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Microsoft Dynamics

Customer Solution Case Study

Colliers International Builds Competitive

Advantage by Using CRM Solution

OverviewCountry or Region: United States

Industry: Professional services

Customer Profile

With 15,000 real-estate professionals in

480 offices worldwide, Colliers

International is the third-largest

commercial real-estate firm, offering a

combination of deep expertise and a

broad range of services.

Business Situation

To capitalize on its decentralized

organization and rapid growth, Colliers

wanted a standard customer relationshipmanagement solution that would give

brokers a 360-degree view of clients,

transactions, and properties.

Solution

Colliers built its new customer

relationship management platform on

top of Ascendix Technologies’ Real Estate

Advantage solution, which is based on

Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Benefits

Improved information access andquality

Service excellence

Enhanced producer effectiveness

Faster time-to-market

“The Link application built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

strengthens collaboration and information sharing

within Colliers, which is key to differentiating ourselves

from competitors.” Veresh Sita, Global CIO, Colliers International

After roughly doubling in size in two years, Colliers International

sought a standardized customer relationship management

platform that would help the company make the most of its

unique combination of geographic breadth and local expertise.

After considering other platforms, Colliers chose Microsoft

Dynamics CRM because of its ease of use, technical flexibility,

and the Real Estate Advantage solution from Microsoft Gold

Certified Partner Ascendix Technologies. The solution from

Ascendix adds industry-specific functionality to Microsoft

Dynamics CRM and saved Colliers at least eight months of

custom development. Brokers can now find and share

information about clients, transactions, and properties without

having to search separate systems. And, through Microsoft

SharePoint Server, people throughout the company have theinformation they need to make better decisions.



SituationColliers International is like a U.S.$2 billion

startup, says Durgesh Sharma, Vice

President of Global IT at Colliers, the

world’s third-largest commercial real-estate

services firm. The company combines

decades of deep expertise in all aspects of

the real-estate industry with the mindset

more typically found in an agile and bold

newcomer. That is his simple explanation of

the unique mixture of broad geographic

reach, technological innovation, and nimblecollaboration that continues to transform

the company.

In the past three years, Colliers has

expanded dramatically, roughly doubling

its number of local offices and increasing

annual revenue from $600 million to about

$2 billion in 2010. The real-estate giant now

employs 15,000 professionals in 61

countries. Each of the company’s 480

offices around the world enjoys autonomy

in terms of business processes and systems.

Because of this decentralized model,Colliers can offer clients deep specialization

across the entire real-estate life cycle and

local market expertise around the globe.

“Colliers is growing, but we want to do so

in a way that maximizes the advantages of

our local offices,” explains Sharma. “We are

using technology to harness the full

capabilities of the organization to benefit

our customers.”

The IT road map at Colliers reflects the

company’s business strategy, and features

six components of an integratedtechnology platform: business intelligence,

enterprise search, unified communications,

collaboration, content and knowledge

management, and broker applications. “For

our broker applications, we wanted to

replace several, disparate legacy systems

for managing contact, transaction, and

property data with a single, integrated

solution,” says Sharma. “We wanted to

eliminate information silos that hindered

collaboration among brokers, discovery of

new opportunities, and market insights that

can benefit our customers.”

Specifically, Colliers envisioned a solution

that would provide brokers with a 360-

degree view of:

Contacts, including activities and

interactions, profiles of target properties,

marketing lists, and campaigns.

Companies, including contacts within acompany; portfolios of properties owned,

leased, and managed; and relationships.

Properties and projects, including

contacts relating to a property,

interactive maps, sale and lease

comparables, property and project

information, tenants, and stacking plans.

SolutionColliers quickly determined that the

existing customer relationship

management software it had in place in its

North American and Australia–NewZealand operations was unable to

accommodate all that the company had

planned. Looking for a new platform,

Colliers compared a number of customer

relationship management platforms. “We

discounted some platforms early on

because of limitations in customizing the

solution for industry-specific requirements

and the need for tighter integration with

existing applications,” says Sharma.

“Similarly, being a Microsoft shop, we

lacked the specialized development

expertise needed to extensively customizeon other platforms, which would have

meant having to hire expensive

development consultants if we had gone

that route.”

When Colliers learned about the Real Estate

Advantage solution from Microsoft Gold

Certified Partner Ascendix Technologies,

the balance swung in favor of Microsoft.

“By building on what

Ascendix has already

done with Microsoft

Dynamics CRM, we

saved at least eight

months of

development .… For a

growing company with

nearly $2 billion in

revenue, that was very

important to us.” Durgesh Sharma, Vice President of

Global IT, Colliers International

http://www.colliers.com/


http://www.ascendix.com/







Real Estate Advantage adds industry-

specific functionality to Microsoft Dynamics

CRM for brokerages, owners and operators,

and capital-market entities such as real-

estate investment trusts.

