Customer Engagement & Sales Management on Centralized Dynamics 365 platform

End-to-end CRM platform for managing customers, sales and service operations.

Project Description

Customer is a global chemical manufacturer that manages a broad portfolio of products and engages with customers across multiple markets and applications.

We implemented and configured Microsoft Dynamics 365 as a centralized CRM platform to support the customer's end-to-end customer engagement and sales processes.

The solution brings together enquiries, leads, opportunities, sales forecasting, customer visits, product regulatory activities, market-share information, and customer service within a connected CRM environment.

The implementation also integrates Dynamics 365 with key external systems and platforms, including SAP, UL Prospector, Lead Forensics, Odoo, Showpad, and the customer's website/sample-request process.

The objective was to provide sales and business teams with a single source of customer and commercial information. The system also helped to reduce duplicate data entry and improve visibility across the customer lifecycle.

Customer Overview

The customer is a global specialty chemicals manufacturer serving customers across different industries and markets.

Its sales and technical teams work closely with customers to understand product requirements, applications, quantities, technical challenges, samples, and regulatory requirements.

The organization also manages products through different stages of their lifecycle, from development through commercialization, requiring coordination between Sales, Technical Service, R&D, Regulatory, Customer Service, and other business functions.

Customer Requirements

The customer needed a centralized CRM solution capable of supporting the specific requirements of a chemical manufacturing business.

Key requirements included:

  • Centralized capture and management of customer enquiries and product requirements.
  • Lead management from multiple channels, including website and external lead-generation platforms.
  • Conversion of qualified leads to sales opportunities.
  • Visibility into expected revenue and annual sales forecasting.
  • Ability for Sales, Technical Service, and R&D teams to record and track customer/site visits.
  • Management of product-related regulatory and compliance activities.
  • Tracking of estimated market share, competitors, and market segments.
  • Centralized management of customer and product-related service requests and issues.
  • Integration with SAP to maintain product and commercial information.
  • Integration with external lead and sample-request platforms.
  • Support for products under development that are not yet commercially available.
  • Reduction of duplicate product and customer data.
  • Improved data quality and visibility through centralized dashboards and reporting.

Our Solution

At Congruent Software, we implemented a centralized Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM solution covering key business processes across Sales, Technical Service, R&D, Product Regulatory, Customer Service, and commercial operations.

1. Enquiry and Lead Management

Dynamics 365 was configured to capture enquiries from potential and existing customers interested in the customer's products and samples.

The enquiry process captures key information such as:

  • Customer details
  • Product requirements
  • Application
  • Quantity
  • Product/sample interest
  • Enquiry source

The solution supports lead generation from multiple channels, including the customer website, UL Prospector, and Lead Forensics.

This provides sales teams with a consolidated view of incoming customer interest and enables structured follow-up.

2. Sales and Opportunity Management

The Dynamics 365 Sales process enables qualified leads to be converted into opportunities and managed through the sales lifecycle.

Sales users can capture:

  • Opportunity details
  • Products
  • Expected sales value
  • Discounts
  • Expected close date
  • Forecast period
  • Revenue expectations

The solution also supports allocation of opportunity revenue to the relevant financial-year forecast buckets, providing visibility into expected net revenue across future years.

3. Customer and Site Visit Management

A dedicated Visit Report process was implemented for Sales, Technical Service, and R&D teams.

Users can document:

  • Customer/site visits
  • Customer discussions
  • Business requirements
  • Product/sample requirements
  • Technical issues
  • Follow-up activities
  • Actions resulting from customer interactions

This provides the organization with a structured history of customer engagement and technical interactions.

4. Product Safety and Regulatory Assessment (PSRA)

A PSRA module was incorporated to support the organization's product regulatory and compliance processes.

The solution supports activities related to:

  • Product regulatory assessments
  • Chemical regulations
  • Regulatory notifications
  • Compliance monitoring
  • Customer regulatory enquiries

This enables regulatory-related information to be managed alongside customer and product information within the CRM environment.

5. Market Share Management

Dynamics 365 enables users to capture and monitor estimated market share information by:

  • Product
  • Market segment
  • Period
  • Competitor
  • Market size

This gives commercial teams a structured way to maintain market intelligence and support business analysis.

