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Leading Real Estate Developer takes a giant leap towards offering an enhanced customer experience
Alef Group, the leading real estate and retail developer in the Emirate of Sharjah, has partnered with Metadata Technologies to implement a world-class Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution. The group selected Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Property-xRM, a Real Estate CRM Solution to streamline customer management, boost operational efficiency, and improve productivity.
“We were on the lookout for an intuitive CRM solution with functionalities that met and enhanced our daily operational requirements. Metadata’s ready-to-use industry-standard solution helps in addressing those requirements and allows quicker implementation with customization capabilities,” Alef Group stated.
Alef Group’s expedited growth will benefit greatly from the automation and digitalization features of the solution. This will significantly decrease the duration needed for tenant onboarding and documentation, ultimately enhancing efficiency and productivity. The system-generated lease contract eliminates the need for manual intervention and can now be completed with just a few clicks of a button.
“This solution will empower our front-end sales executives to have more visibility into their day-to-day client interactions with updated information to drive meaningful conversations with an emphasis on improving customer service. Our customers also stand to benefit immensely from this initiative,”stated a spokesperson for Alef Group.
The primary objective of the leading Real Estate Developer is to harness the potential of its fully automated system and utilize its robust reporting capabilities to produce pertinent reports for management purposes. By doing so, the workload on sales support staff will be reduced significantly.
Property-xRM for Sales and Retail Management are equipped with advanced functionalities, including property shortlisting, booking & document management, unit sales management, and post-sales management such as transfer and cancellation, which enable efficient usage.
“We are thrilled to work with Alef Group and look forward to contributing to their digital initiative. With a powerful Microsoft-based solution, Alef will have more insights into their business, and will be able to scale rapidly“– said Mr. Rasheed Muhammed, Managing Director of Metadata Technologies.
The maturity of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Property-xRM helps to cater to all the major revenue-generating aspects of a real estate company’s operations. As Gold Microsoft Partners, Metadata Technologies, a CRM company has been providing solutions to large Real Estate Developers and Property Management companies for over 20 years.
Reach out to us to schedule a free demo for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Property-xRM.
A first-hand experience – Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Property-xRM for Real Estate Seminar
-By Sanjeev S Nair
The past few months have seen ground-breaking innovations in technology with AI, ChatGPT, and other business enablers. Over the years, Microsoft has made significant additions to its technology in its biyearly releases to streamline business processes and provide innovative solutions for organizations all around the world.
I was not surprised when I raised the question about the buzzword in recent times and got a unanimous response around AI and ChatGPT.Generative AI in Microsoft has truly been a game-changer. Being closely associated with Microsoft technology, the recent developments are fascinating. The sheer thought of how technology would present itself in the years to come amazes me!
The Latest in Microsoft Dynamics 365
On March 15, 2023, Metadata Technologies hosted the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Technology Summit for Real Estate at the Delta Hotels by Marriott in Dubai. Conducted for real estate professionals in the GCC region, the seminar focused on the latest in Microsoft Technology and how it can help them work smarter and more efficiently.
It was a pleasure to be part of the session, not just as a host, but also as an attendee simply because it presented an opportunity to connect with real estate professionals and seasoned industry leaders.
Metadata’s annual event was led by its Microsoft-certified consultants, highly experienced in the field of Real Estate Technology. The seminar covered a range of topics, including the latest updates to Microsoft AI, Dynamics 365, and our real estate flagship solution, Property-xRM.
One of the highlights of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 seminar was a live demonstration of Viva Sales in Microsoft Teams, an AI-powered collaboration tool that provides a platform to accelerate sales. Attendees were shown how Teams can be used to manage tasks, automate data entry, generate key talking points, and share files and documents.
The key speakers in action
The core agenda of the session was the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service functions. Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that provides companies with a comprehensive set of tools for managing their business operations. Attendees were shown how to use Dynamics 365 CRM to manage the customer-facing functions, as well as how it natively works with other Microsoft tools like Outlook and Excel. They also learned about the benefits of leveraging Conversational Intelligence during phone calls and automating the recursive tasks done by a sales or service executive while using the CRM solution.
