Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM energizes the European Wind Microsoft Dynamics CRM energizes the European Wind Microsoft Dynamics CRM energizes the European Wind Microsoft Dynamics CRM energizes the European Wind

Energy Association (EWEA) and its members Energy Association (EWEA) and its members Energy Association (EWEA) and its members Energy Association (EWEA) and its members

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) acts as the voi-

ce of the wind industry in Europe and worldwide. The associati-

on manages more than 650 members from almost 60 coun-

tries, but also carries out an intense marketing program, inclu-

ding sending out millions of direct (e-)mailings annually and the

organization of several major events, often with the involvement

of external stakeholders. In order to manage its memberships

and marketing activities, EWEA was previously using isolated

systems and applications, resulting in 30 different data sour-

ces. The organization decided to centralize the CRM and associ-

ation management activities on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM

platform, counting on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Gold Partner

Travi@ta to manage the complete analysis and implementation

process. The project showed that a professional approach, with

active involvement from end users, is key to the success of any

CRM project.

Overview Country Country Country Country Belgium Sector:Sector:Sector:Sector: Members association

Profile EWEA The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) actively promo-tes the utilization of wind power in Europe and worldwide. The association has over 650 members and cooperates with indu-stry and research institutions on several market development research projects, including the organization of major events.

Challenge Over the years, EWEA grew an increasing number of isolated data sources to support marketing and commercial activities, including prospect and contact management, membership ma-nagement, direct mailings and event support.

Solution After a profound market research, EWEA decided to centralize all its CRM and association management activities around the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform. CRM Partner Travi@ta took the lead over the implementation process, including the confi-guration of the solution for association and event management.

Benefits • Customized solution for association management on Micro-

soft Dynamics CRM

• Efficient pre- and post-event management solution

• End user acceptance thanks to active end user involvement

during implementation phase

• Reliability and future integration possibilities of integrated

Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform

• Professional attitude and partnership spirit of Travi@ta

• Single data source

• More efficient and accurate service to members

• Measurable and more targeted campaigns

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) is the voice of the wind industry, actively promoting the utili-zation of wind power in Europe and worldwide. The organization has over 650 members from nearly 60 countries, including manufacturers with a 90% share of the global wind power market, plus component suppliers, research institutes, national associations, contractors, electricity providers and finance and in-surance companies. EWEA analyses, formulates and establishes policy positions for the wind industry on key issues, cooperating with industry and research institutions on a number of market development and technology research projects. EWEA also organizes numerous events throughout the year: conferences, exhibitions, launches, semi-nars and workshops. They contribute to the exchange of international experience on policy, finance and technical developments, and showcase the latest technologies. Another major EWEA event is its confe-rence and exhibition dedicated to offshore wind ener-gy, the previous edition of which attracted 4,850 par-ticipants and 260 exhibiting companies.

Numerous data sources

Managing memberships and marketing activities, mailings and events in an association like EWEA ine-vitably leads to complex processes, involving an in-tense collaboration between departments internally and with external stakeholders. In the past, ICT systems could not support those acti-vities effectively. The main reason was that EWEA ended up with about 30 different data sources, ran-ging from tailor-made database applications and Mi-crosoft Excel to a standard CRM application. Simeon Holdship, IT Manager at EWEA: “When I joi-ned EWEA in September 2009, it immediately beca-me clear that our existing CRM system, was not doing the job and was running behind regarding user friend-liness and system performance. This was causing a decentralized and scattered platform that lead to

www.traviata.be +32 (0)2 721 88 80

miscommunication and errors towards members which might harm these valuable relationships.”

Search for a new CRM solution

EWEA realized that looking for a brand new centrali-zed CRM system was the only solution. The associati-on addressed various CRM solutions, including SAP CRM, Siebel, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It appeared that this last solution offered the best value for EWEA. “We were attracted by the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and how user friendly it was compared to all the other products we evaluated. We immediately felt confident with our CRM Partner Tra-vi@ta to coordinate the analysis and implementation who impressed us with their professional attitude. They were also able to answer all our questions wit-hout any problem”, says Simeon Holdship.

