“The business case is very simple—I got payback in the

first hour I switched to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.”

Nalin Parbhu, Managing Director, Infuse Consulting

IT services company Infuse Consulting has experienced 600 per

cent year-on-year growth since 2002. With people and back-

office systems stretched to the limit by rapid expansion, the firm

selected Microsoft Partner Zero2Ten to implement Microsoft

Dynamics CRM Online and Assistance PSA for Microsoft

Dynamics CRM. Infuse now has complete confidence in sales

reporting and the sales, marketing, and invoicing tools to

support its ambitions.

Business Needs In common with many small businesses,

the growth experienced by Infuse had

created a number of challenges for its

Managing Director. Tools that had been

adequate for a team of two people were

proving ineffective by the time that team

had expanded to 27.

Nalin Parbhu, Managing Director, Infuse

Consulting, says: “Trying to manage our

growth has been a challenge. We didn’t

have a scalable model. Much of it was in

my head—I was the single point of failure.”

Infuse was using Sage ACT for customer

relationship management (CRM). And

while it was a practical tool, it didn’t

provide the detailed pipeline information

Parbhu needed. In addition, he was

spending too much time administering the

system. “A big problem I had was the way

you had to set it up on a laptop. I was the

administrator and had to connect to our

virtual private network to sync the data—it

was fine as a one-man business, but with a

growing sales team it was an unnecessary

burden on my time,” he says.

Invoicing was equally challenging. Infuse

had moved from a simple time and

materials (T&M) billing model to a

combination of fixed price and T&M

contracts. The company had also gone

from issuing one or two invoices a month

with three or four employees submitting

Microsoft Dynamics

Customer Solution Case Study

IT Services Firm Equips Employees with Easy-

to-Use CRM Tool, Supporting Growth

Customer: Infuse Consulting

Website: www.infuse.it

Customer Size: 27

Country or Region: United Kingdom

Industry: Professional services

Partner: Zero2Ten

Customer Profile

Infuse Consulting provides quality

assurance and software testing

automation services to major

organisations throughout Europe, the

Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.

Software and Services

Services

− Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

For more information about other

Microsoft customer successes, please visit:

www.microsoft.com/casestudies

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2013

timesheets, to 27 employees submitting

timesheets and a corresponding increase in

invoices being processed. Parbhu says: “My

Finance Director found the invoice system

particularly frustrating. It was all on a

spreadsheet, but it was out of control. I was

the only one who could work out the

commission structure. Billing and paying

expenses were both extremely time-

consuming tasks. The situation was far from

ideal, and it was even affecting growth. We

couldn’t build a business like this—we

needed systems that would give us the

room and information to grow.”

Solution Wanting to act fast, Infuse engaged

Microsoft Partner Zero2Ten to install

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and

Assistance PSA, a professional services

automation (PSA) module that integrates

with Microsoft Dynamics. This provides

professional services functionality, including

contract and project management, resource

planning, timesheet and expense

management, and invoicing.

Parbhu had evaluated a number of CRM

and PSA applications—including Sage,

Force.com, and Kimble—but was

particularly impressed by Microsoft

Dynamics CRM Online. He says: “The two

things that really worked for me were the

tight integration with Microsoft Outlook

and the fact that it was web-based and

would always be available and up to date.”

Infuse opted for the Zero2Ten SmartStart

implementation, a virtual implementation of

a pre-configured instance of Microsoft

Dynamics CRM Online, to cut the time it

would take to go live with a working

solution. Parbhu says: “We needed just one

piece of configuration. We went live in just

four weeks, including integration with the

PSA solution and Quickbooks, our

accounting software. If Christmas hadn’t

fallen in the middle, it would have taken

just two weeks.”

The integration between Microsoft

Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Outlook

means that Infuse sales people can access

the CRM system from their email accounts,

rather than having to open a separate

system. They can use the same calendar

and synchronise their contacts.

Infuse is using PSA to create project

proposals as well as for managing

timesheets and invoices. Parbhu also has

plans to add Microsoft SharePoint Online

to the integrated solution—to provide

additional functionality and make it

available wherever his employees happen

to be.

Benefits Infuse now has an easy-to-use CRM

system that supports the needs of a fast-

growing services business. It has better

visibility of the sales pipeline and Parbhu is

confident that he can achieve his 400 per

cent growth target.

Pipeline visibility. Infuse has to track

and report on leads from partners to

ensure continued investment. It also

uses an outsource partner to run a sales

campaign. Parbhu says: “It was giving us

a spreadsheet, but it wasn’t very useful.

Now, we put it into the CRM system and

I can see the pipeline. I can remove

conjecture and see actual results.”

Reduced cost. Parbhu says: “We’re

paying around £100 a month for

Microsoft Dynamics CRM, whereas Sage

ACT was costing us £160 a month.

What’s more, I was spending 10 per cent

of my time supporting ACT. That’s an

opportunity cost of between £20,000

and £200,000 a year. The business case

is very simple—I got payback in the first

hour I switched to Microsoft Dynamics

CRM.”

Ease of use. The sales team has found

the CRM tool simple to use. Parbhu

says: “Now they’re working in Microsoft

Outlook, they’re completely at home

with CRM. It’s a much better tool, and

they’re actually using it.” Parbhu also

benefits from Microsoft Dynamics CRM

in the cloud. He says: “They can update

it in real time and I can get an instant

snapshot view.”

Efficient sales process. Technical

Account Directors can now close

renewal business themselves, leaving

the sales team to concentrate on new

business. Parbhu says: “If they’re

focusing on renewals, they want to be

paid twice and they’re not bringing in

new customers.” Sales people are also

less reliant on the technical team for

winning new business. Parbhu says:

“They create their own proposals in a

few clicks of a button. They no longer

need to involve the technical team,

which is saving time and cutting costs.”