Dedalus unifies global healthcare software solution operations with Dynamics 365

Healthcare ecosystems provide critical services and activities in a complex and rapidly evolving context. Today, more and more healthcare systems and providers rely on technology to improve operational efficiency and enhance patient satisfaction.

At Dedalus, the leading provider of health and diagnostic software in Europe, a digitally enabled healthcare system doesn’t mean the digitization of current ways of working but rather, the transformation of the healthcare system to give patients an active role in their care. Dedalus is shaping a digital healthcare ecosystem with the focus on maximizing the value and outcomes delivered to patients. Managing care as a continuum rather than a set of preventive, diagnostic, clinical, and post-treatment encounters. Dedalus software solutions enable the integration of processes, workflows, and applications to improve healthcare outcomes for each individual and for the population as a whole.

It began in 1982 with the vision of one person, Dr. Giorgio Moretti. As founder, his goal was to create and promote a healthcare model that focuses not just on business, but on how care is delivered. Moretti believes that technology and digitalization are fundamental to improving both the quality of care and the sustainability of healthcare systems across Europe. His vision guides the direction of the company today as it aims to influence the global healthcare landscape.

In that regard, the company is on a healthy upward trajectory. Thanks to its ambitious acquisitional growth, Dedalus software is used widely around the world, supporting the care of more than 540 million people, and the company employs more than 7,700 highly skilled workers throughout 40 countries. “Dedalus' rapid growth necessitates a unified system such as Dynamics to align with its vision of becoming a leading healthcare IT provider in Europe,” explained Diego Pastorino, Global Strategic Relations Director.

Growing pains

Dedalus’ global operations didn’t always get a clean bill of health. Given the company's distributed operations and the rapid pace at which it has grown, it was a challenge to consolidate and streamline operations. “It often felt like trying to catch smoke with your hands,” said Pastorino. After acquiring companies in Germany, the UK, and France, the company was at an inflection point, culturally and operationally. With a diverse legacy system landscape, the company needed to replace its on-premises SAP ECC 6.0 system and unify with an end-to-end system to connect client relationship management (CRM) with enterprise resource planning (ERP): Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Finance were just what the doctor ordered.

By seamlessly integrating data across Dynamics 365 apps with dual write, taking advantage of Dynamics 365’s compatibility with Microsoft 365 tools like Teams and Outlook, as well as Power Platform and Azure Synapse Link, Dedalus is building a unified, intelligent, and scalable environment within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Prior to the acquisitions, the company had roughly 2,000 employees. By 2021, the employee count was 8,000—a 4X increase in just over five years. Over the past nine years, the company has completed more than 80 acquisitions. Even with an extremely tight timeline for implementation, by May 2023, 25 legal entities were live on an end-to-end Dynamics 365 solution. With such rapid growth, it wasn’t until 2024 that the company could take a deep breath and shift focus to leveraging the system that it worked so hard to roll out. In fact, the company made the decision to incorporate its Italian headquarters, a large and complex segment of the business, next; a move it wouldn’t have made were it not for the stability of Dynamics 365.

A prescription for operational health

Dedalus’ motto is “life flows through our software,” which is apt for a company that brings renewal and transformation to all parts of the healthcare ecosystem. But some self-care in the form of optimizing its cost center structure was necessary to make financial tracking and reporting more efficient and accurate. The company determined that the remedy was consolidating disparate systems into one that delivers a comprehensive view of the organization’s financial health. Dynamics 365, in essence, would be the backbone of a complex architecture supporting a growing business. That foundation, along with standardization, ensures providers, caregivers, and patients benefit from strategic decision-making. 

Combined with Tagetik for financial consolidation and Power BI, Dynamics 365 Finance is refining how the corporate leadership views profit and loss and other key financial management reports. The company uses Azure Synapse Link to keep data fresh and actionable insights on hand, which means rather than gathering data with input coming from various stakeholders, Dynamics 365 is facilitating a unified vision.  

Dedalus offers a comprehensive array of solutions tailored to support each stage of the continuum of care, enabling seamless integration across care settings, institutions, and systems. Whether it’s a diagnostic network or private health care provider, all Dedalus customers are managed in Dynamics 365 Sales where they begin as prospects. Simpler products can be quoted directly in Dynamics 365 while more complex solutions like hospital information systems require detailed configuration and pricing through PROS Smart CPQ. The strong integration between PROS and Dynamics 365 ensures a seamless user experience.

After the quote is generated, it goes through a standard approval workflow before being sent to the customer. Once accepted, the quote is converted into a project in Project Management and Accounting module in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance where it is broken down into phases, item requirements, milestones, and forecast. Projects and subprojects use details from the quote to define the budget for services, external purchases such as third-party software and hardware, and internal intellectual property, establishing the budgeting and planning framework for each project. This allows for granular cost and revenue tracking as well as assigning resources and monitoring progress at a detailed level. 

Indirect materials, third-party licenses, and hardware needed for customer projects are managed within Dynamics 365. Purchase requisitions, once approved, and item requirements are converted into purchase orders which are sent to the supplier. After projects are installed, Dedalus sticks around for check-ups, providing ongoing maintenance to ensure the solutions remain operational. Customers can create tickets in ServiceNow for maintenance issues but as with all Dedalus’ financial processes, invoicing for maintenance contracts is generated in Dynamics 365. Travel expenses related to onsite services are captured in Concur and posted against cost centers.

The service management in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management manages maintenance contracts tracking revenue. The company’s shift to a subscription-based model where maintenance contracts are invoiced through Dynamics 365 Finance and managed in the service management makes revenue forecasting reliable.

A healthy future

As Dedalus continues modernizing its data platform, the team is in the process of implementing Invoice capture for Dynamics 365 Finance to automate accounts payable processing and payments as well as exploring the implementation of Microsoft Fabric to provide an end-to-end analytics platform.

Procurement processes provide another opportunity for Copilot automation to eliminate manual tasks and enhance decision-making. Eefje Van Ranst, Application Management Director, explains, “Dynamics is a part of our broader strategy to improve operational efficiency and agility, and the healthcare ecosystem as a whole.” With Dynamics 365, Dedalus continues to enable healthcare providers to focus on patient care.