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Overview Country or Region: United States Industry: Fluid Purification and Separation

Customer Profile Solution Recovery Services (SRS) is a recognized industry leader in the application of specialized separation technologies and fluid management expertise. The Michigan-based company delivers customized service programs and cost-effective engineered solutions to fluid purification and separation challenges. With more than 130 service modules and more than 2000 client sites, SRS manages more than 2.8 million gallons of fluid per day throughout North America.

Business Situation Previously a Salesforce.com customer, SRS determined it required a stronger and more intuitive CRM software solution.

Solution SRS partnered with The TM Group — a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Gold Certified Partner — to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. This solution includes:

Sales Force Automation

Marketing Management

Customer Service Management

Microsoft Outlook Integration

INDUSTRIAL SERVICES COMPANY FINDS SUCCESS REPLACING SALESFORCE.COM WITH MICROSOFT DYNAMICS CRM ONLINE “It was easy to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. It was cost-effective and it is easy to use,” says Karen Cobb, controller of Solution Recovery Services. Overview Solution Recovery Services is an innovator in the application of specialized fluid purification and separation technologies to deliver engineered solutions to customer needs. Based in Dexter, Michigan, the company serves a broad range of industrial manufacturers in fields such as automotive, aerospace, aluminum rolling, alternative fuels, pulp and paper, power generation, steel and coating. Increasing cost pressures and environmental awareness drives the need by industry to recover and reuse wastes generated in their processes. This results in cost savings, consumption reduction, and an overall increase in their environmental performance. For example, fluids such as coolants and oils that would normally be discarded after becoming dirty can be reused after the contaminants are separated and removed by SRS— often saving customers thousands of dollars annually. Other emerging markets, such as the alternative fuels industry, utilize SRS technologies to separate and purify higher value streams from their processes, resulting in additional profitable revenue streams from their plants. The highly skilled team of professionals at SRS, supported by state of the art laboratory, analytical capabilities, and pilot facilities, provides a service-based approach to develop solutions that integrate seamlessly in their customers operations and processes.

TM GROUP CUSTOMER SOLUTION CASE STUDY

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Situation

About 2 years ago, Solution Recovery Services purchased and unsuccessfully rolled out Salesforce.com to its sales team of approximately fifteen users. The primary reasons cited for this failure were a lack of end-user acceptance and poor integration between Salesforce.com and Microsoft Outlook. “It was a little cumbersome,” says Karen Cobb, controller for SRS. “We didn’t have much training and a lot of people didn’t like how Salesforce worked. It wasn’t being used to the best of its capabilities.” After a little more than one year using Salesforce.com, SRS managers determined that a replacement CRM system was required to better capture and automate sales information. Salesforce.com was the first time SRS had used a central system for tracking their sales pipeline. Some of the challenges included system architecture, training and the discipline to use the system. In addition, the sales team found they were duplicating information as they continued to maintain their old individual system – whether that was Outlook, a spreadsheet or a hand written list. Old habits are hard to break and even harder when the new system appears to be difficult to use and may not meet all the needs of the organization.

Solution The advantages of Microsoft Dynamics CRM were already on the radar of SRS managers. When Dynamics CRM Online became available, the company knew it was time to make the switch. “When I saw the online version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, I thought, let’s take a look,” Cobb says. “There were a lot of benefits: first, it integrates with all of our systems; second, it was easy to implement; and third, it is very competitively priced.

“So we were able to easily make the decision when our contract was up with Salesforce.com to discontinue that contract and convert to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.” Bolstered by the expert guidance of The TM Group — a Microsoft Dynamics Gold Certified Partner — the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online quickly mounted, including:

Better sales information

Lower cost of ownership

High end user adoption rate

Smoother integration with Outlook

More self-sufficiency

Better Data

Company managers had poor visibility regarding sales contacts and opportunities — salespeople would fill out Excel reports on potential clients, but the information didn’t flow consistently because each user had their own way of doing things. “The data in Salesforce.com wasn’t being used effectively due to a lack of training and understanding of the system,” Cobb says. “What was coming out of it wasn’t reliable or complete in any way.” The company’s sales process features many steps and a long lead time. “It was difficult for a manager to find similar activities among the sales team,” explains a senior CRM consultant for The TM Group. “And the staff had different levels of technical expertise, but they were all familiar with Microsoft Office and Outlook.” Critical to the success of SRS programs is the sampling and analysis of customer fluid streams to determine the most cost effective solution to their needs. These samples come from many customer locations and require information input from many different and geographically dispersed team members.

“When I saw the online version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, I thought, let’s take a look,” Cobb says. “There were a lot of benefits: first, it integrates with all of our systems; second, it was easy to implement; and third, it is very competitively priced.”

