Summary
Spectrum Care has implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a platform that was built from the ground up, to manage the people they serve in more than 90 sites. The organization now has everything exactly where it needs it, in one central location, completely tailored to the unique needs of its service users. All data sources can now be pulled together to provide one version of truth, where nothing falls through the cracks. Not only has it streamlined process, improved efficiency and productivity, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system has also helped the charitable trust win a prestigious silver award in the 2010 New Zealand Business Excellence Awards.
Business Needs
Spectrum Care is an independent charitable trust that provides services for children, young people and adults with disabilities and their families, employing more than 900 people. Spectrum’s core focus is to offer people-centred services and options that focus on individual needs, working with its service users to identify their personal goals and aspirations and help them achieve their immediate and lifelong objectives. Services include 24-hour support for people living in residential homes, respite care for adults and children, specialized Home Support, Behavioural and Aspirations services and a School Holiday Program for children.
As innovators and leaders in the disability sector, Spectrum Care needed a ‘world-class’ customer relationship management (CRM) system that would give them an all-important centralized view of the people they serve over 90 sites in the Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. The organization required a user-friendly system that would underpin and bring together every area of the business, increasing the value, visibility and usability of information, streamlining business processes, and enabling enhanced and more timely and meaningful reporting.
“We really needed a solution that would pull together all of our essential information, such as medical histories and financial information, in one easy-to-access system that would allow us to pull down relevant reports and gain greater insight into our business,” says Aaron Overington, IT Manager, Spectrum Care.
Spectrum Care’s legacy system had originated within the finance team and didn’t encompass the goals and needs of the whole organization. Staff lacked trust in the system, as it wasn’t user friendly or reliable and, as a consequence, information was stored in many different places: Excel; Access; on paper; in the finance team’s database; and in people’s heads. It presented an incomplete view of the organization and its service users, thus discouraging everyday use and leading to poor adoption.
Spectrum Care’s vision for its CRM solution was clear, and in line with its overall business objectives of getting a central view of the service users and using technology to work towards better Outcomes and more person-centred support for the people it serves.
Justin Walsh, Spectrum Care’s Communications and Relationships Manager says, “The better we can be as an organization, the more we’ll be able to achieve our vision of ‘People with disabilities living great lives’, and the introduction of a high-quality CRM system has allowed us to take a significant step forward in modelling our objective of ‘excellence’. It’s also made a significant contribution to achieving our vision of providing bespoke, person-centred outcomes for the people we serve.”
Solution
Having previously engaged Intergen to implement its Microsoft Dynamics NAV financial system and SharePoint intranet, Spectrum Care again looked to this long-standing relationship (and its well-established commitment to Microsoft technologies) for a CRM system that would support its drive for excellence – Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
The implementation took place over a four-month period, from March to June 2010, with Intergen staff working onsite at Spectrum Care. This allowed them to embed themselves within the organization for the duration of the project, in order to really understand and translate Spectrum’s objectives. They started with a xRM platform and built a custom-made solution from the ground up.
“Kudos to Intergen for taking the time to understand our business, seeing the big picture and then designing a solution that really matched what we were aiming to do,” says Aaron.
Intergen used Microsoft Dynamics CRM as the basis for the platform, and configured specific entities for Aspirations, Assessments and Outcomes. This meant that all the essential data, relating to each individual service user, could be captured in the system then reported on easily.
“The Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform provided a great solution for Spectrum Care giving the best attributes of traditional build versus out-of-the-box software alternatives. The ability for Intergen to rapidly deliver a solution to exactly meet our business requirements made for a very successful project,” says Aaron.
There was extensive testing by Spectrum Care throughout the development of the system to ensure business needs were being met and exceeded. Following the testing phase, the organization’s key users undertook company-wide training on the new CRM system.
A second phase was undertaken to add additional features required by the business, and this was finalized in September 2010.
“Because our staff get all their information through our SharePoint intranet, they don’t even realize they’re using CRM, which has really aided user adoption, and meant minimal training investment required on our part,” adds Aaron.
Benefits
The main benefits of implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Spectrum Care include:
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Centralized system for the whole organization
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Streamlined processes
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Improved reliability, efficiency and flexibility
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Consistency across the business
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Enhanced integration with existing systems
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Increased productivity
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Greater insights into people’s needs – leading to improved customer care or greater ‘person-centeredness’
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Easier access to online information
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No duplication or version confusion
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An award-winning service
“By containing our organizational knowledge in one central, searchable repository, we’ve gained greater insights into our people’s needs and, as a result, we’re able to better serve them by focusing our efforts where they can have the greatest impact,” says Aaron. “At a glance, we can see our service users’ medical histories and financial information, and track progress against goals – nothing falls through the cracks!”
The ease and utility of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system has led to a higher volume of data being entered into the system. More importantly is the fact that it has also led to greater integrity in the information collected. The more high-quality data that is collected, the more valuable the system becomes.
“Being Outcomes focused in everything we do, the system has made us leaner and more streamlined,” adds Aaron.
“We now also have flexibility. I can add a field or a new property in a matter of minutes. What’s more, in the five months since we’ve been live I’ve doubled CRM’s functionality, which goes to show how flexible the system is.”
Microsoft Dynamics CRM also offers Spectrum Care competitive advantage.
“There’ve been a lot of changes in the disability sector, where presently everything is bulk funded. When individualized funding comes in, service users will choose their service provider and Spectrum Care will need to ‘sell’ its services. CRM provides a point of difference for us, allowing us to provide families with electronic reports so they can see how their children/siblings are going. There’s no way we could’ve done anything like this before.”
In November 2010, the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation presented Spectrum Care with a prestigious silver award, making it the first organization in the health and disability sector and one of only 14 organizations nationally to receive an accolade at this level. This success is, in part, attributable to the attention it has paid to its core IT systems.
Spectrum Care has long been a forerunner in its field, with similar organizations looking to emulate its approach. The CRM system has attracted attention from other service providers in the sector (who are looking to follow suit) and international disability industry experts (who have been impressed by how the system supports the Outcomes philosophy).
“Most importantly, it’s become clear that the lives of the people we serve have changed for the better as we work towards greater community inclusion and genuine person-centeredness,” says Justin.
With the silver award and the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM system in place, Spectrum Care has established itself as a clear leader in the health and disability sector. The new CRM system has already received much attention and praise, and is playing an instrumental part on Spectrum Care’s journey to becoming a truly world-class organization.