Property-xRM for Real Estate
The real estate segment of the event focused on the capabilities that Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Property-xRM bring in for Real Estate Developers, Property Management, and Facilities Management Companies. We also demonstrated the latest capabilities of Property-xRM’s Community Management, Owner Association, and Retail Management modules that cater to the various markets within the real estate industries.
As real estate continues to flourish in the UAE, leaders in the industry have realized the need for a scalable and flexible solution to meet the requirements of the market. Property-xRM combines the best of both worlds – The powerful Microsoft technology platform and Metadata’s 20 years of real estate domain expertise.
Property-xRM for Real Estate – The Complete Real Estate Suite
Overall, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Seminar was a great success, leaving attendees with a better understanding of how Microsoft technology can help them work more efficiently and effectively. By providing real estate professionals with the tools and resources they need to succeed, Metadata Technologies and Property-xRM are helping to drive innovation and growth in the industry.
As a Gold Microsoft Partner, Metadata Technologies is a 100% CRM-focused company with 20 years of experience providing Customer Relationship Management solutions for business enterprises across the globe. Metadata has been the recipient of the Best Industry Partner Award in 2014 by Microsoft and is committed to delivering quality solutions to ensure peak customer satisfaction.
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Generative AI in Microsoft Dynamics 365
With all that’s been happening around AI in Microsoft, everyone wants to know how technology is transforming. In this article, we bring to you a quick overview of updates to watch out for with special emphasis on AI in Microsoft Dynamics 365.
A recent Microsoft survey found that 9 out of 10 workers hope to reduce their workload by getting AI to do repetitive tasks at work. In today’s world that’s digitally transforming at a rate like never before, businesses are looking to bring higher levels of efficiency at scale into daily operations.
Over the years Microsoft has proactively leveraged AI in Azure Cloud, in Dynamics 365 business applications across CRM & ERP, and on the Low-code Power Platform. This includes key automation and insights along the lines of conversational intelligence, lead scoring, predictive analysis, forecasts, the AI Builder – the list just goes on.
However, the groundbreaking headline in recent times has been the buzz around OpenAI’s generative AI – The ChatGPT. In a record advent-to-implementation plan, Microsoft partnered with OpenAI to bring GPT capabilities natively into the Microsoft Ecosystem. If you’re a Microsoft user, it certainly is exciting news! And if you’re not, it’s time to explore what this is really about.
Building on the GPT capabilities, Microsoft recently announced the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot. With this update, the conversation on AI is no longer “How can I use ChatGPT?“.
It’s now a much broader question: “What all can AI do for me?”
The AI Timeline for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform
2023 has already been ground-breaking and we are only 3 months in. With all that’s been going around, one thing is clear – the future of technology is here. While the likes of Google and Salesforce have come up with their AI technology releases, the extent of Microsoft’s AI adoption is what makes it stand out.
Not just on the cloud, the AI capabilities extend across business applications, Office 365, and the Power Platform. Here’s a quick look at the AI timeline across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform.
One thing is for sure, the rest of 2023 is going to be fun!
What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot is the world’s first AI Copilot that is natively built into CRM and ERP. Here’s a quick overview of how CoPilot works for CRM:
Sales: Use Copilot to make Dynamics 365 for Sales faster and smarter. Automate emails, appointment booking, and meeting summaries on Teams and Outlook with generative AI capabilities.
Marketing: Use Copilot in Dynamics 365 for Marketing to personalize communications and segment the target audience using the query assist feature. Prepare new email campaigns on a mere request to the powerful AI.
Service: Use Copilot in Dynamics 365 for Service and get AI to draft contextual service chats, messages, and emails. With access to the knowledge base, CoPilot can also prompt the appropriate solutions to service queries.
It brings the next generation of AI capabilities and natural language processing to every line of business – ranging from sales and marketing to service and supply chain.
