Since 1995, the investment consulting firm’s core mission has been to provide straightforward investment advice to clients and develop a framework for success with them. Hundreds of retirement plans, non-profits, private clients, and financial institutions benefit from the investment consulting firm’s relevant research and propriety tools that create a tailored investment solution.  

With offices spread across Chicago, Austin, Boston, and Washington, D.C., the firm recognized the need to improve the way they manage and derive insights from its client data to better serve them. Consultants need quick access to comprehensive data on the clients they serve to provide timely, high-value information on relevant investment opportunities and strategies.  

They knew that to remain a valued partner to their clients, they must be able to provide the most valuable investment insights wherever and whenever they request them. 
 

Obstacles to Meaningful Client Engagements 

End users at the firm were being held back by obstacles to accessing important data, investment information, and research assets easily from within a single platform, limiting their ability to service clients efficiently. This manual process needed to be replaced with a CRM that could drive automation, efficiency, accuracy, and management visibility.  

The firm was concerned that its CRM partner at the time did not have the capabilities to implement the complex business processes for each line into their CRM platform, which they found to be reactionary and over-engineered. They felt it was time to move off an industry ‘platform’ and Microsoft Cloud hosting made the most sense long term, especially due to automatic updates.   

After having partnered with BDO Digital on an award-winning responsive website redesign, the firm approached BDO Digital to help customize a CRM solution to fit its business model and create more meaningful client engagements.  
 

Partnering for Success 

BDO Digital’s CRM experts worked closely with the firm to understand its client journey and the data required to be captured and analyzed at each stage: 

1. CRM Assessment: BDO Digital reviewed the CRM environment and performance details, then using BDO Digital’s customized CRM Quickstart report provided the firm with recommended next steps.  

2. Business Discovery and Functional Design: BDO Digital collaborated with the firm to pinpoint business goals and challenges, identified the inefficient processes that bottleneck, and then formed a plan that aligns right-fit tools to the firm’s specific needs.  

3. Systems Migration: BDO Digital performed the systems migration from hosted to Microsoft Cloud, as well as the implementation of new processes.   

4. End User Training: BDO Digital provided the firm with a user enablement and adoption plan with training exercises to help users understand and embrace all the great new things within Dynamics 365.  
    

A Customized CRM Solution Every User Loves  

Microsoft has removed the complexity of disparate CRM and ERP systems by creating modern, modular business applications that work together on a single platform, giving businesses the flexibility to adopt technology when they need it. With Dynamics 365, the firm has fundamentally reimagined how they engage with clients, optimized operations, and are enabled to report on new, compelling insights.  

Thanks to BDO Digital’s Enablement and Adoption program, they reported user adoption was highest it’s been on any other technology rollouts in the past. 
 

Plans to Meet the Evolving Needs of the Business   

With the successful adoption of Dynamics 365, the firm is experiencing improved user experience now that assets and information can be accessed in seconds. The new CRM model has empowered users across all business lines to focus on building relationships with customers, leading to higher satisfaction and faster business growth overall.  

With a solid foundation in place, the firm is excited about the possibility of further expanding its partnership with BDO Digital with plans to leverage advanced data analytics and new capabilities in the cloud that can further enhance the business.