HERON Group more than doubles client base while reducing costs and effort with Dynamics 365 Sales

HERON Group is a vertically integrated utility with more than 20 years of experience in power production, supply, and trading in the Greek electricity and gas markets. HERON Group's vision is to ensure that energy is accessible to everyone, fostering innovation, broadening possibilities, and offering diverse services. The company is committed to using state-of-the-art technology and upholding values of honesty, reliability, and responsibility.

Recognizing growing challenges

As the company grew, its business operations and processes also increased in complexity. "We were gaining more customers and handling larger volumes of data every month. We also had an increasing number of external agents promoting our programs and products. Meanwhile, we were limited by our legacy customer relationship management (CRM) system,” explains Constantinos Kalogiannis, Sales Director at HERON Group.

With flexible contracts, customers can easily switch providers without penalties. “This creates a risk of churn and we need to quickly and efficiently identify high-value customers with high switch off propensity,” adds Stathis Efthymiou, Marketing and Communications Director at HERON Group. In other words, HERON needed to personalize its services and gain deeper insights into customer behaviors and preferences to successfully compete in this evolving market. “Our goal was to improve efficiency by centralizing data management, enabling real-time access to unified information, and facilitating better decision-making,” adds Andromachi Leze, IT Director at HERON Group.

For a solution, HERON assigned Epsilon Dynamics, a member of EPSILON NET Group, Microsoft partner, and software development company with expertise in the energy sector, the challenging migration project. The project team implemented Epsilon Dynamics award-winning solution: Dynamics 365 Energy Accelerator on the cloud. Developed on Dynamics 365 Sales, the customizable, scalable software is tailored to the needs of energy companies. “This migration to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 cloud was one of the most significant projects in our digital transformation journey,” says Leze.

With more self-service capabilities, automation, a centralized platform, and less platform maintenance tasks, HERON requires less personnel despite the company's growth. “Historically, an increase in customer base required a proportional increase in full-time employees. Now, we can manage the growing number of customers with 50% fewer additional staff. These efficiencies have led to cost savings too. We achieved a 15% cost reduction thanks to increased efficiency and automation,” Constantinos Kalogiannis, Sales Director at HERON Group shares.

Empowering employees and 1,000+ external agents

In a year, the system handles 7 million activities like customer interactions, billing, and automated workflows.Today, 80% of HERON’s employees use Microsoft Dynamics 365 to streamline everything from sales and tracking monthly energy consumption to communicating with key partners like local municipalities and managing contracts and billing. The company integrated 17 systems, including platforms for billing, commissioning, invoice management, and communication. “The solution acts as the glue connecting all these aspects of our daily operations, allowing better data flow and 365-day system availability,” notes Christos Mavrodimitrakis, IT Solution Analyst at HERON Group.

With Dynamics 365 Energy Accelerator, the company has ensured flexible yet secure collaboration for its vast network of over 3,000 external agents. “We provide our partners with a user-friendly partner portal. It’s fully integrated with our CRM system and provides real-time updates on their performance." HERON’s IT department provides access on a need-to-know basis, ensuring that sensitive data is shared only with rightful users.

Most importantly, the company’s agents use the platform to see and manage customer experience through multiple channels. This includes HERON’s website and mobile app, an interactive voice response (IVR) system, a chatbot, and live chats with an agent. "We can provide a seamless and personalized experience for customers across all these touchpoints," explains Panagiotis Halas, Customer Operations Director at HERON Group.

Anticipating customer needs

As HERON has gained easier access to analytics, the company can respond to customer needs faster. "Our employees have been really excited about reporting. Power BI reports provide our management team with insights into our clientele and sales performance, which enhances our decision-making," shares Christos Mavrodimitrakis.

With meaningful customer insights, the company has improved its marketing strategies. "We can now dive deep into customer journeys, identify pain points, and address them immediately via marketing campaigns with very high success rates," adds Stathis Efthymiou.

Better service, happier customers

With better insights, the company can also launch new, better products, like virtual power plants—networks of power-generating units controlled through a central software system even if located in different places.

Customer experience has also improved. “We’ve seen major rises in efficiency, responsiveness, and user experience. Today, HERON agents can resolve issues faster. We’ve reduced the time to serve each customer by around 26%,” shares Panagiotis Halas.

This has led to happier customers. "Our net promoter score (NPS) increased by 20 points,” notes Panagiotis Halas. With innovative solutions, better services, and higher customer satisfaction, HERON has seen a growth in the client base. “Since using Dynamics 365, we have doubled the number of electricity clients and increased the number of natural gas clients by five times,” adds Constantinos Kalogiannis.

Looking ahead to continued innovation

Building on this success, HERON Group is setting its sights on further digital transformation. The company plans to explore Dynamics 365 Marketing to enhance campaigns further with more detailed segmentation and automation of customer journeys. Additionally, HERON plans to explore the use of AI for internal processes and day-to-day operations. “HERON’s mission is to provide consumers and businesses with reliable, innovative services. Ensuring we have the right infrastructure in place to deliver these services efficiently is key to fulfilling that mission, without delays or disruptions. As we continue, Microsoft will play a pivotal role in our roadmap," shares Andromachi Leze.

Reflecting on the journey so far, HERON views the partnership and thorough preparation as key to its success. "It’s very important to select an experienced partner that can guide you through the entire process," Christos Mavrodimitrakis notes. “Planning, testing, and continuous support were essential components of our strategy. Our IT team collaborating with Epsilon Dynamics and Microsoft ensured that all these stages proceeded smoothly.”