence contracts which are settled in
Facts about the implementation What: Microsoft Dynamics AX (Finance, Fixed Assets, Sales, Procurement, Warehouses, Forms) – 27 licences. Where: CD Projekt Sp. z o.o. – publisher and distributor of PC games and consoles, and distributor of DVD and Blu-ray films by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. When: November – December 2011 – needs analysis. January – April 2012 – implementation and modifications of the system, integration with additional applications.
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012 Microsoft Dynamics AX at CD Project
a specific manner, not practiced in other sectors of the economy. Therefore, it was known from the start that the basic AX version would have to be highly modified in order to meet our expectations. There was one more important requirement – efficiency. CD Projekt generates large volume of documents and exchanges them with external companies, with intensive traffic both ways. The Company issues thousands of invoices monthly, and the system stores and processes several hundreds of records. It was considered that AX would have no problem with it.
Robert Wesołowski Financial Director CD Projekt Sp. z o.o.
Not only the price matters The decision about the implementation being carried out by Bonair was not accidental. The Company won against competition among other issues with a more favourable price and greater number of days of training. “Price was one of the main factors, but we also cared about the opinion about the company, the proposed implementation team and its experience. Furthermore, Bonair renders maintenance service, and has a special team for post-implementation services, which means that they will be available to the customer if needed, and not during the break while working for another implementation – as far as I know, hardly any company offers that”, assesses Robert Wesołowski. “And Bonair was not so very much scared of the tight schedule of the implementation, while the others claimed we expected the practically impossible”.
Facing the challenge CD Projekt expected that the system would be launched within 5 months from contract conclusion. “We were aware that this was a tough deadline as for implementation requiring thorough needs analysis, preparation of modifications, tests, and training. Therefore, at the very start, we agreed that in this period, only the necessary project minimum would be carried out, namely migration of the functionalities from the previous systems and integration with all external systems which allow for functioning of the Company. In turn, modifications that improve ergonomics of works and facilitate particular processes important from the point of view of organisation’s functioning, can be executed at the phase of production operation of the system”, says Robert Wesołowski. The implementation team – 5 consultants and 5 programmers from Bonair and 10 persons on the part of CD Projekt – thus faced a big challenge. And succeeded. “It is the quickest implementation of a new system in my several-year practice”, proudly says Krzysztof Jasek, Product Manager at Bonair. „We started the implementation in November, while the Company had the premiere of The Witcher in April, and everything had to be ready by that time. The analysis lasted two months by the end of December 2011. From January this year, we started the implementation, within which we had to do all the modifications and interfaces, calculated for 150 days of work”. In turn, Robert Wesołowski stresses that CD Projekt implemented AX and changed the logistic operator at the same time. “This was a great challenge, as this is the core of our business. All this was done immediately before the Premiere of The Witcher and Diablo 3 – very important events for customers and for us. This had to succeed”. Keeping the tough schedule was possible owing to the involvement on both parts. CD Projekt precisely defined their needs and set priorities for tasks, which was very helpful. On the other hand, Bonair’s staff can optimize the time of working on the project, using its implementation methodology, oriented at the achievement of effects at a short time. Apart from timely completion of the implementation, another important priority was to adjust the system to the needs and specificity
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We needed a flexible system, which would be capable of being adjusted to our business. We deal with sales of computer games and films, while their distribution occurs under licence contracts that are settled in a specific way. Therefore, basic AX version had to be significantly modified in order to meet our expectations. of CD Project. “We had to teach the other party how we function. Passing this knowledge in a way understandable to the recipient was one of major challenges” – states Robert Wesołowski. “The entire implementation process, and in particular defining the specification of system requirements was supported with a number of joint and internal meetings at each of the companies, not to mention e-mail exchange and phone calls”.
Laborious implementation of interfaces According to Krzysztof Jasek, who was in charge of the implementation, most problems and work were related to the implementation of interfaces and broadly understood correction handling. CD Projekt, as a distribution company, cooperates with many commercial chains, such as Auchan, Real, Tesco, Media Markt, Saturn, Empik. All the data, including the order, shipment confirmation, acceptance confirmation and invoices are exchanged electronically in the ECOD format. The implementation of such an interface was laborious, as various chains differently interpret the same document formats. AX system had to account for all such differences. For example, e-invoice for Tesco differs from e-invoice for Auchan despite the declaration about using the same format. The second implemented interface allows for communication with the logistics operator, namely external company which stores products distributed by CD Projekt in its warehouse. The interface serves for informing the operator when the goods are to arrive, when and which products are to be prepared for shipment to the customer, namely a particular shop. Dynamics AX system sends such electronic messages, periodically receives confirmations from the operator, and finally generates e-invoice for the customer.
