UK Utility Services Firm Boosts Customer Service with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Case Management

BBA Energy (BBA), a provider of utility management services in the UK, works on hundreds of projects and related support activities for its clients. The company helps organizations save money by negotiating complex energy supply contracts. 

Their internal project management process had relied on tools like Microsoft Excel and Outlook, and the company recognized that its clients in the construction and education industries needed services driven by a more robust set of tools that would improve efficiency, data management, and overall customer service. 

"A customer will come to BBA and say it's going to be building a new building and as part of that will need energy services," says Jon Littlechild, Managing Director of Microsoft partner Advanced ConsultCRM, part of Advanced Business Solutions. Advanced helped BBA select and deploy a Microsoft Dynamics CRM-based solution in late 2014.

BBA rolled out Dynamics CRM in October 2014 to help streamline the management of more than 200 projects and related support activities by reducing manual effort and providing a 360-degree view of its customers. CRM manages two key areas for BBA. First, it manages the communications interactions with energy suppliers. Second, it controls the sequence of events for a client - the project as a whole that they need to go through to get the energy supplied to that building.

BBA's work is not project management in the conventional sense of the word, but rather a building construction lifecycle from an energy perspective project, says Littlechild. He explains that BBA is in fact a relatively light user of ...