Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365
The Microsoft business application platform, adopted as a connected suite rather than as separate products.
Education · Business Applications
Student enquiries answered faster, with less staff effort
A research-intensive university, Global. The university wanted to modernise student interactions, improve administrative efficiency and raise staff productivity, but enquiry handling was fragmented across channels and teams.
The situation
What the organization was dealing with
The university wanted to modernise student interactions, improve administrative efficiency and raise staff productivity, but enquiry handling was fragmented across channels and teams.
Universities handle enquiry volume with the same teams that handle everything else, and the peaks are seasonal and severe. An enquiry that waits three days during clearing is an applicant who has gone elsewhere.
What was done
The work, and the part that was actually hard
A CRM was implemented on Dynamics 365 with AI agents, delivered in agile phases that prioritised omnichannel capability and case management first.
The delivery model is the interesting part: agile phases with omnichannel and case management prioritised first. Institutions often attempt full-lifecycle student CRM in one program and stall; this sequencing produced something usable before the ambition was complete.
Results
What was published
These are the outcomes achieved after implementation and adoption training.
Response timesFaster
Staff workloadReduced
Agile deliveryPhased
What changed
- Enquiry management unified across channels into one case system
- Faster response times to students with less administrative effort
- Better oversight of enquiry volume, ageing and ownership
- Delivery phased into releases rather than a single switch
Platforms involved
What each product was doing here
Platform
AI agents
Scoped agents that carry out a defined task against the organization's systems, rather than only answering questions.
Platform
Microsoft Unified
Microsoft's support and advisory engagement, used here alongside the implementation.
What transfers
If you were to attempt this
Phasing by capability rather than by department is what made this deliverable, and it applies to any institution with distributed governance.
Where it usually gets harder than expected: Higher education has more stakeholders with a genuine veto than almost any sector. Finding them at the start is cheaper than discovering them at go-live.
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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