Agidens resolutely opted for a standardized approach to its sales process. Inetum-Realdolmen implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement as a unique source of truth. This tool gives the sales organization a 360° view of its customers. The resulting efficient communication and clear reporting contribute to a much more effective way of working.

Agidens is devoted to helping organizations improve their operations in terms of safety, reliability, efficiency and sustainability. This mission is reflected in the name of the company, which refers to the terms agility, confidence and sustainability. Over the past 70 years, Agidens – headquartered in Zwijndrecht – has acquired broad expertise in areas such as process engineering, process automation, and the qualification and validation of installations. Agidens' customer base includes food companies, breweries, tank terminals, and pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. Agidens has 670 employees.

Thorough preliminary study

In search of a solution, Agidens turned to Inetum-Realdolmen. Inetum-Realdolmen's specialists suggested that – just as Agidens often does for its customers – they first analyze and map out the entire sales process. "Inetum-Realdolmen started with an awareness and design study," says Fleerakkers. With the help of interactive workshops, Inetum-Realdolmen mapped the flow of the business process. "This provided us with a view of all the ins and outs of our process and gave us the opportunity to draw up a list of the desired functionalities in a very targeted manner." The resulting insight served as the basis for the final choice of a specific tool. This exercise revealed Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (formerly Dynamics CRM) as the most suitable solution for the sales component.

Unique source of truth

The most significant result of the process is that the entire sales process at Agidens is now based on a single tool. "During the awareness and design study, we were already working with various stakeholders from the different divisions," explains Fleerakkers. "We made sure that they remained involved throughout the implementation process. This way we created a clear sense of ownership throughout the sales organization. That ensured that everyone was on board with the story and effectively embraced Dynamics 365 as the new – and only – tool for the entire sales process."

Dynamics 365 serves as a single source of truth for the Agidens sales organization. "Our salespeople have a 360° perspective on the customer thanks to the tool," explains Fleerakkers. "Colleagues can also share that information easily. This enables them to identify opportunities very quickly and easily, for example." Having the information available at all times and via any device is equally important. "This is useful for sales managers who want to access information to prepare for their next sales meeting, for example when they are on the road. Now they can do this very easily using their smartphone or tablet."

Shorter sales cycle

The use of Dynamics 365 facilitates a shorter sales cycle, which makes follow-up easier and more efficient thanks to faster communication – both internally as well as with the customer. Another substantial benefit relates to reporting. The sales organization can now easily maintain an overview thanks to the clear dashboards. At the same time, this gives management an unimpaired view of the achieved performance. This has resulted in a more efficient way of working at Agidens, across the various departments. The company's employees now use the same standardized and centralized approach everywhere.

The choice of Dynamics 365 also fits within a broader process. "Thanks to the sales application, we now have all the information about customers at our disposal in a single environment," says Fleerakkers. "We are also deploying Dynamics 365 to support our service organization. As the final stage of the exercise, we will be migrating our ERP environment to Dynamics 365." For these further processes as well, Agidens will be working with Inetum-Realdolmen as its partner.