Structured implementation plan

From the start of the analysis phase of the new CRM system in March 2010, EWEA and Travi@ta decided to actively involve end users in the project by giving key users a demonstration of the functionalities of Micro-soft Dynamics CRM right from the start. This user involvement remained during the first phase of the project - the business analysis. Travi@ta gathe-red all the requirements from people in the different departments at EWEA: administration, finance, sales, communications, events, memberships and the policy department. Based on this input, Travi@ta presented a business analysis document which was again sub-mitted for feedback by the different departments. The next phase was a technical analysis, resulting in a document which was also reviewed by the various sta-keholders at EWEA. After that, Travi@ta could start with the configurations and customizations. Finally, with the testing phase, the end users were given a demonstration of the customized solution by Travi@ta. The new system went live on July 29th 2010, less than 6 months after the official kick-off of the project. Two employees from EWEA were trained through the Travi@ta Academy and then assigned to train the key users within EWEA. By its own initiative, EWEA conti-nues to organize several follow-up internal training sessions, which are highly appreciated by the employ-ees. Simeon Holdship: “The new CRM system was easily accepted by the end users. This had to do with their involvement right from the start, and of course with the look and feel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which is very similar to Microsoft Outlook."

Events and mailings

EWEA annually sends out millions of e-mailings. Effici-ently managing contact information, prospects and distribution lists was a primary requirement for the new CRM system. Being able to analyse reading and click through behavior on e-mails now enables EWEA to initiate more efficient campaigns, and even to ad-just ongoing campaigns. A great deal of attention also went to event manage-ment, as EWEA organizes numerous conferences, ex-hibitions, launches, seminars and workshops each year. In order to address the specific needs of EWEA, like sponsor engagement and the possibility to assign booths of different sizes, Travi@ta tuned Microsoft Dynamics CRM to these needs. Today, Microsoft Dy-namics CRM has also become a valuable instrument for post-event metrics regarding event participation rates and evaluations.

Association management

Another important element in EWEA business needs was association management. Simeon Holdship: “Managing over 650 members me-ans we needed a user friendly and reliable tool for managing prospects, but also member contracts and annual fees. Travi@ta understood our needs and was able to translate those requirements into Microsoft Dynamics CRM.”

“The new CRM system was easily accepted by the end users. This had to do with their in-volvement right from the start, and of course with the look and feel of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which is very similar to Outlook.” Simeon Holdship, IT Manager, EWEASimeon Holdship, IT Manager, EWEASimeon Holdship, IT Manager, EWEASimeon Holdship, IT Manager, EWEA

Return on investment

EWEA had to merge around 30 different data sources into one system, and was able to achieve this in only a few months with the help of Travi@ta. But the most important challenge was to make sure the employees also used the system on a daily basis. One by one and with the help of Travi@ta, the association mana-ged to solve all the issues. Simeon Holdship: “We are proud to say we have a CRM system that is really accepted by the employees. This is the basis for a great return on investment in the coming months and years.” “This CRM project has been essential to the success of EWEA as an association. That’s why the manage-ment has actively supported it from start to end”, ad-ds Bruce Douglas, Chief Operating Officer at EWEA.

Looking towards tomorrow

EWEA is now already initializing new projects together with Travi@ta: the company started working on an integration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Win-books, the financial system, to streamline invoicing and payment processes for memberships and event participations. Another future initiative will consist in making CRM data available online through self-service applicati-ons, allowing people to access their membership de-tails online, register for events, order publications, etc. Simeon Holdship summarizes what he values in the long-term relationship with Travi@ta: “Both parties value this as a partnership, a relation of trust which continues to get stronger through the regular CRM steering committees we have together.” ©2011 Lemarco©2011 Lemarco©2011 Lemarco©2011 Lemarco

For more information

For more information about the Microsoft products and

service described, call +32 (0)2 704 30 00 or visit

http://www.microsoft.be/cases, where you will find

details of other companies that use similar types of

applications.

For more information about Travi@ta, visit

www.traviata.be, or call +32 (0)2 721 88 80.

For more information about EWEA, visit the web site

www.ewea.org or call + 32 (0)2 213 18 11.

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