Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365
The Microsoft business application platform, adopted as a connected suite rather than as separate products.
Education · Business Applications
From 180,000 cases to 370,000 — because staff finally used the system
A large modern university, United Kingdom. The legacy support platform was difficult enough to use that a substantial amount of student support was happening outside it, leaving support teams without shared or current data.
The situation
What the organization was dealing with
The legacy support platform was difficult enough to use that a substantial amount of student support was happening outside it, leaving support teams without shared or current data.
A support platform that is difficult to use does not reduce support demand; it moves it somewhere unmeasured. The work still happens, in inboxes and corridors, and the institution loses the ability to see it.
What was done
The work, and the part that was actually hard
Support was moved onto Dynamics 365 and integrated with the university's existing Microsoft environment, so teams worked from the same up-to-date data with less complexity.
This is why the case volume more than doubling is a success rather than an alarm. It did not indicate rising demand — it indicated that support which had always been happening finally became visible. That is a genuinely useful thing to understand before reading any before-and-after volume comparison.
Results
What was published
These are the figures exactly as reported in the source. Nothing has been rounded, extrapolated or restated.
Cases logged in first year180k → 370k
Shared data set1
Platform complexityLess
What changed
- Support teams working from the same current data
- Case volume logged more than doubled in the first year as usage moved into the system
- Integration with the existing Microsoft environment rather than a parallel estate
- Visibility of genuine support demand for the first time
Platforms involved
What each product was doing here
What transfers
If you were to attempt this
Volume metrics across a platform change measure adoption, not demand. Very few organizations say this out loud.
Where it usually gets harder than expected: Expect the same effect anywhere a hard-to-use system is replaced. Budget for the apparent increase and explain it to leadership in advance.
How we would take it on
Our approach to Business Applications work
1
Shadow the real process
We sit with the people doing the work and watch what actually happens, including every workaround. Process documents and reality are rarely the same thing.
2
Design against your own data
We prototype and show you your own records in it, not a demo company, before anything is built.
3
Go live in a contained phase
By site, by practice group or by service line — with the group that wants it most going first, to a fixed price.
4
Measure against the baseline
We report against the numbers agreed at the start, including where the result fell short of the target.
Recognise the problem?
If any of the above describes your organization, tell us where it hurts most. We will tell you what the same platforms could realistically do in your environment, what we would measure, and whether we think it is worth doing at all.
Talk to our teamMore Business Applications storiesWe reply to every message within one business day.
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