Hard Rock International operates restaurants, hotels, casinos, and concert venues around the world where guests can view the world’s greatest collection of music memorabilia. The group lacked efficient mechanisms to track the 56,000 guest inquiries—a number set to increase by 20 percent annually—that these venues generated each year. To prepare its customer care team for the increased workload and establish customer service metrics, the company implemented Microsoft Dynamics® CRM with help from Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Tribridge. The new solution pulls together information from different systems so that customer care representatives can more efficiently answer questions and resolve customer concerns. Even with increased inquiry volume, the solution will help Hard Rock International provide excellent service to guests without needing to add new staff to its customer care team.

To drive continued growth, Plante Moran, a leading U.S.–based financial services firm, needed to automate business development efforts. The company sought to replace its IBM Lotus Notes contact management system with an easy-to-use customer relationship management system built on a flexible, scalable platform. After evaluating a number of packaged solutions, Plante Moran chose Microsoft Dynamics® CRM based on its intuitive interface, powerful built-in toolset, and integration with line-of-business systems and productivity applications. Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Ascentium helped Plante Moran tailor the solution to automate key business functions, such as its client acceptance process. Since deploying the solution to 1,600 consultants, Plante Moran has strengthened its business development efforts and gained the agility to pursue strategic growth initiatives.

The Track and Trace Solutions Department of 3M, a Fortune 500 company, provides radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions. One such solution is the 3M™ RFID System, which is used by nearly 1,000 libraries and other facilities. To ensure customers can easily transition to and quickly benefit from the Windows® 7 operating system, 3M recently migrated its library RFID applications from Windows Vista® to run on Windows 7. The applications have nearly 2 million lines of code, yet it took just two days to verify the migration results—and no modifications to the applications were needed. As a result, 3M has noted enhanced security and reliability, and application performance improvements of up to 30 percent. Library patrons and staff should realize enhanced ease of use and productivity, strong support services, and simple deployments.

Client Profiles saw an opportunity to develop legal practice management software that was easier to use than established solutions from Lexis-Nexis and Thomson Reuters. The company built a solution that takes advantage of the integration between Microsoft Dynamics® CRM and Microsoft® Office Outlook® to automate common tasks, such as retrieving new contacts for archival in a shared marketing database. To meet project goals, including rapid time-to-market, Client Profiles capitalized on the flexibility of xRM, the business application framework that underpins Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Developers accessed prebuilt workflow components and reporting services available through xRM to quickly infuse CRM4Legal with features that benefit multiple roles within any law firm. With xRM, Client Profiles dramatically reduced development time and achieved an estimated cost savings of U.S.$2 million.

Many municipal and regional governments lack the resources needed to build and maintain e-government portals. To help these organizations, Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Spenta Consulting built the Citizen Service Platform (CSP) core framework, now available as open-source software, by using the xRM business application framework. Spenta Consulting also created the full-featured CSP Citizen Portal Extended Edition solution, which takes advantage of xRM to meet unique public sector requirements like citizen case management, accessibility compliance, and secure e-forms. By taking advantage of xRM resources, Spenta Consulting was able to save 50 percent of the development effort required for relationship management aspects of the project.

Peak 15 Systems sells operational software to help tour operators reduce labor costs and increase profitability. When Peak 15 sought a development platform on which to build a software-as-a-service version (SaaS) of its offering, it evaluated solutions from Microsoft and Salesforce.com based on scalability, flexibility, and customer relationship management capabilities. Peak 15 chose the xRM business application framework that underlies Microsoft Dynamics® CRM because of its superior technical flexibility and solutions-focused business model. The company was able to build more functionality into its SaaS solution faster by using xRM resources. Now, Peak 15 customers have an excellent hosted solution that can easily be customized to fit their unique integration and business process requirements.

CSSI specializes in creating software to help companies with an insurance business model streamline and automate core business processes. The company sought to infuse its existing VUE Compensation Management application with relational capabilities. After researching several packaged customer relationship management solutions and evaluating the cost of building the solution in-house, CSSI opted to take advantage of xRM, the application development platform that underpins Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. Capitalizing on the built-in components and native extensibility offered through the xRM platform, CSSI built its VUE IncentivePoint solution in four months—70 percent faster than originally projected.

Melbourne Business School needed to improve information management regarding its prospective and current students, alumni, donors, guest lecturers, and other constituents with whom the school interacts. Working with Oakton, a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, the school turned to Microsoft Dynamics® CRM and its underlying development platform, xRM, to accelerate the creation of integrated solutions that track communications and automate workflow processes. Consolidating data sources and automating processes frees school staff to cultivate closer relationships with constituents, which ultimately contributes to increased revenue, overall business agility, and the school’s reputation for progressive, global leadership.

Allen Matkins, a California-based law firm, wanted to improve the technology tools that it provides to its attorneys while retaining the ability to use older applications. The firm opted to upgrade to the Windows® 7 operating system and adopt Microsoft® Application Virtualization technology. Allen Matkins expects its new operating environment to help conserve costs and help attorneys deliver more timely service to clients for a competitive advantage.

Tru-Marine, one of the world’s largest specialist in turbocharger repairs and parts supply, wanted to tighten workflow integration and improve information flow within its business divisions to better meet customers’ needs. With Microsoft Dynamics™, it successfully integrated information flow, streamlined critical business processes and increased business visibility – all critical factors in accelerating its global expansion.