CASE STUDIES

THREE60 Energy CRM – deploying the Satellite CRM custom App

Client: THREE60 Energy

Sales and client relationships power a business’s success.

So it makes a sense to have the customer relationship management (CRM) system that suits your business in efficiently unlocking the power of data.

But what suits your business? Core29 worked to develop a customised CRM that that slotted seamlessly into THREE60 Energy’s own SharePoint environment and kept the team in control of their system.

They didn’t need the extra cost and complexity of a full “off the shelf” CRM tool but did want a dashboard for key metrics as well as quality reporting and analysis to let them make the smart decisions that drive performance and profitability.

The challenge

The challenge of introducing a CRM system

THREE60 Energy had been using Excel to manage their client pipeline and all its associated data. Understandably, they wanted to move from the problems inherent with different versions of spreadsheets and individual ways of doing things.

They knew they didn’t want the extra cost and complexity of a full third-party CRM tool from the market but they wanted something that delivered more benefits than Excel, served as a single source of truth and fitted in with their way of working.

What they were looking for was a custom-built CRM that fitted into their own SharePoint environment. Their wishlist included a system that made data capture and analysis more efficient and accessible, with a dashboard to illustrate key metrics, along with detailed analysis and presentation tools.

A key requirement was the ability to manage and maintain the CRM themselves going forward.

THREE60 business development director Matthew Christie said: “It’s a very attractive solution because it avoids the cost and complexity of a third party CRM tool and we control the technology. So we’ve been able to scale the users from 20 to 100 by ourselves, with no additional costs.

“We appreciate how Core29 took the time to listen and understand which helped us make a smart, evidence-based investment that was right for our business.

“In fact, we were so impressed that we’ve identified another project that takes all the benefits of working with Core29 and applies them to a different part of the business.”

Core29 solution

For this project, Core29 adopted an iterative approach, delivering the system in three stages.

Initially, the basic framework was introduced so THREE60 could start using it. This first system wasn’t overly complicated so the team could use the new features and functions and assess how it fitted with the way they worked. Core29 then tweaked, revised and handed over the next upgrade based on the feedback.

This approach avoids the situation where a developer disappears into a darkened room with no more client input until it is handed over. This lets the client evaluate the system and see how it embeds within the team and implement increased functionality in stages.

Initial stage

This was the CRM and dashboard build, which was done using migrated data on SharePoint with PowerBI reporting and it had to:

recreate what the existing spreadsheets could do
capture client visit reports
define lists for different services and sectors
create a dashboard and data entry point

Following stages

After several months, THREE60 could identify the extra tools that would enhance the basic CRM and help them manage it themselves.

Further down the line, they asked for a suite of additional technical and reporting capabilities, following some business acquisitions and the connected integrations. These included creating:

specific SharePoint pages
Power Apps to make data entry easier
Power BI reports for the dashboard home page

THREE60 Energy now has a custom-built CRM to manage their client pipeline, to capture leads, opportunities, interactions, contacts, meetings as well as actions.

What’s more, it’s a lightweight system that fits within their SharePoint system that makes data capture and analysis more efficient and accessible.

The ability to control it themselves makes the system entirely scaleable – they don’t need Core29 every time they want to add a user and they don’t pay a subscription.