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Microsoft Energy CRM Cloud solutions

Case Caruna

Improving customer satisfaction – Microsoft Dynamics 365 supports Caruna’s account management for large customers

Caruna, an electricity distribution company, wanted to improve customer satisfaction among its large customers. For this purpose, they created a strategy for the management of key customers, with an information system needed to support it and to be used as a job flow system for the account team responsible for key customers. Digia provided the company with a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales -based CRM solution that helped Caruna achieve its objectives.

Caruna is responsible for electricity distribution and the maintenance of electricity networks for more than 700,000 customers in Southern, Southwest and Western Finland, Joensuu, Koillismaa and Satakunta. In addition to consumer customers, Caruna serves approximately 1,000 large customers. This group consists of municipalities and large and medium-sized enterprises that need tailor-made customer service.

In 2018, Caruna decided to develop its service offered to large customers so that it is more systematic and customer-specific. To do this, they created a relationship management strategy for key customers together with a partner, with the strategy consisting of client-specific relationship programs and plans.

Kari Vessonen, Head of Customer Relationship Management at Caruna, is leading the team that serves large customers.

“Our primary objective was to improve customer satisfaction among large customers. We agreed that to do this, we need to develop the ways in which we serve them. In practice, this meant a more proactive approach, where we contact our customers regularly and try to anticipate their needs,” Vessonen says.

What we did

  • CRM

What we used

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Microsoft Azure Integration Services
Systematic account management is very convenient with Dynamics 365. And the best part is that the usability of the system is improving all the time. Digia carries out small-scale development that meets our specific needs, while Microsoft is expanding the system functionalities and its links to other Microsoft products.

Jaana Varis, System Administrator, Caruna

Digia was selected as a partner through a bidding process

When creating the relationship strategy, it became clear that the company needed a separate information system for customer relationship management, with the system also being used for guiding the work of the team serving large customers.

“We needed an information system for documenting all the contact and contract information related to large customers, with minutes of meetings and entries regarding other communication also stored there. The same system was also to be used as the team's job flow solution,” Vessonen says.

The supplier and solution were sought through a bidding process. The criteria for the selected technology included references from the same industry and the reliability of the developer. The supplier was required to understand Caruna's needs, provide a clear solution proposal and commit to the continuous development of the solution.

Digia's proposal consisting of a solution based on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales system convinced Caruna.

“Digia's proposal was clear and met our wishes,” Vessonen says.

Quick deployment of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

The delivery was relatively quick. The project started in late 2018 and the system was in production use already early in the spring of 2019.

This was made possible by close cooperation and mutual commitment to the schedule. It was also important that the system could be deployed without any major adjustments. This was a conscious choice, says Jaana Varis, the system administrator, who was involved in the project from the very beginning.

“Our wish all along was to have minimum system adaptation, as we wanted to avoid surprises related to customisation,” Varis says.

Continuous development ensures the system’s vitality

Although all relevant parties participated in the specification of the solution to be delivered, it was clear to Caruna that building a solution that would serve the organisation in the best possible way was something that could not be done at one go.

They felt that the most important thing was to have the solution in place and then develop it further based on feedback from users and other parts of the organisation.

The process for further development works so that Caruna's key customer managers meet internally to discuss the areas for development, after which Jaana Varis, as the administrator, refines and prioritises the development targets for implementation by Digia.

“The continuous minor development that Digia carries out in our system is extremely valuable. As we accumulate user experience, users come up with ideas for small additions or the ability to do things a little differently. Now we can document these wishes and Digia implements them in the order we define,” Varis says.

Customer satisfaction objectives were achieved, and users are pleased with the solution

Caruna's relationship management strategy for key customers aimed to improve customer satisfaction among large customers. The new CRM was purchased as a technical enabler for achieving this objective.

Experience from both the strategy and the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales has now accumulated for a period of two years, and the results are convincing.

“As we started with a clean slate, so to speak, we can only now comment on the success of the entire project and system investment. From my point of view, both have been successful. NPS studies conducted among large customers indicate that customer satisfaction is at a very high level,” says Vessonen.

As the system administrator, Jaana Varis is extremely satisfied with both the technology choice and Digia as a supplier.

“Systematic account management is very convenient with Dynamics 365. And the best part is that the usability of the system is improving all the time. Digia carries out small-scale development that meets our specific needs, while Microsoft is expanding the system functionalities and its links to other Microsoft products,” Varis says.

Caruna trusts Digia

Both Vessonen and Varis have been very satisfied with the cooperation with Digia. The jointly agreed schedules were met, with both parties going the extra mile, as necessary. Communication has been excellent at all stages of the cooperation, and there is a strong feeling that both parties share the same objectives.

Varis also commends the seminars organised by Digia, where the new system features are presented in detail and concrete advice is given on how to utilise them.

Kari Vessonen says that Digia was already trusted as a partner, but the CRM project has strengthened the relationship even further.

“The main feeling is that Digia wants to provide us with the best possible service because it is also in their best interests. This is exactly what we want to do with our own customers,” Vessonen says.