Benefits from implementation
• One integrated system instead of two. ata model prepared for analyses will allow for • Dimplementation of a controlling system in further steps. • More detailed and coherent data. opportunity of system adjustment • Gtoreater the processes at the Company. next page >
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BONAIR review No. 23 | June 2012 Microsoft Dynamics AX at CD Projekt
Present organisation of document flow at CD Projekt „LICENCJE & BACK-BONUS” APPLICATION
COMMERCIAL CHAINS Empik, Real, Tesco, Auchan, Empik, Smyk, Makro, Selgros, Merlin.pl, Amazonka.pl (…)
DOCUMENT EXCHANGE IN ECOD STANDARD: Invoices Adjustment invoices Orders Price lists (…)
Microsoft Dynamics AX 27 licences
LOGISTIC OPERATOR (External warehouse)
Efficient support of thousands of adjustments This functionality of the system considers several types of adjustment invoices, including adjustments related to return of the goods, specific price adjustments, when the shop reduces the price of products on shelves, and adjustments of invoices of the old system. “In the case of the latter, important elements of the implementation included import of historical invoices from three years. Owing to the fact that we have practice in this respect from previous implementations and relevant mechanisms, the process is carried out quickly and efficiently,” says Krzysztof Jasek. Adjustment invoices for returns are not automatically issued from AX, one has to do it “manually” in the system, but the package of modifications performed by Bonair facilitates and accelerates the entire operation.
Adaptation to Company’s specificity
CD Projekt uses additional applications that serve for execution of untypical tasks, such as charging the licence costs, or calculation of back bonuses for contractors. These also had to be integrated with Dynamics AX. “Data from the programme for charging licence costs are exported to AX and booked there. It is similar in the case of application that calculates whether our contractors deserve additional discounts for the achievement of sales threshold, for marketing campaigns and other such services – such calculations are done on the basis of the parameters
Major functionalities of Microsoft Dynamics AX adjusted to CD Projekt needs nterfaces for document exchange with commercial • Ichains (e.g. Auchan, Real). • Interface for communication with logistic operator. • Support of returns. upport of adjustments, including related to sales at • Sshops and adjustments of invoices from the old system. • Support of bonuses. • Support of newsagents and rentals.
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DOCUMENT EXCHANGE IN XML FORMAT
charging licence fees and retrospective rebates
from contracts saved in the application, as well as data from AX about turnover with a particular contractor,” explains Robert Wesołowski. Distributor’s specificity also required considering in the system of the support of bonuses and advertising gadgets, namely goods handed free of charge and charged into the costs of CD Projekt. AX also features modelled sales process to newsagent chains, and sales of films to rental facilities.
Ergonomics of using the system
According to the arrangements adopted, already after production launch of the system, Bonair proposed various improvements and further modifications of financial-sales-warehouse operations that improve ergonomics of work in AX. “For example, we have automated the process of searching documents for adjustments when supporting returns. If the lists of goods returned are available at the .csv file, while importing, the system itself proposes documents that should be adjusted. Previously, they had to be searched manually, which was more laborious and took lots of time,” stresses Krzysztof Jasek. “We also narrowed some selection lists, or prompted values of financial dimensions in the documents – all this prevents wrong data input and minimizes user errors,” Krzysztof Jasek adds.
Reasons for satisfaction AX has only operated for two months, so it is too early to make a holistic assessment of the effects of implementation. Yet one can already see the advantages of switching to the new, integrated system. “Everything is done in on-going mode in one system. Certainly, the accountancy have less work, as they don’t have to import data from the commercial system. For me, it is important that I work on a stable database and stable system. That it can be developed and improved,” lists Robert Wesołowski. “Anyway, this already happens, as we have further modifications that we test and implement, improving the ergonomics and efficiency of work with the system.”
Publisher: Bonair SA W. Rzymowskiego 34, 02-697 Warsaw phone: (22) 549 65 50, fax (22) 549 65 51 e-mail: info@bonair.com.pl, www.bonair.com.pl Editor: Ewa Hutny (ewa.hutny@gmx.net), Graphic design: Robert Dobrzyński (dobrzynski@autograf.pl) Reprints only with written permission of Bonair S.A. Contact: Marketing Department, bonair_review@bonair.com.pl