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The process is complex and time consuming. To ease this burden, The TM Group fashioned a Custom Entity called a Lab Request Form. This united communication among the geographically dispersed arms of SRS and resulted in an improvement in the effectiveness of this critical process. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM has done a lot to help us connect the pieces together,” Cobb says. “There’s a lot of business management information that we’ll be able to glean from using the system. With Salesforce.com, we had no workflow at all around the information and no way to monitor or mine data from many of the fields.” Microsoft Dynamics CRM is designed with best-practice capabilities built right into the solution and includes easy-to-use workflow and customization tools. “With Microsoft Dynamics CRM are so many fields available — but you don’t have to use all of them,” Cobb says.

“It’s not an overwhelming system. For example, one field is Pager Number, and no one really uses that in our world. So we eliminated that from our view.”

Outlook Integration Salesforce.com’s integration with Microsoft Outlook didn’t feel native to SRS users, many of whom said they “lived in Outlook.” While emails and contacts could be connected to records in Salesforce.com, users found it inconvenient to bounce between the programs. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, they discovered, was much more intuitive. “The comments I’ve heard about the new system is that it’s much easier to use,” Cobb says, “and it has the look and feel of what they’re used to using, whether it’s Outlook or any of the other Microsoft Office Suite of products.”

Bolstered with an Outlook toolbar, The TM Group’s customized Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution allows users to fully employ the dynamic functionality of the CRM system within their own email accounts. “Our sales people love it because they can go offline and even if they’re not connected to the internet or our internal network, they can keep up on their data and it will sync,” Cobb says. “It’s quick and easy to do. They can be on the road and pop open their laptop and add information based on what they just did for a client — and they don’t have to be connected to the internet to do that.” Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives users the power of choice. It’s very adaptable to what a user does. SRS sales staffers can track opportunities, leads, and share information between CRM and Outlook without leaving the program they’re most comfortable using.

Data migration

Migrating SRS data from Salesforce.com to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online represented challenges. Lack of training with Salesforce.com resulted in SRS users entering similar data into many different areas. For example, some users entered phone call information into Tasks, while others entered it into Notes. While the overall quality of the data within Salesforce.com was poor, SRS did not want to lose any information or attachments — the sales team couldn’t afford to lose proposals, order sheets, and account information. The TM Group ensured a smooth transition with careful planning and internal technical staff involvement. The TM Group customized a data migration tool which streamlined and automated the process at an affordable price. The TM Group reuses this cost-effective tool for other clients seeking to replace Salesforce.com or any other legacy CRM system.

“The comments I’ve

heard about the new system is that it’s much easier to use,” Cobb says, “and it has the look and feel of what they’re used to using, whether it’s Outlook or any of the other Microsoft Office Suite of products.”

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Partner support

While the Salesforce.com sales pitch was effective, the implementation and training fell short. “The Salesforce.com training was more of a hands-off training and ultimately ineffective,” Cobb says. “The initial person who implemented Salesforce.com left SRS and much of the training she received left with her as it had not been documented or passed onto the users. The TM Group didn’t leave SRS stranded. A constructive one-day training session was provided where all users were taught together at one location. Additionally, two “super users” learned basic customization skills such as renaming forms and fields to match SRS terminology. “Those super users went forward as the system administrators,” their CRM consultant adds. “Once they reached the point where they were comfortable and able to make their own system customizations, we brought all of the users together in a one-day classroom setting and trained all of the sales users.”

Says Cobb, “It was very helpful because everyone was hearing the same thing at the same time. We’ve been very happy with The TM Group.

“They not only helped teach us about Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but they were also willing to show us how to do it ourselves. That keeps our fees down. But

we also have the experts to go to if we need to.”

Lower costs The standard pricing for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online was less than Salesforce.com’s premium support cost. Solution Recovery Services was paying $65/month per user for Salesforce.com with an additional $16.25/month for Premier Support & Admin. The standard cost of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is significantly less, at an all-inclusive rate of $44/month per user. “It was easy to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online,” says Karen Cobb, controller of Solution Recovery Services. “It was cost-effective and it is easy to use. Even if we paid the same between Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Salesforce, it’s easier to use. End of story.”

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics business solutions and the TM Group, please visit www.tmgroupinc.com

or call 888.482.2864.

“It was easy to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online,” says Karen Cobb, controller of Solution Recovery Services. “It was cost-effective and it is easy to use. Even if we paid the same between Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Salesforce, it’s easier to use. End of story.”

Corporate Office: 34705 W. 12 Mile Rd, Suite 371 Farmington Hills, MI 48331 West MI Office: 1514 Wealthy St, Suite 246 Grand Rapids, MI 49506 www.tmgroupinc.com 888.482.2864