Global expert for orthotics gets transparent customer data with new CRM

Short communication lines and an open-door culture are an integral part of OPED’s corporate culture. We decided to introduce a customer relationship management (CRM) system to enable our 350-or-so employees to communicate professionally with the outside world. The sales force in particular was missing relevant sales information such as customer status or available leads. The new CRM system is intended to also support the team offline while on-site with their customers; these can be hospitals, physicians’ practices, the medical supply trade or physiotherapists. “We started the CRM project so that all customer knowledge would be available centrally in one database and all teams would work with the same information,” says Stefan Ulmer, Head of CRM at OPED, when summarizing the requirements.

Since OPED already uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 NAV and many other products from the Microsoft range, we decided to use Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. The appropriate interfaces for data exchange between the enterprise resource planning (ERP) and CRM systems were already in place. The solution’s flexible configuration was also an attractive feature, meaning that adaptations could be implemented without programming. When it came to choosing a software partner, COSMO CONSULT stood out with its expertise and experience. They understood OPED’s requirements and addressed these right from the outset. This meant that concrete solution approaches in the future CRM system were already seen from the first prototype.

The package included a web client and a mobile version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. Since there was no offline-capable app at the time of implementation, Resco’s mobile offline client was added. The requirements of the field sales force formed the initial focus of the introduction. As a result of integrating CRM, ERP and the Resco app, the sales department now works digitally throughout, says Ulmer: “Everyone can use their iPhone during a customer meeting at the hospital, with the mobile app displaying all relevant data in a structured, compact and streamlined way.” The 50-or-so field staff can thus enter orders directly at the customer’s site and forward them to the internal sales team to be processed. Preparing for customer appointments is also easier now with the new CRM system. The office staff, management, prescription team and logistics department also use Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM as a central source of information. From Ulmer’s point of view, the web client is convenient for evaluations and analyses. The event team is another major user: COSMO CONSULT added functions for them that they can utilize to plan and implement events.

A key success criterion is user acceptance, and this is especially true for sales, Ulmer emphasizes: “Field staff have the heaviest workload, because colleagues have to record a lot of data on an ongoing basis. Data quality is hugely important, so we have to keep showing benefits like transparency, overview or data security, as well as the ROI.” The CRM is also constantly optimized for user acceptance. In the process, any problems that arise are corrected and functions are improved or streamlined. We discuss the changes the teams would like to see in a weekly meeting with COSMO CONSULT, Ulmer reports: “We can only achieve these permanent optimizations with the experience of an expert partner. We ourselves are too small to have such expertise in-house. Our contact at COSMO CONSULT is available at short notice and I can always count on them.”

Sales opportunities and lead generation will be clearly displayed in the future to create even more added value for sales, for example as a traffic light system. Since there is now an app for Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM that can also be used offline, OPED also wants to see whether it makes sense to switch to this. The success with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM in Germany has already come to the attention of the Swiss parent company, so the CRM system will also be rolled out there in 2022. OPED’s motto is ‘Keeps you going’ and Stefan Ulmer sees it that way, too: “We will continually adapt our solution to meet the changing needs of teams. So the CRM system will grow with the company.”