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Microsoft DynamicsCustomer Solution Case Study

Engineering Firm Rides the Resources Boom More Professionally with Microsoft’s CRM

OverviewCountry or Region: AustraliaIndustry: Engineering and construction

Customer ProfileDecmil provides engineering construction services to Australia's resources, energy and infrastructure sectors. It employs more than 900 staff and contractors.

Business SituationDecmil needed to keep better track of vital customer intelligence and its pipeline of sales leads. This information was kept in staff members’ heads or in multiple records.

SolutionIn April 2009, Decmil engaged Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Ignia to build an application for managing customers and customer leads based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, with reports available in SharePoint.

Benefits Single source of customer data Deeper insights into sales

“Currently we have a project pipeline worth A$4.8 billion. By helping us to manage that pipeline intelligently, we estimate the CRM system has already paid for itself.”

Jenni Campbell, Business Systems Manager, Decmil

Perth-based engineering construction firm Decmil grew rapidly on the back of Australia’s resources boom. By early 2009, the company realised it was not formally collecting customer intelligence – if any senior business development personnel left the firm, this vital data could be lost. In April 2009, Decmil engaged Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Ignia to build a platform for managing customers and customer leads based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and associated databases, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. In less than three months, Decmil had gained a single, reliable source of information for customer contacts and all pre-contract activities, which ensured the information would stay within the company. From data published in SharePoint, Decmil managers could more easily identify what to target to help meet revenue goals, and provide

SituationDecmil provides a range of project-related engineering, construction and site advisory services to Australia’s resources, energy and infrastructure sector. The Perth-based firm works with many of the resource industry's key players, including BHP Billiton, Chevron, Rio Tinto and Woodside.

Decmil’s business has grown strongly on the back of Australia’s resources boom and it now employs more than 900 staff and contractors around the country.

Although the resources industry is large, it is dominated by a relatively small number of companies. And while Decmil works on grand-scale construction projects, it might only win five tenders per year.

“Our clients are large, multi-layered organisations,” says Jenni Campbell, Business Systems Manager, Decmil. “However, there is a fairly small number of key decision makers on specific resource projects, so our main challenge is understanding who is working on which projects.”

As the company and its scope of work grew, this vital client intelligence was becoming difficult to retain and manage.

“We ended up having all this knowledge sitting just in senior managers’ heads. Besides the inherent inaccessibility, there was

always the risk of them walking out the door and taking all the knowledge with them,” says Campbell.

More particularly, Decmil wanted a structured and transparent process for gathering and analysing customer intelligence data. Traditionally, the primary source for project opportunities came from business development staff who maintained personal relationships with key clients. The company also gathered lead intelligence from industry workshops, the media and customer enquiries.

“We didn’t have a formal process for converting those opportunities into real projects,” explains Campbell. “We also lacked a way to maintain that information in a way that other people could access it. We were concerned we weren’t being as professional as we could in chasing up opportunities because there was no easy way to find out who had been in touch with clients and when.”

In early 2009, Decmil went to market looking for a vendor to supply a customer relationship management system that could address these issues by providing a formal lead management process and a central repository of customer information.

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“We didn’t have a formal process for converting opportunities into real projects. We also lacked a way to maintain that information in a way that other people could access it.”

Jenni Campbell,

SolutionIn April 2009, Decmil engaged Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Ignia to build a technology system for its customer and lead management processes.

“Our first step was to go in with a business analyst, who mapped out how they wanted their process flows to work,” says Phil Rickson, Managing Director, Ignia. “We looked at how they generated leads, how they qualified them and how they turned them into opportunities. We also looked at the sorts of data they wanted to capture about the lead management process and about their customers.”

Ignia then designed a system based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, with a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database backend. It uses Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to extract data from the CRM system and then generate reports such as the Decmil’s sales pipeline and revenue forecasts. It also uses report data to create dashboards for the company’s Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 portal.

Implementation took approximately two months and was completely by July 2009.

“Ignia was great to deal with,” says Campbell. “It was always very clear what was in the scope of the project so there were no arguments about

the account at the end. They’re a good bunch of people to work with, very easy to talk to and to understand.”

The uptake process went very smoothly, because of the familiar Microsoft interface.

“Our staff already knew what the save button looked like and generally how the interface was set up,” said Campbell. “If they knew how to use Word, they could use the CRM system without any training.”

BenefitsThe lead management system based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 has given Decmil a single, reliable source of information regarding its pre-contract activities. It can quickly analyse this data and extrapolate information, enabling its managers to make better business decisions.

One source of customer informationDecmil can now ensure valuable information about clients is retained within the company in a single location. It also has a means of tracking each opportunity as it progresses through the pre-contract and project award process.

“From the first time we hear about an opportunity, we can keep track

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of it: from lead to expression of interest to budget to tender to contract,” says Campbell. “The more complex deals might repeat some of those stages numerous times, but we always know exactly where it is and what should happen next.

“Currently we have a project pipeline worth A$4.8 billion. By helping us to manage that pipeline intelligently, we estimate the CRM system has already paid for itself.”

Efficient pre-sale activityFor example, the new system provides an estimate of the firm’s conversion ratio from initial leads to contracts. This helps estimate how much to invest in pre-sales activity.

“You only ever win a small number of contracts and the investment can be quite high,” said Campbell. “This way we can forecast how much we need to invest in pre-contract activities to make our revenue budget.

“We need to look at these things two or three years in advance and now we can analyse on a granular level what work we have in hand and what’s coming up.”

Professional client serviceThe new system’s customer relationship management

capabilities also help Decmil ensure staff always treat customers professionally and follow the correct procedure for moving leads along the sales pipeline.

“The system keeps track of who has made phone calls, who has called back, who has emailed,” says Campbell. “This way, no matter who answers the phone, they can have an informed conversation with the client based on our most recent dealings with them.”

Microsoft DynamicsMicrosoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes,

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft Dynamics products and services, call 1800 197 960.

To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com/australia/dynamics/

For more information about Ignia products and services, call +61 8 9365 8400 or visit the website at: www.ignia.com.au

For more information about Decmil products and services, call +61 8 9368 8877 or visit the website at: www.decmil.com.au

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published December 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product

Portfolio− Microsoft SQL Server 2005− Microsoft SQL Reporting

Products− Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0− Microsoft Office SharePoint

Server 2007

“The system keeps track of who has made phone calls, who has called back, who has emailed…No matter who answers the phone, they can have an informed conversation with the client based on our most recent dealings with them.”

Jenni Campbell, Business Systems Manager, Decmil

and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.  For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:www.microsoft.com/dynamics

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