VSE unifies customer service with Dynamics 365, cutting response times from days to hours

Východoslovenská energetika (VSE) is an electricity and gas supplier in Slovakia, serving the energy needs of approximately 500,000 customers nationwide in both B2B and B2C sectors. The company offers digital, sustainable, and local solutions in both commodity and non-commodity areas. This includes heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) products, photovoltaic solutions, and insurance services. 

To serve these customers, VSE relied on a complex and fragmented information technology (IT) architecture. "We had five or six separate customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and none of the data was centralized," shares Matej Michalov, Head of IT Development at VSE. Each communication channel was managed separately, preventing customer support agents from seeing a customer’s interaction history. "When a customer called and requested an offer, they’d receive one. But later, if they emailed, they might get a different offer," explains Michalov. This inconsistency led to customer frustration and internal inefficiencies. Onboarding a new employee was also time-consuming, with new staff needing to learn different systems tied to separate channels.

Implementing a unified solution

VSE decided to implement a unified, cloud-based CRM solution when support for one of its on-premises CRM was ending. The move was strategic, as it would also set the foundations for a seamless omnichannel experience for customers. The company reached out to Microsoft and implementation partner exe for help. After careful planning, VSE deployed Microsoft Dynamics 365 over the course of two years. To ensure the new system covered all related processes and scenarios, VSE deployed the Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Customer Insights-Journeys, and Customer Voice modules of Dynamics 365. VSE also implemented Power BI for reporting, giving its team meaningful insights into the customer journey.

Beyond revamping their CRM, VSE embarked on a comprehensive digital transformation to unify their data infrastructure and streamline operations across the organization. Pavol Horanič, Project manager at VSE adds, “We use Azure Data Lake as our storage platform, along with Azure Databricks and Azure Synapse Analytics, enabling real-time data flow to Power BI.” To ensure data protection, the new solution securely authenticates users with Microsoft Entra ID. Data seamlessly connects with approximately 15 other systems—including a mass printing platform and SAP IS-U—using a modern architecture based on Kafka, Azure Functions, and Azure Service Bus.

VSE also uses Power Automate and Power Apps to enable low-code/no-code capabilities within the company. This empowers employees to automate processes and develop custom applications, further increasing efficiency and fostering innovation.

Engaging staff for success

With such a comprehensive transformation underway, ensuring staff adoption was crucial. "We anticipated that people will be resistant to change. So, from the very start, we included people from the front office, back office, and other departments in the design creation, as well as in user acceptance testing (UAT) and system integration testing (SIT)," elaborates Michalov.  These team members then became evangelists within their departments, forming small groups to discuss the new system and relay information to their colleagues. “Now, 90% of our staff use Dynamics 365 instead of three or four custom applications,” adds Michalov.

Over a dedicated three-month training period, VSE taught approximately 250 employees how to use the new system, focusing heavily on communication and support to ensure a smooth transition. VSE also held internal events, sent newsletters, and used company meetings to keep everyone informed about progress and changes.

This focus on evangelizing for the new platform paid off. "Thanks to the knowledge transfer between Microsoft, exe team, and our staff, our team can now handle less technical tasks and changes independently," highlights Horanič. “We can now release new features in just one week, something that used to take us one month.”

New levels of efficiency and satisfaction

Now with data consolidated into one platform, VSE improved the accuracy of its reports. Comprehensive dashboards and KPIs help executives attain a holistic view of the business and easily see where to direct efforts.Managing documents also became easier post-transformation. "Before, we had issues with documents stored in different places," explains Michalov. "After the implementation, everything is coordinated and centralized. If the mass printing platform creates a document, it’s shared with SAP, Dynamics 365, and anywhere it’s needed."

Knowing where to find information eliminated time-consuming cross-departmental communications and delays. "Before, it took us days, sometimes months, to respond to customers. With Dynamics 365, it only takes hours," highlights Michalov.