6. Customer Service and Case Management

Dynamics 365 Customer Service provides centralized management of customer and product-related issues and requests.

The case management process provides a structured lifecycle from:

Case Creation → Investigation → Resolution → Closure

This enables customer service teams to maintain a consistent history of customer issues and their resolution.

Integration with External Systems

A key component of the solution is the integration of Dynamics 365 with external systems used across the customer's business.

SAP Integration

SAP serves as an important source for product information. The integration helps ensure that commercialized products are created in CRM through a controlled source rather than being manually created by users, reducing the possibility of duplicate product records. SAP and Dynamics 365 are also integrated to provide Sales users with synchronized Account, Product, and relevant commercial information.

UL Prospector Integration

UL Prospector is used as a sample-request channel where potential customers and formulators can discover products, review product and technical information, and request samples. Integration enables these interactions to generate leads in Dynamics 365, bringing external product enquiries into the CRM sales process.

Lead Forensics Integration

Lead Forensics provides website visitor identification and lead-generation capabilities. The integration supports identification of organizations visiting the customer's website and provides insights into their website activity and areas of interest.

Website and Sample Request Process

The CRM solution supports the sample-request process directly from enquiry experience. Users can initiate a sample request from CRM, generate a pre-populated email, and send the request directly from Dynamics 365 while retaining the communication as a tracked CRM activity. Sample administrators can then manage sample requests based on country and administrative ownership.

Product Lifecycle / AIIMS Integration

The solution addresses a specific requirement around managing products under development. Commercialized products are created in CRM through SAP integration. However, products under development are not synchronized to CRM because they are not yet commercialized. This creates a requirement for Sales users to manage opportunities associated with such products. The integration/process was designed to address this gap and enable opportunities involving products under development to be managed within CRM.

Odoo Integration

Odoo acts as the master for active commercial Accounts maintained in the Australia region. It also maintains the Sales Manager assignment by customer account and relevant commercial ownership information.

Showpad

Showpad supports Sales and Technical teams by providing controlled access to product and technical information during customer interactions.

Connected CRM Dashboard

A connected CRM dashboard provides visibility into sales pipeline health and CRM data quality. The dashboard helps sales teams identify:

  • Overdue records
  • Stale opportunities
  • Unconverted leads
  • Data-quality issues
  • Pipeline hygiene concerns

This provides management with greater visibility of the quality and completeness of CRM data.

Business Benefits

  1. Centralized Customer Information: Provides Sales, Technical Service, R&D, Regulatory, and Customer Service teams with a consolidated view of customer-related information.
  2. Improved Lead Management: Captures enquiries and leads from multiple channels and brings them into a structured CRM process.
  3. Better Sales Pipeline Visibility: Provides visibility into opportunities, expected revenue, products, closing dates, and future-year forecasts.
  4. Improved Collaboration: Enables Sales, Technical Service, and R&D teams to maintain a common history of customer visits, requirements, technical issues, and follow-up activities.
  5. Reduced Duplicate Product Data: Integration with SAP establishes a controlled product creation process and reduces the risk of duplicating product records.
  6. Support for Products Under Development: Provides a mechanism for Sales users to manage opportunities associated with products that are still under development.
  7. Improved Customer Service: Centralizes customer and product-related issues through Dynamics 365 Customer Service case management.
  8. Enhanced Regulatory Visibility: Provides a structured platform for managing product regulatory and compliance-related activities.
  9. Improved Market Intelligence: Enables teams to capture and monitor market share, competitor, market segment, and market-size information.
  10. Improved CRM Data Quality: Connected CRM dashboards provide visibility into stale, overdue, and unconverted sales records and support ongoing pipeline hygiene.

Integration Landscape

System / Platform SAP Purpose Product, Account and commercial information synchronization
System / Platform UL Prospector Purpose Product discovery and sample-request lead generation
System / Platform Lead Forensics Purpose Website visitor identification and lead generation
System / Platform Website Purpose Customer enquiries and sample-request initiation
System / Platform AIIMS Purpose Support for product/opportunity management involving products under development
System / Platform Odoo Purpose Active commercial Account and Sales Manager information for Australia
System / Platform Showpad Purpose Product and technical content access for Sales and Technical teams
System / Platform Dynamics 365 Customer Service Purpose Customer/product issue and case management