Genie in a Bottle
Business professionals can now generate ideas and content with the help of AI in Dynamics 365. They can easily transfer mundane and time-consuming tasks and let AI do the work. The tool can also obtain deep insights in addition to suggestions on the next best actions. In short, a user can describe his needs, and the AI gets it done. A little bit like a genie in a bottle, your wish is the AI’s command.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CoPilot – A Generative AI Experience
Here, we leave you with a powerful example of generative AI already incorporated in Dynamics 365 Copilot. This will give you a preview of work in the future, created by Microsoft.
Viva Sales, one of Microsoft’s earlier AI functionality, can now generate content suggestions based on customer emails. Importantly, it can populate it with data that is directly relevant to the recipient of the email. This can include pricing, promotions, or upcoming deadlines.
The Viva Sales – A Seller Experience with AI
A seller experience platform by Microsoft, that’s what Viva Sales is. An AI-powered tool to automate a lot of the recursive and mundane tasks performed by the front-end team. Viva Sales plugs in as an app to Outlook and Teams, while leveraging CRM data to suggest intelligent next steps and actions. Viva Sales can also summarize meetings, transcript calls, highlight key points of discussion, and much more.
Now, how this tool works is, first and foremost, the seller gets to choose from a set of AI-suggested reply options to communicate with a prospective buyer. Next, he/she can make minor edits to the generated content to add any level of hyper-personalization. And that’s it, the user can quickly copy out the content to email and send them out.
Microsoft Viva Sales Generative AI Experience
Today, the same task is being done manually by a seller. At first, the user sifts through tons of data to find relevant details. Then comes the manual crafting of emails one by one, incorporating personalization. And finally, the user has to double-check the information going through the CRM record.
According to Microsoft Research, everyday sellers spent 66 percent of their time at work managing emails.
The impact of AI on just one task at work is disruptive. Then what would the whole future of work created by Microsoft look like?
CoPilot in Power Platform
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the AI Builder on the Power Platform. It is a capability that allows users to build AI Models to design and optimize business processes. Leveraging Power BI and Power Automate, the AI functionality enables organizations to gain critical business insights and automate workflows with custom or pre-built models.
Mid-March 2023, Microsoft announced the AI Copilot in Power Apps – an absolute game-changer. This update aims to take the already existing low-code/no-code approach to the next level. Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, and human capabilities will now work hand-in-hand toward leveraging natural language for app development.
What does this mean?
For example, as a user, you can simply type in a prompt like “Build a flow to automatically save attachments from an email into SharePoint”. Now, the Co-Pilot takes over and gives the user a Power Automate workflow to make the necessary adjustments that your app needs. All through a natural language prompt. Literally, no codes – How amazing is that!
It doesn’t stop there. You can now also leverage CoPilot in Power Virtual Agents to build ChatBots using prompts in natural language and have conversational dialogues ready in no time.
CoPilot in Microsoft 365
Simply put, this is all of your day-to-day applications, supercharged. Be it creating a PowerPoint presentation in minutes using mere prompts or getting suggestions and critical insights automatically from Excel – CoPilot will accelerate your work with a few clicks. Don’t believe us? Check it out for yourself below:
Office365 now supercharged
While this is just the beginning, the focus now would be on making these functions work as responsibly as possible. The idea is to empower users with smarter automation on mundane tasks with AI.
To learn more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM and how it can be deployed for your organization, please feel free to reach out to us.
As a Gold Microsoft Partner, Metadata Technologies is a 100% CRM-focused company with 20 years of experience providing Customer Relationship Management solutions for business enterprises across the globe. Metadata has been the recipient of the Best Industry Partner Award in 2014 by Microsoft and is committed to delivering quality solutions to ensure peak customer satisfaction.
Job Code: MT/BDE/20221116 Location: Dubai We are looking for smart business development professionals to collaborate with us to build solid pipelines & boost sales.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as the name suggests, is how your business interacts with customers. A detailed record and analysis of your past, present, and future customers and their interactions with the company. This is the beauty of CRM as it journeys with the customer from lead to sale and beyond.
