CASE STUDY

Economic Development Company of Lancaster County

Economic Development Company of Lancaster County (EDC) has been supporting the success of the local business community since 1960. Promoting business development and expansion, the private, nonprofit organization assists companies of all sizes with everything from site location to financing. Partnering with other local organizations, EDC spearheads initiatives, such as its Center for Regional Analysis and Lancaster County Boroughs Initiative, that advance the overall and economic well-being of Lancaster County.

At-A-Glance Results

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Cloud-Accessible Sales Solution
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Stronger, More Intentional Customizations
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Centralized Hub for Sales and Account Data

Client Snapshot

Industry:

Non-Profit

Business:

Economic Development

Locations:

Pennsylvania

The Challenge

A complicated, cumbersome, and costly on-premise solution stunted business growth.

Overly Complex Sales Software

EDC used an on-premise CRM that was customized to the point of bloat.

High Cost to Maintain

Additional customizations—required when creating new fields or tailoring the software—required programming fees.

An Unresponsive Software Partner

EDC’s previous software vendor did not handle issues or answer questions promptly, leading to downtime for EDC.

Limited Data Visibility

EDC’s software could not track customer interactions or extract Business Retention and Expansion data.

The Solution

Centralized sales software streamlines processes and offers user-friendly functionality and meaningful data.

Customization with Purpose

EDC’s updated CRM is tailored to their business needs, from additional fields to the terminology used within the system.

Flexibility Without High Costs

EDC can set up additional fields independently without incurring programming fees.

A Reliable Software Partner

EDC can connect with their dedicated account manager at Cargas for support, training, and anything else they need.

Timely, Powerful Data

Users can view up-to-date data from across the business and share it instantaneously with stakeholders.

Implementation

Cargas replaced the on-premise version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM with the cloud version in December 2019

1: Discovery & Requirements Gathering

As the on-premise solution became less useful and more costly, EDC decided to explore Microsoft Dynamics 365 cloud-based solution as an alternative. 

Mosso said, "We knew of Cargas's positive reputation and wanted to work with a local company. Cargas is a member company of EDC and our leadership has always had a great relationship with people at Cargas. From the start, we knew we could anticipate a wonderful experience." 

The Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM implementation began in August 2019 and the solution went live in early December 2019. 

2: CRM Configuration & Customization

Mosso said that the Cargas team trained them on how to use the CRM correctly to leverage the system and its data to better understand how to grow their organization. Unlike the on-premise system, which required EDC to pay its vendor a programming fee every time it wanted to make a change, Dynamics 365 CRM Online gives EDC the ability to make many changes on its own. 

"When creating a lead or opportunity, we can categorize it as one of three types of business opportunity processes specific to our operations—BRE (Business Retention and Expansion), LTS (Long-term Strategies), and CRA (Center for Regional Analysis). We didn't have that capability before, and it's helpful to be able to establish categories and use our own terminology instead of being limited by the cookie-cutter categories and language in our previous solution," explained Mosso. 

3: Microsoft Shop Integrations

EDC doesn't just use Microsoft's sales solution; the team relies on other Microsoft products, such as SharePoint and Outlook, to handle file management, external communications, sales, planning, and more.  

Cargas seamlessly integrated EDC's new cloud CRM with its existing Microsoft productivity tools to improve email tracking, automatically update contact records, and centralize customer engagement and interaction data.

Results & Impact

Sage Intacct saves Clearview Cancer Institute hours each week by automating key tasks and effectively managing up-to-the-minute financial data.

A System Tailored for Economic Development

With Business Retention and Expansion-specific fields and custom lead and opportunity forms, EDC can readily view, report on, and extract bread-and-butter data.

In-House Impact

EDC’s new CRM is user-friendly, allowing team members to make changes on their own without spending a bundle in vendor fees.

Full-Funnel Visibility

With its cloud deployment and timely data reporting, Dynamics 365 CRM gives EDC a complete view of the sales funnel and instant access to data from across the business.

“The Cargas team was vested in creating an ideal solution for our unique needs […] Cargas remains responsive whenever we need them.”

— Amanda Mosso, Operations & Communications Manager, Economic Development Company of Lancaster County

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