“Ascendix has done a great job of creating

the basic capabilities that any property

management or real-estate brokerage

would need,” says Sharma. “What we’ve

endeavored to do is take that foundation

and create a real competitivedifferentiation, developing capabilities that

amplify our broad reach and deep

specialization to bring added value to our

customers.”

A Multiregional Rollout

Building on the enhancements of Real

Estate Advantage, Colliers piloted its Link

solution based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM

in five months. The company is in the midst

of enhancing the solution and deploying it

in different regions around the world. So

far, Colliers has rolled out Link toapproximately 700 brokers in North

America and 50 brokers in Europe. Next,

the company plans to next deploy Link to

its team in the Australia–New Zealand

region. Within the next few years,

approximately 5,000 brokers will have

access to regional Link systems hosted in

Prague, Toronto, and Sydney. To

accommodate international requirements,

Colliers took advantage of the multilingual

and multicurrency capabilities in Microsoft

Dynamics CRM and functionality to convert

imperial measurement to metric

measurement.

Tools to Empower Producers

Employees at Colliers use Link to access

information, schedule and track activities,

generate reports, and manage salesprojects and marketing campaigns. Because

these functional areas are integrated,

employees can track lists of accounts,

contacts, and leads that match a specific set

of criteria that spans sales, marketing, and

service. In addition, brokers can access Link

functionality from directly within Microsoft

Outlook, and the two programs are

connected so that changes made to

contacts in Outlook are automatically

reflected in Link, and vice versa.

Link enables brokers to investigate marketopportunities with built-in mapping

capability powered by Bing Maps for

Enterprise. Colliers customized the

mapping function so that brokers can draw

a custom polygon on top of a map and

then apply specific search filters. Search

results appear in tabular form and as

colored pins on the map. A Bird’s Eye view

is also available, helping brokers to better

understand a property and its surrounding

landscape.

Integration with Business SystemsTo provide brokers with a 360-degree view

of client, transaction, and property

information, Colliers created connections

between Link, which stores data about

clients, and the company’s Deal Tracking

System (DTS), which records the status of

deals, invoices and payments received, and

information about sales pipelines and

broker commissions. “DTS reads client and

Link is available directly withinOutlook, in web browsers, andon mobile devices.

http://www.ascendix.com/ascendix-solutions.php


http://crm.dynamics.com/









property data stored in Link,” says Sharma.

“And, after we complete a deal, all the

details related to that transaction are

uploaded to Link.” Similarly, Colliers built

connections between Link and the

company’s SPEX real-time database of

market listings. This integration enables

brokers to view and report on sale and

lease comparables from within Link.

Connections to Microsoft Office

SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft

Office Communications Server 2007

Brokers and managers at Colliers can viewreports generated in Link on the company’s

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

portal. Colliers is currently working on

creating dashboards that dynamically

reflect the same type of data but in a

format that people can easily scan. The

company has also implemented similar

functionality for clients, enabling them to

view relevant property and activity

information imported from Link online.

“Now, we take full advantage of the way

that Microsoft products and technologies

work together to facilitate employee

collaboration,” says Sharma. For example,

Colliers used Office SharePoint Server as

the basis for its Our People application that

lets employees identify and connect with

colleagues who may be able to help them

capture a new opportunity. “Our Peopleand Link work together to help brokers

team up to provide the best service

possible to clients,” says Sharma. “Now, it’s

easier for someone with hotel expertise or

connections in one city to work with a

colleague located in another city, if that’s

what is best for the client. Eventually, we

plan to connect Microsoft Office

Communications Server to our telephony

system. That way, our employees can easily

see when a colleague is available to talk

and initiate a call with a click of a button.”

BenefitsColliers International uses Microsoft

Dynamics CRM to capitalize on its unique

strengths as a global commercial real-

estate powerhouse with highly

decentralized operations. “The Link

application built on Microsoft Dynamics

CRM strengthens collaboration and

information sharing within Colliers, which is

key to differentiating ourselves from

competitors,” says Veresh Sita, Global CIO

at Colliers.

Improved Information Access and

Quality

By implementing a standardized customer

relationship management solution for each

geographic region, Colliers gains visibility

into business operations in those regions.

And, because of the way that Link

integrates seamlessly with Office

SharePoint Server, employees without

Link includes mapping capabilityto facilitate market research.

