Brown School implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM with help from Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner Aspect Software to replace legacy systems and now has the
insight it needs to understand and grow its relationships with more than 50,000
constituents.
In the
past, keeping track of these constituent relationships had been a largely
disjointed activity, because the school's academic and administrative
departments and research centers maintained constituent information in as many
as 16 different systems. "We lacked insight into our constituents," says Ellen
Rostand, Assistant Dean for Communications at the Brown School. "Many of our
constituents have multiple relationships with the school; for example, a
constituent could be a graduate, an internship provider, and research partner,
but we couldn't identify where that overlap was. Because of this, we didn't know
where the school's deep relationships were, so we were unable to focus on
relationship-building efforts with these individuals."
In
looking for a constituent relationship management system, the Brown School
chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Says
Ben Geers, Director of IT for the Brown School, "We considered several
competing options, but only Microsoft Dynamics CRM was flexible enough to meet
our needs. In addition, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, our employees can work
through the Microsoft Outlook interface, which 100 percent of the staff already
knew and used, helping us get the adoption we needed." In terms of flexibility,
Geers notes that, "Microsoft Dynamics CRM brought flexibility to the table that
let us establish a common definition of a constituent while still letting each
research center, department, and office track the information that was most
meaningful to them."
For the Brown
School, deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM as its new constituent relationship management
system has proven to be the right choice. Says Ellen Rostand, Assistant Dean
for Communications, "With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we gained the flexibility and
ease-of-use that we needed to ensure adoption and establish a central source of
constituent information. Now, we're able to act more strategically in how we
engage with constituents, improving such relationships while eliminating the
tedious, manual processes we relied on before."
In addition, as
Rostand comments, "With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we can effectively elevate a
conversation with a person to a long-term relationship. And because we have
insight into all our touch points with our contacts and organizations, we can
coordinate our interactions and provide a much-higher-quality experience."
Having data readily available also means the Brown School now knows how much
print material to produce. Says Rostand, "We now have a more accurate count of
who needs to receive what, which helps us avoid the high cost of print overruns
that were running 3,000 to 4,000 pieces. We've also been able to expand our
reach. With better insight into our relationships, we've been able to expand
the distribution of our magazine by 30 percent."
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