An Architecture Firm’s Success Story With Implementing Dynamics 365 in the Cloud

One of our clients is an architecture firm with vast experience in architecture, engineering, construction program management, and professional services. They pride themselves upon be a client-centric, highly agile organization. They aspire to be the best in the world at delivering architecture, engineering, construction, design, surveys, and program management to organizations with multiple sites. It is because of their work ethic and goals that Sevan Multi-Site Solutions has some of the biggest brands in their client portfolio, as well as being named on the 100 Best Medium Workplaces 2018 by Great Place to Work® and FORTUNE, of which they ranked #29 on that list.

With these accolades and the fact that the company has averaged 86% year-over-year growth over the last three years, the company has grossly outgrown their current CRM and ERP solutions.

“We wanted a solution to help us do more than take care of the business in its current state. We needed it to manage our talents and skills so that the right people can contribute to projects where they can have the greatest impact. It also had to support continuing growth, as our strategy calls for a strong focus on international opportunities,” Jason Bentley, Vice President of Technology and Innovation, explained. “We were looking for a platform that we could invest in and that would grow and evolve with us.”

After comparing multiple possible solutions, Sevan chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 for their ERP and CRM needs. Even more importantly, they opted to move their business to the Azure cloud.

“We are confident that we chose the right solution with Microsoft Dynamics 365,” Bentley said. “We believe in Microsoft’s direction. Their roadmap aligns closely with our vision for a single, integrated platform to run business operations and finances in the cloud.” Sevan also felt that an implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 would be less complex, risky, and lengthy than a comparable deployment of competing products.

Moving from On-Premise ERP to the Cloud

Sevan had a few reasons why they wanted to move their business to the cloud. For starters, its technology team developed custom digital tools for their clients, and they deployed many of them to the cloud. They and their clients have called the cloud-deployed tools a competitive differentiator.

In addition, Sevan also wanted to extend this success with the cloud-centric solutions to their finances as well. They had been using QuickBooks for financial management, but they now wanted a platform solution that could host a powerful and flexible software management solution all on the cloud. Azure cloud was the best fit for Sevan, especially since the platform provided easy integration with Dynamics 365.

Choosing Sikich for Their Microsoft Transition

Once Sevan identified what solutions they needed, they had to find the right technology partner to help implement Dynamics 365 into the Azure Cloud. They wanted a provider that would offer both ERP and CRM expertise and demonstrate an understanding of Sevan’s core lines of business. After meeting with several different providers, Sevan chose Sikich as their Microsoft partner.

“Sikich shared our value perspective of delivering excellence to customers,” Bentley explained. “Starting with the very first contact, the Sikich team demonstrated the empathy, business insight, and technical expertise that we thought would be essential to the project’s success. I’m happy that our relationship has become even stronger through our collaboration.”

Working along with Sevan’s tech teams, Sikich performed a phased implementation of Dynamics 365. They also implemented other software tools that extended Dynamics 365’s capabilities to meet Sevan’s needs, such as Power BI reporting and analytics and other tools for managing time, expenses, taxes, and banking.

“Sikich has an excellent process for managing complex, large projects like our Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation,” Jim Evans, President and CEO of Sevan described. “They helped us resource it in the best possible way, and then collaborated with us to meet all of our milestones on time. They have wonderful people with a wealth of experience and an unshakeable commitment to our success.”

Newfound Transparency and Consistency

Much of the value Sevan will gain from Dynamics 365 is from the software’s centralized data. With the CRM and ERP all in one place, all business users can access all of their business management data from once place. With it all hosted in the cloud, users can access it at any time, anywhere as well.

“We wanted to get our business data onto Microsoft Dynamics 365 and take advantage of the integrations with analytical and business intelligence tools that Microsoft offers in the same Azure environment. That gives us control and transparency in growing the business and getting the right data to the right people in the right business groups,” Bentley said.

Most importantly, Sevan’s clients will greatly benefit from Sevan using Dyanmics 365.

“Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps us see ourselves more clearly, which means we will be able to make commitments to our clients with greater certainty. Thanks to Microsoft Dynamics 365 as implemented for us by Sikich, we will also be more competitive and effective in winning and serving large enterprise clients with the quality, innovation, and speed they expect,” Evans said.

Scalable Growth

Since Dynamics 365 can be scaled up or down depending on the business’s needs, Sevan is confident that the software solution will help them reach their growth goals.

“We now have a scalable infrastructure that enables us to connect with and serve large clients anywhere in the world. Sikich helped us operate at the highest levels of performance and agility, expanding our business on the digital platform of the cloud,” Bentley explained.

But Sevan’s partnership with Sikich did not come to a close once they completed the install. Sikich remains a tech partner with Sevan, especially when it comes to helping the company adjust their cloud infrastructure.

“We don’t view Sikich as just another system integrator,” Bentley emphasized. “Sikich is a trusted partner we will turn to when we have questions about Microsoft Dynamics 365 or anything related to our business technology. That’s what we hoped for from a true partner relationship.”

For more detailed info on Sevan’s experience with integrating Dynamics 365, please review our full case study.