Isatech

Accelerating Migration: How Isatech Moved Customers to Business Central Online 5 Times Faster with the Migration & Modernization Program

2024

About Isatech

Isatech is a division of the Dimood Group, an international IT solutions provider that specializes in developing and implementing cutting-edge ERP & CRM solutions. Within the Dimood Group, which has 320 employees in France and Portugal, Isatech employs 180 individuals in France, headquartered in Brittany. As a leading Solution Partner for Microsoft (Business Applications & Modern Workplace), Isatech is dedicated to driving customer digitalization across Microsoft CRM, Business Central, and Finance & Supply Chain Management platforms. With a 40-year history, Isatech predominantly serves upper SMBs, with approximately 45% of its customer base centered on Business Central solutions. Isatech targets industries such as food & beverage, legal, and services, with a primary focus on the food & beverage sector (which constitutes close to 60% of its revenue) and aims to migrate its customers’ NAV systems to Business Central online.

Partnership with Companial

Isatech’s initial connection with Companial dates back to when Companial was still known as QBS and 1ClickFactory, with frequent encounters at Directions EMEA events. Several years ago, Isatech collaborated on a migration project with Companial and had a highly positive experience. This led to deeper partnership opportunities, with Isatech trying various Companial services, including Learning Journeys and licensing, with exceedingly favorable results. Sarah Daly, Partner Success Manager at Companial, played a pivotal role in nurturing this partnership, helping Isatech overcome challenges such as a lack of developers.

“There is a lack of developers in our world. Partners are only willing to invest in migration, knowledge, and so on when there is a big installed base. And even then, it is very boring work and the developers always want to work with the new initiatives. That’s why the partnership with Companial lasts” says Yves-Marie Birien, Product Manager at Isatech.

Another challenge Isatech faces is initiating discussions with customers. Some customers are proactive early birds, eager to learn more about migrating to Business Central online. They’ve been exposed to information about Copilot and other Microsoft offerings and inquire about Isatech’s proposals. On the other hand, some long-standing customers are more reserved and conservative in their approach. Isatech is actively working to shift their mindsets, encouraging them to consider upgrading from older versions of NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central online.

Microsoft Migration & Modernization project

Isatech is one of the first Microsoft Dynamics Partners to embrace the Migration & Modernization (M&M) program, a unique Companial and Microsoft initiative providing free access to assessments and tools enabling Partners to accelerate cloud migrations.

Having access to M&M tools and Companial’s expertise is crucial for Isatech, considering that migrating to Business Central online presents new and complex challenges for many customers. By partnering with Companial experts who have successfully migrated over 900 solutions, Isatech can confidently assure its customers, build trust, and foster long-term relationships.

“With the Migration & Modernization program, we have an opportunity to have a better answer for our customers regarding which migration path to choose,” says Yves-Marie Birien.

The Benefits of M&M Assessment

The M&M assessment insights, also known as the AIM Assessment Report, enable Isatech to make informed decisions, starting with a crucial question: “What is my strategy?”. This initial inquiry goes into whether data migration is the optimal approach or if reimplementation might be more suitable. With the M&M insights, Isatech collaborates with customers to assess factors such as time constraints, cost implications, and the feasibility of out-of-the-box solutions. They also identify scenarios where certain strategies would prove impractical or overly challenging. The M&M assessment is invaluable as it helps steer clear of potential project nightmares.

“We see a lot of value in the M&M assessment because it represents an indisputable third-party migration expert. The assessment makes the technical side clear, saving time and enabling us to discuss strategy, how to realize impact, change management, and everything else which is very valuable. Instead of just sending a quote for a technical upgrade, we have very interesting discussions with the customers. With the M&M assessment the sales process is smoother as we have key documents and key insights we need to have productive discussions with the customers instead of delivering an expensive quote for a complicated migration. That makes the main difference for us”, says Yves-Marie Birien.

In addition, Isatech submits the M&M assessment (AIM Assessment Report) to claim Microsoft funding.

“The assessment Companial provided helps us justify the funding. We’re able to say to our customers, “don’t worry, it’s free for you”. Our main partners, Microsoft and Companial, are in charge of all the processes, and they help us to make the right decision, so our customers don’t have to pay for it. Customers appreciate that Microsoft can help them when transitioning to the cloud. For one of the projects that we did, this amount was significant, and I can say that this free-of-charge presales tool is a game-changer,” says Yves-Marie Birien.

The Benefits of Database Metadata Extraction App

Another benefit of the M&M project that Isatech highlights is the database metadata extraction app. The app helps make migration to Business Central online more efficient by helping identify unutilized code that has no data associated with it to clean up the solution.

“It provided an overview of NAV code usage to help us to explore the scope of the customer solution. This lets us assess if the customer is truly using all parts of the solution. In some parts, they have the data, but they no longer use it. Then we can frame the discussion about what’s next for the customer with facts: do they want to drop that area, move to another product, or do they want to consider it again?” says Yves-Marie Birien.

Isatech's Success with Companial Serves as a Strong Endorsement for Microsoft Dynamics Partners

Isatech is highly satisfied with the M&M assessment, which has contributed to increased sales.

“The M&M assessment is very professional and helps us prove the value of migration projects to sell them. And when we sell them, we outsource the technical migration to Companial, which goes very well. We prefer to outsource full technical migrations services to Companial because our company developers’ workload is too big and we can’t focus any time on using the Clean Start migration toolbox ourselves,” says Yves-Marie Birien.

Another benefit emphasized by Isatech is the project management provided by Companial.

“Once we sign the order, we automatically get a nice welcome: the meetings are scheduled, and the customer journey onboarding is smooth. This high level of project management is very rare,” says Yves-Marie Birien.

Furthermore, Isatech recognizes significant value in collaborating with Companial for substantial team improvement.

“It’s the efficiency to improve the win ratio of the pre-sales stage because it gives us the ability to talk to the customer with more details and with a lot of insights that we didn’t have in the past. In the past, we would only have those details after the customer sign-off because only then would we do the analysis and all the storytelling of the migration and have proper insights. Now, we’re able to level up on precise quality. So that’s very important because we keep our customers confident in us and we appreciate that,” says Yves-Marie Birien.

Isatech is also happy with the time-saving benefits, which equate to a fivefold improvement.

“With Companial, we achieve things 5 times faster and with the same quality. To do this work requires a developer, a project manager, and a consultant to dig into the objects, to dig into the documents, and to say what’s used, and what’s not used. You need to analyze all the history and the databases and to discuss everything with the customer. This would take us around 5 days, and with Companial M&M, we get the same result in one day. This happens early in the pre-sales process, which makes a big difference,” says Yves-Marie Birien.

Results

Isatech firmly recommends Companial to other Microsoft Dynamics Partners.

“We do recommend Companial to the other Dynamics Partners. When we have an issue with a customer or with a product production team, our reflex is to contact Microsoft. But when we’re short of elements, our reflex is to escalate with Companial. Companial is our wild card! “says Chrystelle Mouisson, Alliance Manager at Dimood Group.

Efficient Migration to Business Central Online with Companial

Try out seamless migrations with Companial, the Microsoft-appointed AIM Modernization Center. Access a range of migration solutions tailored for Microsoft Dynamics Partners. With our Migration and Modernization program, gain free access to assessments, tools, methods, and training, enabling you to effortlessly navigate cloud migrations for your valued customers. Ready to revolutionize your migration process? Schedule a brief appointment with us today to explore the possibilities.