A CRM presents and identifies customers based on their lifetime value. It is the operational engine running the company’s customer philosophy. This is why it is inevitable for companies to have a CRM embedded into their day-to-day business functioning. Now, there’s been a lot of talk about CRM being a software. What is CRM really about? Let’s find out.
Customer Satisfaction and CRM
The concept of CRM arises from the need to answer a simple question – Is the customer satisfied?
The 1970s: The answer first sprouts up in the form of annual customer surveys and direct interactions. The technology at the time allowed them to categorize customers using spreadsheets and lists.
The 1980s: The concept adds database marketing and contact management to the mix– popularly named as Sales force automation.
The 1990s: CRM finds identity in the hands of Tom Siebel of Siebel systems when he designs the first CRM product. From there began the gold rush of CRM. “
“CRM is Software”
The default view is that ‘CRM is just software.’ So let’s start there for now. A basic ‘software’ definition – It is a technology that helps companies to manage their relationship with customers, both current and prospective.
A CRM system is designed with one clear goal in mind: Improving business relationships, which eventually leads to satisfied customers. Technology transformed the concept of CRM from ‘understanding if the customer is satisfied’ to figuring out ‘how to keep the customer satisfied.’
CRM systems simplify customer relationships by defining raw customer data into organized racks and providing actionable insights. It helps companies provide a wide variety of functionalities ranging from:
a. Sales force Automation: Lead management, Deal Management, Contact Management, and Workflow Automation.
b. Omni-Presence: Integrate email, social media, and customer portals.
c. Analytics: Reports, Dashboards, and Visual decision making.
d. Marketing Automation: Targeted email campaigns, Predictive customer intents, Customer segmentation, and Lead nurturing.
But, knowing about these functions are not enough. “CRM is the world’s most powerful tool for customer retention, but you must also learn how to wield it”
CRM is not just Software
Well, somebody had to say it!
The approach on the other end is – software does not matter. It states the importance of having the correct organizational setup way before implementing a CRM software. Mike Walters, a CRM consultant with over three decades of experience doesn’t like the word CRM, he likes to call it CVM – Customer Value Management!
It is about Value
Mike’s CRM philosophy is that it is all about Value – finding, investing, building, and retaining value. A business has to find the customers or prospects that will value the company and its products the most. It’s then about finding ways to retain those clients, or in other words – make them satisfied.
Finding the right CRM
Even today, 30% – 70% of CRM implementations fail. So it is vitally important to understand which is the right CRM for a company. The first step is to have effective customer-centered business processes before adopting a CRM. Also having a clear idea about what you need from a CRM before implementation seems obvious, but is sadly not always implemented. Mike believes this is a ‘sure shot recipe for CRM failure’.
“CRM is a business strategy, executed by the client-facing team”
Here’s a scenario. Let’s say an organization intends to choose a CRM solution. It chooses a system based on ‘market research’ and ‘the best-ranked’ software. The IT team is very excited about the technology and convinces the business to implement it. They spend months together to put the software in place. Unfortunately, a year later, the project turns out to be a failure. Guess, what went wrong?
Perhaps this short clip can give you a hint.
CRM is not just about Software!
It’s not the best software that reaps results. It’s the right solution and the right strategy that helps an organization collectively in the long run. Learn more about CRM as a strategy and explore our services.
A clear business plan to approach CRM goes a long way in the success of the eventual project. Identifying the key areas of CRM success and focusing on the ‘human aspect’ of CRM will determine how well the strategy is accepted by the end-users.
To learn how Metadata Technologies can help you in exploring Microsoft Dynamics 365 to help your organization, click here.
As a Gold Microsoft Partner, Metadata Technologies is a 100% CRM-focused company with 20 years of experience providing Customer Relationship Management solutions for business enterprises across the globe. Metadata has been the recipient of the Best Industry Partner Award in 2014 by Microsoft and is committed to delivering quality solutions to ensure peak customer satisfaction.
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Ellington Properties, Dubai’s leading and award-winning design-led boutique developer, has signed up with Metadata and Microsoft to upgrade its systems and technology in order to enhance support for customers and further enable the company’s growth.
Over the years, Ellington has built its reputation for developing beautifully designed homes with impeccable architecture and incredible artistry. So it comes as no surprise, that a customer-oriented developer has invested in the world-class Microsoft-based Real Estate CRM solution, Property-xRM.
This digital initiative will provide impetus to Ellington’s aim of automating its operations with a heavier focus on managing relationships with its stakeholders.
Nitin Bhatnagar, Co-Founder, and President of Ellington Properties, said: “We have made phenomenal progress in recent years, increasing the number of launches and handovers of projects. Our digital transformation is the next step in accelerating our growth and enhancing the level of service we provide to our customers.”
Ellington Properties will implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE (CRM) and Property-xRM with the support of Metadata Technologies, a Gold Microsoft Partner. This initiative will boost Ellington’s sales and service features with improved customer-centricity. The property management solution provides complete automation, minimising manual processes and human interference thereby ensuring faster processes and enhanced service for customers.
Yvonne Chebib, Global Partner Solutions Lead, Microsoft UAE, said: “Our comprehensive solution, backed by the secure and versatile Microsoft Cloud, is specifically designed for the real estate industry. We are delighted to be working with Ellington Properties, supporting their needs to achieve faster growth and increased customer satisfaction.”
The avant-garde Real Estate Developer’s decision to integrate a customer-focused approach into their routine functions reflects their long-standing commitment to their customers.
Rasheed Muhammed, Managing Director, Metadata Technologies added: “We are excited about working with Ellington Properties, to enhance their customer-centric strategy and digital transformation. A Microsoft award-winning solution like Property-xRM will streamline the processes, boost productivity, provide better business insights, and hence help in achieving higher growth rates.”
The maturity of Property-xRM helps to cater to all the major revenue-generating aspects of a real estate company’s operations. As Gold Microsoft Partners, Metadata Technologies, a CRM company has been providing solutions to large Real Estate Developers and Property Management companies for over 20 years.
Job Code: MT/STE/20220913 Location: Kochi, India We are looking for smart sales operations professionals who have a knack for analysing data while researching, processing, and managing procedures to facilitate a smooth sale.
Job Code : MT/SOA//20220824 Location : Cochin, India We are looking for smart sales operations professionals who have a knack for analysing data while researching, processing, and managing procedures to facilitate a smooth sale.
Sales and marketing teams use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to automate and manage the client lifecycle. CRM software consolidates client information into a single database, allowing users to better organize and manage relationships. A CRM helps automate common operations, while measuring performance and productivity. But, what are the essentials to improve CRM success?
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a collection of approaches, methodologies, and technologies used by organizations to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout their relationship. The goal is to strengthen customer service relationships, increase sales, and encourage client retention.
Customers give data to CRM systems through a range of channels, including the company’s website, phone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials, and social media. CRM systems may also provide a wealth of information on a customer with a 360-degree view of data. A CRM implementation helps companies financially as well as in terms of overall performance over a period of time.
Challenges with CRM and how Strategy Consulting can help to improve CRM Success
1. Convincing Your People to Change
While adapting to new technology can be frightening, your people will be the most difficult of all the CRM issues you’ll confront. The shift will be relatively simple for a start-up with a young workforce. However, when it comes to persuading older employees to learn how to utilize a CRM solution and modify their habits, it’s a whole new ballgame. Building trust in your new CRM infrastructure can be a challenge. An unreliable infrastructure could negatively impact the business operations and customer experience.
Start Internally.
The Solution
People frequently have difficulty migrating to cloud-based tech solutions because their firm might have a clearly defined strategy for the changes ahead. Managers must foster a culture of learning and digital innovation for this change to succeed. This is a change that must begin internally. With clear communication and value building through strategy consulting, even the most apprehensive team members will realize how CRM adoption can help the organization succeed in the digital era. This must be promoted from the top down. CRM consultingguides and assists in handling the situation by focusing on key areas of distress among users and providing the right course of action.
