Case Studies Public Affairs Leader Gains Instant Insight into Projects, Revenue with Cloud Software

Edit This Case Study Record

	Public Affairs Leader Gains Instant Insight into Projects, Revenue with Cloud Software

Public Affairs Leader Gains Instant Insight into Projects, Revenue with Cloud Software

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Professional Service
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Predictive Replenishment Remote Collaboration
Services	System Integration Training
Challenge	Despite its successful track record with clients, GSG struggled to get a real-time understanding of its own business operations. The company had no dedicated salespeople, and senior VPs were responsible for both selling and delivering work, making it difficult to disentangle forecast sales from work in progress. This issue was particularly problematic during year-end budgeting and forecasting. GSG had been using Salesforce since 2008 to manage sales deals, but Salesforce lacked out-of-the-box project service automation capabilities, such as billing and time and expense tracking. Employees had to manually copy and paste Salesforce data into spreadsheets to generate reports, which was inefficient and error-prone. Additionally, Salesforce announced a price increase, which further diminished its value proposition for GSG. Read More
About Customer	Global Strategy Group (GSG) is a highly regarded research and public affairs firm based in the United States. The company is known for helping US companies, politicians, and institutions understand public opinion and communicate more effectively. GSG has a diverse client base that includes Fortune 100 companies, political leaders, associations, and nonprofits. The firm has been instrumental in helping high-profile clients like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel get elected. GSG also works with institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Major League Soccer, and Google to devise communication strategies and mitigate bad press. Headquartered in New York City, GSG operates five additional offices across the United States and employs 85 people. Read More
Solution	GSG decided to switch from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics 365 to address its operational challenges. After an exhaustive evaluation of 13 different sales management, customer relationship management, and enterprise resource planning solutions, GSG chose Dynamics 365 for its comprehensive features and lower cost. The company initially licensed Dynamics 365 for Sales and Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation, with plans to roll out additional Dynamics 365 applications in the future. Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation is a holistic solution that helps billable project-based organizations manage all aspects of client-facing activities, from sales through project staffing, project delivery, and invoicing. GSG engaged Microsoft Partner Velosio to handle the implementation and train employees. Velosio also connected GSG to the Microsoft FastTrack for Dynamics 365 program, which provided implementation best practices and technical assistance. This comprehensive approach ensured a smooth transition and effective utilization of the new system. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Visualization

Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Professional Service

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Predictive Replenishment

Remote Collaboration

Services

System Integration

Training

Challenge

Despite its successful track record with clients, GSG struggled to get a real-time understanding of its own business operations. The company had no dedicated salespeople, and senior VPs were responsible for both selling and delivering work, making it difficult to disentangle forecast sales from work in progress. This issue was particularly problematic during year-end budgeting and forecasting. GSG had been using Salesforce since 2008 to manage sales deals, but Salesforce lacked out-of-the-box project service automation capabilities, such as billing and time and expense tracking. Employees had to manually copy and paste Salesforce data into spreadsheets to generate reports, which was inefficient and error-prone. Additionally, Salesforce announced a price increase, which further diminished its value proposition for GSG.

About Customer

Global Strategy Group (GSG) is a highly regarded research and public affairs firm based in the United States. The company is known for helping US companies, politicians, and institutions understand public opinion and communicate more effectively. GSG has a diverse client base that includes Fortune 100 companies, political leaders, associations, and nonprofits. The firm has been instrumental in helping high-profile clients like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel get elected. GSG also works with institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Major League Soccer, and Google to devise communication strategies and mitigate bad press. Headquartered in New York City, GSG operates five additional offices across the United States and employs 85 people.

Solution

GSG decided to switch from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics 365 to address its operational challenges. After an exhaustive evaluation of 13 different sales management, customer relationship management, and enterprise resource planning solutions, GSG chose Dynamics 365 for its comprehensive features and lower cost. The company initially licensed Dynamics 365 for Sales and Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation, with plans to roll out additional Dynamics 365 applications in the future. Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation is a holistic solution that helps billable project-based organizations manage all aspects of client-facing activities, from sales through project staffing, project delivery, and invoicing. GSG engaged Microsoft Partner Velosio to handle the implementation and train employees. Velosio also connected GSG to the Microsoft FastTrack for Dynamics 365 program, which provided implementation best practices and technical assistance. This comprehensive approach ensured a smooth transition and effective utilization of the new system.

Impact #1	With Dynamics 365, GSG gained much better insight into the state of its business. The new system allowed GSG to see what it costs to win deals, how much effort it takes to create certain activities, and disentangle its sales pipeline from its project work pipeline. Employees could view all this information at a glance on Dynamics dashboards.
Impact #2	The new system improved staff utilization. With Project Service Automation, GSG could see who was available, who was oversubscribed, and who had expertise or interest in specific topics. This visibility was previously achieved through word of mouth and emails.
Impact #3	The switch to Dynamics 365 resulted in significant licensing cost savings, which GSG reinvested in new technology projects. These projects included deploying Microsoft Power BI and additional Dynamics applications, as well as further customizing existing Dynamics applications.

Impact #1

With Dynamics 365, GSG gained much better insight into the state of its business. The new system allowed GSG to see what it costs to win deals, how much effort it takes to create certain activities, and disentangle its sales pipeline from its project work pipeline. Employees could view all this information at a glance on Dynamics dashboards.

Impact #2

The new system improved staff utilization. With Project Service Automation, GSG could see who was available, who was oversubscribed, and who had expertise or interest in specific topics. This visibility was previously achieved through word of mouth and emails.

Impact #3

The switch to Dynamics 365 resulted in significant licensing cost savings, which GSG reinvested in new technology projects. These projects included deploying Microsoft Power BI and additional Dynamics applications, as well as further customizing existing Dynamics applications.

Benefit #1	GSG watched its licensing costs drop by 34% when it switched from Salesforce to Dynamics 365.

Benefit #1

GSG watched its licensing costs drop by 34% when it switched from Salesforce to Dynamics 365.

Download PDF Version

Overview

Public Affairs Leader Gains Instant Insight into Projects, Revenue with Cloud Software

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit