Accenture builds a modern case management solution with Dynamics 365

Turning a challenge into a solution

Accenture’s strategic managed services for operations’ group contracts with companies and government entities to help optimize and transform business processes and enable reinvention. When the firm was retained to modernize a state agency’s customer relationship management (CRM) operations to reduce cost and streamline customer service, for example, Accenture knew that migration to the cloud with Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Contact Center would simplify the agency’s technology infrastructure and drastically reduce the costs associated with on-premises legacy tools.  

Accenture already operated and maintained software applications for the call center in addition to hiring and managing the center’s 300 employees. The call center staff relied on the agency’s legacy CRM application to handle approximately 150,000 calls per month relating to medical claims, provider enrollment, prior authorizations, claim status, payments, and various program benefits. 

In 2022, Accenture was asked to recommend ways the agency could reduce costs while maintaining excellent customer service for all constituents requesting information about medical coverage and financial reimbursement for patients across the state.

The legacy system was integrated with an on-premises phone response (IVR) system for call routing. This technology infrastructure was the department’s largest cost center. For this reason, it was a natural focus of Accenture’s reinvention. 

To modernize the agency’s solution and find efficiencies in technology and operations, Accenture recommended updating the application infrastructure and migrating to the cloud with Microsoft Dynamics 365. It integrates seamlessly not only with cloud call routing systems that could replace the legacy IVR software, but also with several of the agency’s other on-premises systems. Christine Adams, Service Delivery Manager for Contact Center, Accenture Operations—Health and Public Service says the “transition to Dynamics 365 has made it easier and faster to make changes and the integration with AWS allows us to listen to a call directly from the Dynamics 365 rather than manually search through a database.” 

The migration project would incur a one-time expense, but the cost effectiveness of a modern cloud solution would pay off in the long term with richer capabilities, reduced maintenance costs, enhanced user experience, and improved employee productivity.

A cloud-based call center launches

Dynamics 365 Contact Center and Customer Service modernized the call center experience with an improved case management system, enhanced chat bot functionality and call forwarding, and automated calls where possible to reduce volume for agents. As part of the migration, Accenture used Microsoft Entra ID for authentication and single sign-on, streamlining and simplifying the process for onsite and remote users and ensuring the latest security measures were in place. 

As a leading technology provider, Accenture always provides a robust training program to help workers feel confident and productive on day one and meet all procedural standards. The implementation team’s goal was a smooth cutover from the on-premises system to Dynamics 365 without any service disruption, including timely handling of thousands of calls and emails.

After going live with Dynamics 365, the responses from various Accenture Operation teams were positive; the new capabilities were making a noticeable impact. Some of the realized benefits to date are:

One application for most daily activities 

In the past, employees used multiple apps and tools in their daily workflow. Cases for Accenture Operations team members were created manually, which was time consuming. Now, users have a unified interface for all actions and tasks that makes it easier to better manage their work inventory. Accenture Technology Team also uses Power Automate flows and Server-Side Sync to automatically create Cases and assign them to the appropriate users.  

With context and notes displayed in a single interface, CRM users now have a better experience while using the system.

Single sign-on saves valuable time

With many call center employees working remotely, Dynamics 365 makes connecting to their work environment easy. The legacy system required separate authentication processes and credentials for different applications. Using the latest Microsoft Azure security tools, employees now sign in once to gain access to all the applications they need to do their jobs. “We moved away from managing service requests via emails to working directly within Dynamics 365. This allows us to manage our workload and reporting more efficiently,” explains Jeremy Floyd York, Portfolio & Delivery Management Associate Director, Accenture Operations – Health and Public Service. 

Enhanced reporting capabilities

Reports are the primary way for call center managers to understand how their team is performing. Creating legacy reports required specialized technical skills and manual labor, and the results offered limited formatting options. Now, the Accenture technology team uses Power BI to create insightful reports based on multiple data sources presented in a variety of ways which are more informative and help the operations team make critical decisions based on real time data. 

Robust email notifications avalable on demand 

Through an integration with Click Dimensions, agency enrollees receive approximately 500,000 emails every month which provide useful information and status updates about their enrollment application. Click Dimensions also can track and provide email statistics regarding when these emails are opened by the Providers, how many times these emails are clicked or if the emails bounced or failed to reach the intended recipients.

Enterprise case management solution for omnichannel experience     

With the intuitive user interface of Dynamics 365, seamless integrations and automations enable Call Center staff to create cases from incoming phone calls—roughly 150,000 per month—emails or Chat and Dynamics CRM sends notifications to clients or providers via Email, Phone or Text Messages (SMS). All cases created in the system are automatically assigned to a Call Center agent along with all relevant background information. The case management solution also creates cases from new channels like Emails, Chat Conversations and Excel files ensuring all service level agreements (SLA) are met.

Natural next steps for Accenture

Accenture is committed to progress and innovation as stewards of their clients’ business values. Moving to the cloud with Dynamics 365 positions the firm's clients to utilize Accenture’s expertise and stay agile, always ready to embrace what comes next. Accenture is already finding ways to build more efficiencies for its government call center clients with new AI-driven capabilities and Gen AI to automate case opening and resolution for simple requests answered by the IVR call routing system, provide real-time responses from organization-approved content sources to improve response accuracy and reduce agent effort, and use chat bots to answer common questions and forward customers to human agents when further support is needed.