Over the last 25 years Aintree Plastics (Aintree) has established itself as a market leader in extruding and converting polythene films for the Industrial and Food & Beverage markets. Through strategic, planned investment in extrusion lines and conversion equipment, Aintree has maintained it’s position as one of the leading independent polythene films and plastic packaging manufacturers in the UK and is always looking at how they can innovate and drive improvement across the organisation.
Building on its rich history of delivering high-quality plastic products, the company continues to grow and evolve, adapting to the latest market trends and technological advancements.
Background
Aintree had been experiencing significant growth, leading to increased demands on their internal processes and information management. To maintain their competitive edge, Aintree recognised the need for a modern Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to centralise customer data, improve data visibility, and streamline operations. Their current system, ACT, was reaching the end of its useful life which prompted them to search for a new, cloud-based solution.
Aintree wanted to work with a specialist to deliver a comprehensive CRM Platform that would manage all aspects of sales activities, pipeline management and KPI reporting. They needed any new CRM solution to significantly improve opportunity pipeline management from initial lead capture through to order fulfilment and delivery. It also needed to extend to deliver solutions such as business process automation, document creation, application integration and Business Intelligence (BI) reporting.
Approach
As their Managed Service partner, Probrand introduced Circyl to Aintree as specialists in the development of CRM solutions and business platforms. Based on the requirements, Circyl proposed a Microsoft-based technology stack to modernise Aintree’s operations and leverage their existing familiarity with Microsoft 365. The new CRM sales application needed to be intuitive, ensuring rapid user adoption. It also needed to provide transparency and visibility of data across the organisation, showcasing company and user innovation both internally and externally.
Any solution needed to efficiently manage the lead to fulfilment process, improving knowledge exchange and communication within the sales team. By reducing data entry duplication, the system would need to streamline operations, making information management more efficient. Enhanced reporting and KPI management had to be an integral feature of the solution, allowing for better tracking and performance analysis whilst removing the need to send Excel spreadsheets via email.
Additionally, the proposed CRM platform was designed with future extendibility in mind, ensuring it can grow and adapt as the company continues to expand. This forward-thinking approach guarantees that Aintree would have a robust, scalable solution that supports their ongoing growth and innovation.
Circyl’s approach involved a hybrid project management methodology, combining elements of Waterfall and Agile to suit Aintree’s needs. The project began with a Design and Analysis Workshop to define the CRM requirements and priorities for the initial solution delivery.
“At Aintree Plastics, our vision for a transformative CRM platform was realised with the expert assistance of Circyl. The Circyl team demonstrated exceptional skill and dedication, tailoring the solution to our unique needs. The seamless transition to the new CRM platform has streamlined our processes, enhanced collaboration, and improved data management across our organisation. The solution has been so impactful that we have already extended it to manage our order management process.”
- David Millar, Managing Director, Aintree Plastics
Solution
The core requirement was to deliver a comprehensive CRM platform for managing sales activities and pipeline management – this involved several key deliverables. Firstly, Contact, Account, Lead, and Opportunity tables were customised to reflect Aintree Plastics’ exact requirements. A new opportunity sales process was then created, seamlessly integrated from lead tracking to service fulfilment. Quick Create forms for lead and opportunity were optimised, specifically supporting the creation of leads and opportunities directly from Outlook. Additionally, SharePoint was configured for document management, and Outlook was set up for lead tracking.
With the core CRM platform in place, further enhancements were then built. New process automations were developed using Power Automate, complemented by a new Sales Dashboard that was created using standard Dynamics 365 dashboard functionality. Probrand worked alongside Circyl and Aintree to ensure that the solution was optimally licensed and arranged for all licenses to be in place ready for deploymemt.
One of the standout achievements of the phase one CRM implementation was the development of a sophisticated quotation system. Previously, the business had relied upon a complex and time-consuming manual pricing model, but the new system helped automate this process through the introduction of a multi-faceted quotation calculation that adapts depending on the extrusion/conversion process. This drastically reduced the amount of time and effort required to generate accurate quotes, allowing Aintree’s sales team to focus on customer engagement and deal closing. This feature alone demonstrated the immediate value and efficiency gains provided by the new CRM system.
Finally, to ensure seamless communication and collaboration, the solution also incorporated robust document management and workflow management capabilities, integrated with Aintree’s existing systems.
Upon completion of the agreed deliverables, Circyl facilitated a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase, allowing Aintree to review the solution and provide feedback. This process ensured the solution met Aintree’s needs precisely.
The Circyl team successfully delivered a modern, cloud-based CRM platform that is specifically tailored to Aintree’s requirements. Not only does the new system provide improved data visibility, streamlined sales processes, and enhanced reporting capabilities, but the implementation of the phase one CRM solution marks a pivotal transformation for Aintree, laying solid foundations for future growth and innovation.
As such, Aintree now enjoys a scalable, efficient, and accessible CRM system that integrates seamlessly with their existing Microsoft 365 infrastructure. This transformation has empowered them to focus on their core business, confident in the knowledge that their CRM system is robust, modern, and ready to support their ongoing success.
Key benefits and deliverables
Circyl’s comprehensive approach culminated in a series of key deliverables that transformed Aintree’s sales operations. These included, but were not limited to:
- Solution design document: Circyl delivered a detailed solution design document that outlined the data landscape of the new CRM application. This document served as a blueprint for the system, ensuring all data points were covered and seamlessly integrated.
- Model-design application: The newly developed model-driven application provided a structured and intuitive interface for Aintree’s users. The application allowed easy access to all data points and supporting documents, significantly enhancing the user experience and productivity.
- Document management solution: The integration with SharePoint enabled a centralised repository for all sales-related documents. This solution ensured that documents were easily uploaded, linked to opportunities and accessible whenever needed.
- Sales activity tracking: The new CRM system enabled comprehensive tracking of all sales activities. From capturing account details to managing opportunities and generating quotations, the system provided a complete overview of the sales process.
- Analytical capabilities: With Power BI, Aintree gained sophisticated analytical capabilities. The dashboards allowed the business to monitor sales performance, track enquiries and make informed decisions based on real-time data insights.
Technologies utilised
During the project, Circyl leveraged the following technologies:
Dataverse: An open source web application to share, preserve, cite, explore and analyse research data.
Power Automate: Power Automate is a service designed to help businesses create automated workflows between popular apps and services, allowing them to synchronise files, receive notifications and collect data.
Power BI: Power BI is Microsoft’s cloud-based enterprise and self-service analytical solution that provides data modelling and visualisation capabilities across a range of data sources.Â
SharePoint: SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office, enabling organisations to manage and store documents efficiently. It is highly configurable, and solutions can be tailored to meet the unique needs of any organisations
“Aintree Plastics had a clear vision for a new CRM platform to drive change within their organisation. Our experience in delivering Microsoft CRM solutions ensured we were the right partner for them. Their commitment to leveraging their Microsoft 365 solution underscores their dedication to excellence.”
- Roger Peacock, Business Development Manager, Circyl
Want to know more?
Circyl offer free consultations to allow businesses to discuss their productivity issues and ask us in-depth questions about our services and pricing.
Call 03333 209 969 to speak to a member of our team directly or send a message by filling in the contact form here.