Aalborg Energie Technik is a Danish company that constructs advanced facilities across Europe for the conversion of biomass into energy. They focus on addressing environmental issues by using waste, such as plants and agricultural residues, to generate power and heat.

In 2020, Aalborg Energie Technik established a new aftermarket business area, providing services and advice for the maintenance and further development of existing facilities. This allows them to leverage the company's expertise not only in the initial construction phase but also afterward, ensuring that the facilities built by Aalborg Energie Technik remain well-maintained and modern.

Nicolai Møller leads this new focus area in his role as Director of Aftermarket at Aalborg Energie Technik. He quickly identified the need to structure the sales process:

"Since we started the aftermarket business, our primary tools for managing the sales process have been Microsoft Outlook and, notably, Microsoft Excel. But fundamentally, Excel is not designed for tasks like this. It is a just a digital version of notes scribbled on scraps of paper," he explains.

Committed to Microsoft

Nicolai Møller and Aalborg Energie Technik quickly realized that Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales was a fitting solution.

Rather than using multiple platforms and ecosystems, they chose to invest in the Microsoft platform. This decision provides many opportunities to scale the solution with new components and capabilities without leaving the ecosystem or creating custom integrations.

"We want a solution that is embedded throughout the organization, where we can gather and share information across marketing, sales and our aftermarket organization. In this way, we can manage contacts with our customers and consolidate the communication history," explains Nicolai Møller, adding:

"We want to free ourselves from a dependency on Excel and other applications that, while excellent in themselves, are used for many things that they are not intended for. With a proper CRM system we can, in a structured and well documented way,  get an overview of all our customers, as well as all our successes and mistakes in our customer interactions."

The right solution within the right framework

In collaboration with Cepheo, Aalborg Energie Technik ran an analytical process to validate the company's needs and opportunities. This process included a CRM measurement, consisting of 27 questions directed at a representative sample of employees, that provided insight into the company's possibilities and challenges related to CRM.

The process proved to be very valuable, as Nicolai Møller explains:

"With the thoroughness and structure that the analysis phase and CRM measurement enabled, we were able to confirm or dispel various assumptions around the solution's capabilities and framework, both of which were equally important. The crucial aspect is to move away from assumptions and instead examine things in an objective and systematic way. This is one of the things that has worked really well in the process with Cepheo."

For example, it became clear to Nicolai Møller and the rest of the management at Aalborg Energie Technik that the human aspect of introducing a new IT solution was one of the most important considerations.

"People have their everyday routines and ways of doing things. If you come and change that by 'forcing' them to do things differently, you risk meeting resistance and reluctance. It can undermine the potential that the new solution should actually realize. It has become clear to us how important it is to think about how we present the solution and ensure its adoption," explains Nicolai Møller.

He emphasizes the value of creating ambassadors for the solution: individuals who can lead by example, demonstrating the daily value and benefits of changing workflows and approaching the new solution with a positive attitude.

The result of the analysis phase was a simple and scalable Dynamics 365 Sales solution with no significant adjustments or additions.

"It has always been a priority for us to stick to an out-of-the-box, standard solution. Various minor adjustments create unnecessary complexity, affecting both the project plan and future maintenance," says Nicolai Møller.

Confidence and trust in the collaboration with Cepheo

Throughout the sales, analysis and project phases, one aspect has consistently stood out in the discussions with Cepheo, according to the director:

"We have truly been listened to. Cepheo's people have been curious and have understood how to translate our business needs into concrete IT solutions."

The results of the analysis phase and the overall process made it easy for Nicolai Møller and Aalborg Energie Technik to choose Cepheo as the implementation partner for the Dynamics 365 Sales solution.

"Throughout the process, Cepheo demonstrated an understanding of our business, industry, desires and needs. This created a great deal of trust and confidence in Cepheo. We could clearly feel that we were on the right track and that choosing Cepheo was the right decision. In the project phase, which we are currently in, we have only become more convinced that Cepheo gives us the greatest chance for success," explains Nicolai Møller.

Anticipating tangible effects

The Dynamics 365 Sales solution is expected to be implemented at Aalborg Energie Technik in the fall of 2023, and Nicolai Møller is looking forward to it.

"I believe we will notice a difference quickly. Our salespeople are tired of fumbling around in Excel sheets, where it's easy to make mistakes and where you can be unsure if the content is updated and maintained. Of course, we will go through an initial period before the solution becomes ingrained in the employees, and they discover features and possibilities. After that, I not only think that job satisfaction will increase ‒ because I know few salespeople who enjoy administration ‒ but I also expect that productivity will increase," explains Nicolai Møller.

He clarifies that the reason for this is precisely because salespeople don't have to spend time on administration, and the solution simultaneously provides them with a much better overview of the customer and the shared history. This will be valuable when a new salesperson takes over a customer or a lead. Instead of starting from scratch, they can easily get an overview of the most important information and proceed with their work, says Nicolai Møller, adding:

"In the longer term, it's also about getting complete control of our pipeline and becoming sharper on who is being called and for how long, so both individual salespeople and I, as sales manager, are better able to make the right decisions."

Expanding with additional components

Even though Dynamics 365 Sales has not been fully implemented yet, Aalborg Energie Technik and Nicolai Møller are already looking ahead to new technologies and possibilities.

"We need to review our entire IT infrastructure and, in collaboration with Cepheo, figure out how our activities align with the systems and solutions we have. As mentioned earlier, I am quite sceptical about using tools for tasks that they are not intended for. We need to use the right applications for the right tasks," emphasizes Nicolai Møller, expressing enthusiasm and optimism on having Cepheo along for the journey.