Major changes
When Econa was preparing for a comprehensive digital upgrade, it chose ProsessPilotene as its partner for CRM development. We were going to make major changes, which required us to examine how new and existing solutions work together. The technology had to align with our needs, and we had to prepare for further development, says Fagerland.
Fagerland knew that he was facing a major undertaking. This was not about individual projects, but about a complete digital transformation that would affect the entire organization. It encompassed everything. Everything from technology to processes, culture and expertise. Keeping up to date is something we place great emphasis on among our members. Our members should also be confident that the administration maintains a high level of professional expertise and authority in order to deliver the best services.
Must deliver quality – every time
Econa currently has 33,000 members. We aim to offer the best solutions, work with the best suppliers and have the best people. But our systems were becoming outdated. We wanted to drive innovation, and to do that, we needed the right solutions in place, says Fagerland. A major project was launched, with several parallel processes running across different solutions and business areas. Their systems were moved to the cloud and the websites were updated. And not least, a CRM system was implemented, also in the cloud.
For us, it was groundbreaking—quite simply a prerequisite for continuing our development and adopting new solutions and new ways of working, says Fagerland.
Long-term process
Business advisor Andreas Fjeld-Nielsen at ProsessPilotene has accompanied Econa throughout its journey and describes a close partnership. At ProsessPilotene, we live by the motto “we win together.” To deliver solutions for tomorrow’s market, we need to be involved in the customer’s long-term objectives. With its forward-thinking approach and high level of involvement, Econa has helped set a new standard for customer-supplier relationships, says Fjeld-Nielsen.
A CRM journey
ProsessPilotene is a full-service provider of CRM solutions specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365. The goal is to increase customers’ value creation and competitiveness by establishing long-term partnerships that allow their organization, processes, and systems to evolve together at a profitable and manageable pace. We call it the CRM journey, says Fjeld-Nielsen.
""It’s about looking at the organization as a whole and using technological solutions to improve employees’ day-to-day work and the customer experience."" – Andreas Fjeld-Nielsen
With entrepreneurial experience from running his own IT company, he was brought in as a digital business developer at Econa to advance the organization’s digital development. Fagerland now had to meet the expectations of a highly knowledgeable membership base. Econa is a professional association and trade union for economists and students in economics and business administration.
Tailored information
For Arild Fagerland at Econa, CRM became the central hub of the digital solution. Member data is among our most important assets, and CRM is at the core—a hub in the system landscape. Moving it to the cloud opened up new possibilities. For example, a new marketing platform allows us to provide members with better, more relevant information about our services and membership benefits, he says enthusiastically. Relevant content drives engagement and strengthens the brand. Rather than the communications department keeping these insights to itself, relevant information is shared across the entire organization so that everyone can work toward a common goal: providing better services and support for members.
Full involvement
In addition to a new communications and marketing platform, Econa has also implemented a new order module for processing membership fees and a new case management system. It has been important to ensure that all the systems communicate with each other, and Econa is well on its way to achieving this. We have now made good progress in moving the core systems to the cloud. We have accomplished all this in just over a year. So things are moving at a tremendous pace!
In a transformation like this, it is absolutely essential that all employees are involved and have a say. Digitalization should be fun, educational and motivating, he says. That is why we have moved digital projects out of a remote corner of the office and into the business areas. Now, the people who know where the pain points are lead the projects, while I coordinate, provide support and view the projects as a whole. This allows us to move much faster while ensuring ownership, innovation and continuous development of the solutions.
ProsessPilotene's recipe for successful and lasting change involves a strategy with clear goals, mapping out tomorrow's processes, tailored solutions, and a focus on user adoption. It is important for both parties in a partnership to take ownership of these areas. In such processes, many struggle with resistance to change. Econa's approach to fostering ownership of the change throughout the organization has had a significant impact on reducing such resistance, says Fjeld-Nielsen.
Excitement at work
Fjeld-Nielsen describes a client with a high level of maturity. What makes working with Econa particularly enjoyable is their maturity when it comes to digital strategy. They assign ownership of each individual process and take a long-term view. Fagerland believes that a systematic and strategic approach to digitalisation is extremely important in transformations like these. It is about so much more than technology. It is the interplay between people, technology and business that makes digitalisation so exciting. As digital developments bring ever-faster change, new ways of thinking about strategy, new process methods and new expertise are required. You need a clear digital roadmap that sets out which areas should be prioritised first. For us, the first step was to gain control of the core systems—the organisation’s digital backbone, if you will. The next step is to focus on digital services for members, the necessary member insights and highly skilled professional environments that, in turn, further accelerate the pace of innovation. This is how we will ensure a scalable organisation that reaches our members with relevant and accessible products and services.
