A global research library provider enhances member management by migrating from Salesforce to Dynamics 365

The Challenges

The company was initially using Salesforce CRM for managing its members and related activities. They have different types of members as associates such as

• Affiliate Member
• Voting Member
• Global Member
• Founding Member

Depending on the member category, there are different kinds of information that need to be stored and reported upon. Most importantly, there is a strong need for custom integration to be able to be always in sync with relevant changes happening with the associated members and better control over the integrations that are already in place. Given the context, the primary challenges the organization was facing are as follows.

• Integration with other systems, such as on premises systems like LDAP and EBSCO for relevant members
• Automatic removal of institution names from the website as and when it happens
• Integrating usage statistics for members
• Need for better control over integration

The organization aimed to leverage Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Copilot not only for seamless integration within their existing Microsoft ecosystem, but also to gain the flexibility to adapt and personalize their internal workflows and member experiences as rapidly as needed to meet evolving stakeholder expectations. They acknowledged the benefits of using Dynamics 365 for improved collaboration and automation.

Solution

Netwoven, having years of experience working with Dynamics 365, was quick to address the issues faced by the company and followed a structured approach for migration.

Netwoven focused on the following use cases to be satisfied during or after migration.

• Comprehensive data migration, including institutional records, contact information, membership types, and program participation with particular emphasis on maintaining historical data and integrating usage statistics.
• Integrating additional programs into the system, beyond the World Newspaper Archive (WNA).
• Using an accelerator package for non-profit organizations to facilitate data migration.
• Implementing automated email triggers based on institutional status changes. 
• Expanding the use of roles in the system for more targeted marketing emails.
• Planning for next phases to replace or upgrade the member portal, enabling institutions to securely view their information and engage more effectively with the system.
• Utilizing Dynamics 365's AI capabilities, such as Copilot, for enhanced user experience. 

Netwoven focused on the following from a process standpoint for the migration.

• Conduct detailed assessments of Customer's Salesforce environment and its usage.
• Set up and configure the Dynamics 365 environment.
• Manage the migration of data, ensuring integrity and accuracy.
• Customize Dynamics 365 to meet the operational needs of customers.
• Provide recorded sessions to facilitate system adoption.
• Perform UAT and deliver the final system ready for go-live
• Ensure post-go-live support to help transition Customer into full use of Dynamics 365.

Benefits

The Salesforce to Dynamics 365 migration was completed in 12 weeks, and it surely offered the following benefits to the organization.

• Improved member experiences owing to better onboarding and integration
• Operational efficiency owing to custom integrations
• Quick user adoption owing to familiarity in using M365
• Significant ROI by eliminating Salesforce licensing expenses and integrating with Microsoft ecosystem