2. Defining a Clear Scope
Lack of clarity in scope can lead to budget overruns. Many companies might fail to anticipate the amount and nature of data that needs to be migrated to the new CRM because of this. The capabilities and functionalities of a solution you choose may be much more/ much less than what your requirements are. The results? Lack of user adoption, failed implementation, and a constant back-of-the-mind alarm that goes off at the thought of a new CRM.
Define requirements clearly.
The Solution
Getting a training or workshop session for your organization in this regard can help dissipate some of the confusion and ensure that everyone is on the same page. A one-on-one interaction with the users can yield surprising results. And once those are uncovered, it’s about documenting the requirements and devising a plan to map the same with the most essential features or tools the CRM can offer. Again, the result – improved morale, better user confidence, improved efficiency, and a higher chance of success.
3. Selecting the Right CRM and the Right Partner
An obstacle that countless companies have difficulty in overcoming. Many organizations have paid three times as much for a CRM Software, only to be dissatisfied with it. This often happens because organizations, at the back of their mind, believe that if a CRM worked for a similar organization, it ‘would work’ for them too. The result – they might choose the ‘BEST’ CRM in the market, but not the ‘RIGHT’ CRM for their daily organizational requirements.
Choose not the best, but the right one!
The Solution
Before deciding on which CRM software to choose, go through a thorough selection process. Define your process precisely, establish all CRM needs in advance, and evaluate who will utilize the system. CRM consulting helps in deciding and finalizing the best way to align organizational requirements with the right CRM. It also immensely helps to understand the implementing partner’s skills and expertise in the organization’s industry. If the partner has proven experience in successful implementations for organizations similar to yours, then the chances for improved CRM success is higher.
4. Getting the Management on board
One of the most difficult aspects of CRM deployment is obtaining management approval. Not just the approval, but also their active participation in the deployment phase. The sales and marketing department heads may believe that switching to a fully integrated CRM system will help the organization, but the C-suite may still need persuading.
The Management team’s involvement and guidance can build user confidence.
The Solution
To persuade top executives to give CRM adoption a chance, employees and team leads must express the right message. To put it another way, they must show how a CRM implementation will help the company strategically as well as in terms of overall performance. Once the convincing part is taken care of, the top management should also be involved in instilling the confidence among the end users to improve CRM success through active involvement. Once again, the value proposition and vision can be created with a comprehensive evaluation of the CRM implementation through end-to-end requirement mapping and most suitable suggestions.
5. The Investment – Time and Cost Factors
CRM implementation entails extra costs for training, maintenance, data migration, updates etc. It might also take away from the time required to run a business during the initial setup. Organizations with its existing systems might realize the need for a system upgrade, but the thought of all the investments and the hassles behind the process keep them from taking the step.
Undertake an ROI analysis for best results.
The Solution
The best way to tackle this dilemma is to undertake an unbiased evaluation of a CRM and weigh out the costs vs benefits through a comprehensive analysis. This is one of the key outputs of a CRM consulting engagement where subject matter experts interact with the users, identify business gaps and pain areas to lay down most suitable steps to ensure the best ROI. This presents an organization with a vision of what a CRM would bring and what are the benefits that can be derived.
Improve CRM Success with Metadata
So, if your organization is in a phase where it’s looking to implement a CRM, or thinking about replacing a CRM system, then CRM Consulting is the way forward. Sometimes, it’s also a case of getting a third-person view on the situation for an unbiased evaluation; an expert advice to get things under control, and have a clear plan moving forward. This is something that Metadata Technologies has successfully done in the past with Transformance Business Solutions Limited and FitBiz 360.
Metadata Technologies is much more than a CRM software vendor. Metadata’s years of experience in the domain has opened doors to a variety of different situations, be it reviving an organization’s previously failed implementation, or offering custom solutions for specific customer requirements. The team of certified and experienced experts interact with various user groups in your organization from start to end to improve CRM success.
Connect with Metadata Technologies quickly and easily. To know more, book a session with us.
