Kingspan growth plans the elevator through global cloud deployment

Kingspan was looking for a flexible CRM solution, capable of scaling up to support its ambitious growth plans. Microsoft Dynamics CRM met the manufacturer’s requirements thanks to its ease-of-use; project tracking and pipeline management capability, as well as its ease-of-integration with Kingspan’s existing Microsoft Office environment.

Following an initial implementation in the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe, where Dynamics CRM now supports 300 users, Kingspan selected HSO to manage the roll-out of the solution in other international territories. HSO’s role also includes helping ensure Dynamics CRM is integrated with other Microsoft systems across the estate (including SharePoint and Microsoft Office 365), as well as supporting the ongoing migration of the CRM solution worldwide from on-premise into the cloud.

Yasmin Lewis, Divisional CRM Team Leader, Kingspan Insulation, said: “We had little hesitation in choosing HSO to handle our CRM roll-out. Microsoft recommended them to us. We were also impressed with their experience and expertise across the manufacturing sector and in delivering and supporting cloud-based implementations of the latest version of Microsoft’s CRM product, Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement, around the world.”

HSO initially focused on taking Kingspan Insulation’s original UK on-premise CRM platform and developing a cloud-based version of it. With the support of HSO, Kingspan is currently completing the rollout of Dynamics 365 in North America, Europe, and Australia.

As a result, Kingspan Insulation expects to have around 250 users of Microsoft Dynamics 365, based outside the UK, working in the cloud by mid-2019. It also plans to migrate the 300 current users of the on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution across the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe into Microsoft Dynamics 365 by the end of that year.

“We are already reaping the rewards of having Microsoft Dynamics CRM in place to assist customer engagement around the world,” said Lewis. “It is helping us standardise our whole approach to CRM worldwide, reducing errors while also streamlining efficiencies.”

“It allows us to have greater visibility of our CRM activity worldwide as well as greater ability to report on it to assist senior level decision-making,” she added. “It also drives significant efficiencies across sales and marketing, enabling us to close more sales, manage marketing programmes more effectively, track company relationships and respond quickly to customer requests.”

“HSO’s experience and expertise has been vital to the success of the roll-out process,” Lewis continued. “From the outset, they committed to spending time onsite with us to understand our systems and business processes and to help ensure that the implementation was aligned. They have been key both to the installation of CRM across the whole business and the migration from on-premise to cloud – and the ongoing support they have provided has been invaluable too.”

"Kingspan is also using a range of third-party applications in conjunction with Microsoft Dynamics 365, including marketing automation solution, ClickDimensions, for its email marketing and website analytics.”

Paul Muggleton, CRM service director, HSO, said: “Kingspan Insulation is a forward-thinking, customer-focused business with ambitious growth plans. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work alongside them to help deliver an enhanced CRM capability both in the UK and internationally – and we are looking forward to providing ongoing support long into the future.”