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000006936






direct access to the broker application can

benefit from the data as well. “We haven’t

touted it this way, but Link provides

decision makers throughout our company

with improved business intelligence,” says

Janice Lai, Business Application Manager at

Colliers. “Producers have the information

they need to drive a better deal for their

clients, optimize building utilization, or

proactively position their clients in light of

emerging market trends. Some of our

offices in North America have evenenhanced their recruiting strategy based on

the availability of these types of

collaboration tools.”

Local offices in the Colliers network

tremendously improved the quality of their

client information with Microsoft Dynamics

CRM. “During one of our first

implementations, we asked 35 brokers in

one metropolitan region to provide us with

their contact information,” recalls Sharma.

“We received approximately 70,000

contacts, but trimmed that number throughconsolidation to just 22,000 contacts. Link

automatically synchronizes with client

records and activities in Outlook so that

this type of data duplication is virtually

eliminated. As a result, our brokers have

greater confidence and are more

productive. Link is a valuable, go-to

resource for client research.”

Service Excellence

As Colliers continues to grow, the

company’s leaders want to maintain the

autonomy of local offices but facilitate

collaboration among those offices. “Built on

Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Link is a keycomponent in our strategy of enabling

brokers in the Colliers network to work with

one another more easily,” explains Sharma.

“We believe our clients will benefit when

we can bring together teams of varied local

and industry expertise. Service excellence

requires collaboration throughout the

company, but it’s a significant

organizational challenge. Link is a great

example of how technology can help with

cultural transformation within an

organization.”

Enhanced Producer Effectiveness

Link simplifies everyday producer tasks and

eliminates the need to record and look for

client information in a stand-alone system.

Available within Outlook, web browsers,

and mobile devices, Link promotes fast user

adoption because it borrows the familiar

user interface and navigation of Outlook.

“Because it is built by Microsoft, Microsoft

Dynamics CRM takes advantage of what

employees already know about Outlook

and other Microsoft Office applications. If

people know how to use email, searchcontacts, and schedule tasks and

appointments in Outlook, they can begin

using Link right away,” says Sharma. “Most

importantly, the solution improves the

effectiveness of our brokers in attracting

and retaining clients while reducing the

time spent on administrative tasks. This has

been our primary message when

Brokers can view stacked heatmaps for commercial officesbased on suite lease expirationdates.

“Producers have the

information they need to

drive a better deal for

their clients, optimize

building utilization, or

proactively position their

clients in light of

emerging market

trends.” Janice Lai, Business Application Manager,

Colliers International



promoting the solution to our regional

operations.”

Faster Time-to-Market

Instead of having to develop commercial

real-estate functionality on its own, Colliers

saved time and resources by using the Real

Estate Advantage solution from Ascendix.

“By building on what Ascendix has already

done with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we

saved at least eight months of

development and radically decreased ourtime-to-market,” says Sharma. “For a

growing company with nearly $2 billion in

revenue, that was very important to us. Our

in-house development team continues to

work on the next versions of Link, and we

are looking forward to the next release of

Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which will add

powerful new capabilities.”

Additional Resources Real Estate Advantage:

www.ascendix.com/ascendix-

solutions.php Microsoft case study on the Our People

application at Colliers:

www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_St

udy_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=40000069

36

Microsoft DynamicsMicrosoft Dynamics is a line of integrated,

adaptable business management solutions

that enables you and your people to make

business decisions with greater confidence.

Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar

Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office,

which means less of a learning curve for

your people, so they can get up and

running quickly and focus on what’s most

important. And because it is from

Microsoft, it easily works with thesystems that your company already has

implemented. By automating and

streamlining financial, customer

relationship, and supply chain processes,

Microsoft Dynamics brings together

people, processes, and technologies,

increasing the productivity and

effectiveness of your business, and helping

you drive business success.

For more information about Microsoft

Dynamics, go to:

www.microsoft.com/dynamics

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft

products and services, call the Microsoft

Sales Information Center at (800) 426-

9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft

Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-

2495. Customers in the United States and

Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing

can reach Microsoft text telephone

(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234.

Outside the 50 United States and

Canada, please contact your localMicrosoft subsidiary. To access

information using the World Wide Web,

go to:

www.microsoft.com

For more information about Colliers

International products and services, call

(206) 223-0866 or visit the website at:

www.colliers.com

For more information about Ascendix

Technologies products and services, call

(972) 889-8090 and select option #2, orvisit the website at:

www.ascendix.com

This case study is for informational purposes only.MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS ORIMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published February 2011

Software and Services Microsoft Dynamics

− Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Office

− Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio

− Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Technologies

− Bing Maps for Enterprise

Partners Ascendix Technologies








http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics


http://www.microsoft.com/















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