One system for everyone: Biologische Heilmittel Heel uses Dynamics 365 for customer management

The challenge: Complex customer groups and disconnected data silos

Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH in Baden-Baden develops and manufactures medications based on natural active substances for humans and animals. A German SME, Heel sells its non-prescription drugs to millions of doctors, pharmacists, and veterinarians in more than 50 countries across the globe, making it one of the largest manufacturers of homeopathic remedies worldwide. “This enormous variety, in both our portfolio and our range of customers, is unique for a company of our size. We address all channels that are active in the pharmaceuticals market,” says Marc Deschler, Chief Commercial Officer Central Europe at Biologische Heilmittel Heel. “Customers differ from one channel to the next, and our message and approach also differ from one customer to the next. That makes our business highly complex.” And the CRM system must be able to match this complexity, because employees need different things from the system depending on which customers they manage. “In human medicine, for instance, doctors aren’t allowed to sell drugs, but in veterinary medicine, it’s standard practice,” says Vassil Mangalov, Head of Business Excellence at Biologische Heilmittel Heel. “That’s why the CRM system documents some transactions to people and others to institutions.”

In the past, Heel Germany used a number of different IT platforms for this. “But only a few of these IT islands were connected with each other. There were few options for linking other systems, and hardly any flexibility due to our outdated interface technology,” says Roswitha Kininger, Information Management Business Consultant at Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH. “We couldn’t connect our website and industry platforms, which are becoming ever more important, nor could we address all the new channels or obtain data from them.” But this is essential today. Marketing has changed immensely over the years. “There used to be no need to consolidate information and analyze data, so our system didn’t have the technological means to do that,” Deschler says.

So, the project team began its search. “We needed a solution that could be integrated with little effort, worked well with our existing internal and external sales tools, and could also be used flexibly and on mobile devices,” says Mangalov.

The solution: All information pooled on one platform with Dynamics 365

This set the course for Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Marketing. “The Microsoft solution lets users do a lot themselves, if they want. And during the selection process, our colleagues were already very enthusiastic about the marketing module in particular. They saw ‘pure future’,” recalls Kininger. Heel is currently right in the midst of its digitization journey. Guiding the company on this journey is Jana Lukic, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Solutions Specialist at gorelate: “Both systems have been running in parallel since November 2021, which offers enormous flexibility and reduces project risk. A month later, the first essential customer service and marketing processes were integrated into the Dynamics 365 production environment, and some internal sales employees were already piloting that system.” With the rollout completed, all features of the new solution are available to all employees.

Some of the advantages and strengths of the new system stood out even before the final go-live. Additional processes have been implemented since November, making the solution available to the entire internal sales force. Furthermore, activity reporting for external sales has been running entirely on Dynamics 365 Sales since the start of 2022. “An app based on Microsoft Power Apps makes it easy for our external sales force to report their activities using their mobile devices. But soon they will be able to do even more: in the past, not all information was pooled in our CRM system. Communication with customers was done by phone or e-mail. These gaps in the system made it very difficult to support customers,” Mangalov says. “Now the systems mesh seamlessly. Soon colleagues working with the same customers across different departments will be able to process everything in one system. The uniform flow of information will make the entire customer journey traceable and more transparent, and enable all employees to leverage it.” Sales and Marketing will no longer have to actively search for information—it will now be sent directly to them, allowing them to respond and act with greater flexibility in their day-to-day work.

The departments were integrated right from day one and an extensive change and adoption package was set up with test users and training to ensure that employees can receive the optimum support for their work. Extensive project marketing accompanies the change process. For example, the entire workforce was involved in naming the new platform. “We wanted the change to evoke positive associations, which is why we chose to have a contest and vote on the new name. ‘Venezia’ won,” Mangalov says. “Thinking of Venice immediate boosts one’s mood. People think of gelato and good weather.” As Lukic explains, making it fun and involving users is what ultimately makes the difference: “Everyone should feel like they’re on board. It’s about making sure the people who will ultimately work with the system are enthusiastic about it. Only then will the new solution be widely accepted, readily used, and successful. Heel does just that especially well.”

So it’s no surprise that, following the go-live of Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Marketing, the third project phase is now immediately expanding the solution to include Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. “Then our learning phase on using and analyzing data for our day-to-day work will begin,” Deschler says. “After all, we don’t want the new solution to merely collect data; we want it to provide the foundation for strategic considerations and operational decisions, from the staff level and all the way up to management, enabling us to adapt quickly and flexibly to future market developments.”