Navigating the pandemic successfully

Across every industry, the pandemic revealed the limitations of legacy systems and the need for a connected and secure, cloud-based approach. canfitpro’s story fits this pattern exactly. Their success navigating the pandemic is a testament to the foundation CRM Dynamics implemented for them in early 2020.

At that time, canfitpro’s business relied heavily on in-person events such as conferences, trade shows, and training and certification workshops. So, when the pandemic forced a shutdown of in-person events, canfitpro faced an existential threat to their business.

Fortunately, just weeks before, in February of 2020, canfitpro’s leadership had the foresight to select Dynamics 365 and CRM Dynamics as their technology partner. Their proposal to upgrade their legacy systems and better integrate with other solutions they use, including Microsoft 365, Power BI, and Azure, really resonated.

canfitpro’s legacy system blocked progress in four key areas: poor usability (new employees took months to train); non-centralized data (employees couldn’t trust the accuracy of the data); cost (juggling a variety of systems and vendors ate up employee time); and inflexibility (new solutions cost too much to incorporate).

canfitpro did a review of available platforms and chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 over Salesforce as the best customer relationship management system for their needs. Then they selected CRM Dynamics as their partner based on their understanding of canfitpro’s business and their unique strategy to dramatically accelerate their Dynamics 365 deployment.

A blueprint for success

Powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure, and the Power Platform, Dynamics Blueprints greatly simplify and accelerate the adoption of Dynamics 365 by pre- customizing the solution for specific industries and user scenarios. Dynamics Blueprint projects start with 70 to 80 percent of configuration work already done, thanks to CRM Dynamic’s unique intellectual property and methodology, which includes a GAP analysis.

So far, CRM Dynamics has created 10+ blueprints across a number of industries including Financial Services, Education, and Professional Services. As a modern, budget-conscious member association, canfitpro found a perfect fit with the Dynamics Association Blueprint.

Dramatic benefits

Designed for membership associations, Dynamics Association Blueprint (DAB) is a scalable and repeatable solution that integrates with popular accounting systems. By providing sales, service, marketing, and social engagement insights in one platform, DAB provides canfitpro with unprecedented insights into each member. Those better insights lead to a higher percentage of member retention, which increases their profitability.

It also improves their resilience to disruption. CRM Dynamics team facilitated the transition to virtual education at canfitpro in a few short weeks, ensuring the continuity of their business. The synergy between the marketing and IT teams saves enormous amounts of time and money, allowing canfitpro to direct all its energy on better serving their customers and building their business.

In fact, canfitpro achieved incredible results: immediate delivery of products and services versus a prior lag of 24 to 72 hours; a 50 percent improvement in time to market; more growth in eight months than in the past two years; and the introduction of a true, 360- degree customer perspective for decision-makers that eliminates siloes and allows for informed cross-collaboration.

Best of all, the Dynamics Association Blueprint keeps canfitpro at the forefront of innovation. When Microsoft makes improvements and adds features to platforms like Dynamics 365, the Dynamics Association Blueprint solution upgrades seamlessly, allowing clients to immediately take advantage of new features.

Microsoft recognizes the power and potential of the Dynamics Association Blueprint by including it as one of the first independent software vendor (ISV) solutions in their ISV Cloud Embed program. As part of ISV Connect co-selling efforts, Dynamics Association Blueprint was also an early entrant in the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace, finding its way in front of millions of customers on Microsoft AppSource, the app store.

Driving digital transformation

CRM Dynamics leverages its blueprints to drive the efficient digital transformation of organizations in many industries, attracting other impressive enterprise customers in sectors like financial services.

For example, when Meridian Credit Union directly challenged the big banks by showing potential clients the benefit of credit unions, CRM Dynamics proposed their Credit Union Blueprint, which leveraged experience working with other North American credit unions.

Like canfitpro, Meridian realized that CRM Dynamics’ expertise and blueprint solved their marketing issues and seamlessly integrated with their existing Microsoft solutions. Meridian’s digital transformation now consolidates all their data in one place, allowing for more robust analyses and strategic decision making.

Practicing what they preach

Behind the scenes, CRM Dynamics doesn’t just sell Microsoft cloud solutions—they use them in inventive ways to build their business. For example, they use Net Promoter Score and Dynamics 365 to prompt their sales representatives to reach out to clients and gather feedback throughout projects.

Partnering with Microsoft powers CRM Dynamics internal and external success and drives their well-deserved reputation for innovation and customer service. Their ability to empower and delight customers like canfitpro and Meridian earned CRM Dynamics the Business Applications Customer Engagement IMPACT Award from Microsoft.