Argano unifies platforms with Dynamics 365 to keep pace with growth through streamlined, efficient operations

Argano needed to more efficiently integrate newly-acquired specialty consulting firms into its portfolio, with the goal of unifying business units on a common solution to streamline operations and enhance visibility.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Project Operations with Azure Analytics and Power BI standardizes processes, provides insights, connects billable time details to invoicing, and streamlines workforce planning.

Dynamics 365 standardized reporting, improved productivity by 20%, simplified global time tracking, increased billing accuracy, and improved forecasting so leadership is prepared for new opportunities and business growth.

Argano, a leading digital consultancy based in Plano, Texas, connects design and delivery of transformative services and solutions that drive high-performance business operations through greater efficiency and agility—enabling sustainable growth and profitability for its clients. Argano has continually been recognized for its excellence, earning Microsoft’s Business Applications Inner Circle Award six years in a row, as well as multiple Microsoft Partner of the Year awards.

As Argano’s expansion accelerated, including multiple acquisitions of specialty consulting firms, the company needed to more efficiently integrate these entities within its portfolio. The goal was to unify all business units on a common enterprise finance and operations solution and a single data source in a way that would streamline operations and enhance visibility across the entire business. The company chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Project Operations with Azure Analytics and Power BI to standardize processes, provide insights, increase efficiency, and improve operations.

Working from a single source of data has been a game changer in terms of reporting and standardization. Now, our people can access the most recent, reliable information so they can take the best actions in their roles. It’s increasing efficiency, improving operations, and paving the way for future growth.

Mark Hermans, Chief Operating Officer, Argano

Overcoming operational challenges

For years, the individual consultancy firms that now make up Argano excelled in providing business strategy and performance consulting, data and intelligence solutions, implementation expertise, and managed services. Over a span of two years, these distinct firms were acquired and integrated under the Argano umbrella. Now it was crucial to apply the same principles to this internal initiative of unifying operations across the entire business.

In doing so, Argano was aiming to address various operational challenges that arose from such rapid growth:

Decentralized financial data. With each entity running separate business operations, Argano leadership lacked timely reporting and visibility into profit and loss status, accounts receivables, and other important financial information.
Difficult resource planning. The use of separate systems, spreadsheets, and other tools for each business unit made it difficult to track company-wide pipeline, view who was working on which client projects, generate utilization reports, and manage project budgets accurately.
Inefficient time tracking. Each business unit tracked time on separate systems and had different time entry policies. Often, labor entries were not analyzed until a project’s completion, making it difficult to know when one was over or under budget.
Delayed month-end accounting. Reconciling financial accounts for all entities could take up to 20 business days, which meant leadership often lacked visibility into trends or issues until the following month.

Walking the walk at Argano

With more acquisitions on the near-term horizon, leadership sought to determine the best framework to support cohesion and scale, not just implement a quick, stop-gap solution. As Mark Hermans, Chief Operating Officer, explains, “We approached this not as checking a box just to get it done. This was a company-wide transformation that would enable our expert teams to ‘walk the walk’ and use the same integrated, enterprise-level solutions they implement every day for our clients.”

We approached this not as checking a box just to get it done. This was a company-wide transformation that would enable our expert teams to ‘walk the walk’ and use the same integrated, enterprise-level solutions they implement every day for our clients.

Mark Hermans, Chief Operating Officer, Argano

Each platform and approach had its pros and cons. Leadership selected the following key platforms that the new solution would be built around:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Project Operations
Salesforce CRM for pipeline, marketing campaigns, and sales management
Oracle HCM for human capital management

These three pillars would bring all aspects of the business together, replacing less robust software tools. All data would flow into Microsoft Azure Data Lake, with Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI creating a common data source for reporting and analytics.

As they would for a client, Argano’s strategy, architecture, and implementation experts built a roadmap and executed it. To make the rollouts smooth and efficient, they created an implementation template for Dynamics 365 deployments that uses primarily out-of-the-box settings and features. The project began in early 2022. Implementation followed an incremental rollout cadence, with the first business units going live in August 2022 and the latest in July 2024. During that time, Argano acquired several more firms. Subsequent implementations will roll out in phases beginning in 2025 using the company’s Dynamics 365 template.

Game-changing results

An enterprise-level digital transformation like Argano’s requires thoughtful change management and buy-in at all levels of the company. Although some business units initially favored one tool over another, when the three-pillar strategy was decided on and executed, its positive results were undeniable, especially in finance and operations. As Hermans explains, “Working from a single source of data has been a game changer in terms of reporting and standardization. Now, our people can access the most recent, reliable information so they can take the best actions in their roles. It’s increasing efficiency, improving operations, and paving the way for future growth.”

Some of the immediate benefits include:

Dynamics 365 Project Operations integrates seamlessly with Dynamics 365 Finance, connecting billable time details to invoicing for a 20% improvement in productivity.

Month-end closing dropped from nearly a month to just a few days for all acquired firms, shaving 80% off this complex task and resulting in an increase of 25% in billing accuracy. In addition, the time required to turn time sheets into billable invoices has dropped by 50% on average. Now, finance teams are more forward-looking in their tasks instead of spending so much time reconciling records from the past.

Improved forecasting supports workforce planning, so leadership is prepared for new opportunities and business spikes. Says Hermans, “It’s really about mobilizing our workforce to have the right people with the right skills on the right projects at the right time.”

The Dynamics 365 Project Timesheet capabilities make global time tracking easy, with many employees entering their hours daily. Now, time entered is applied to the correct job and approved by project managers within five days. With near-real-time visibility into project time entries, issues of scope creep, missed project milestones, or budget concerns can be addressed quickly. According to Corey Bakhtiary, Senior Director, Strategy and Innovation, Argano, “By managing projects in Project Operations, we can see the hours, resources, revenue, and costs, and really have an accurate estimation of what the margin is going to look like.”

Standardized processes and calculations make resource utilization reporting more accurate, consistent, and efficient. In the past, some business units calculated time and billable events differently, resulting in “apples-to-oranges” comparisons. Now, every Power BI report is consistent and shaves at least 20% off reporting cycle times.

Consolidating software solutions on three platforms is yielding a significant reduction in IT operational costs and time spent managing multiple environments.

What we help clients do every day we have done for our newly connected company with Dynamics 365. And we’re just getting started.

Mark Hermans, Chief Operating Officer, Argano

Going forward, Argano plans to further improve its Dynamics 365 implementation template to make onboarding new companies even faster and activation easier. It is also looking to expand its usage of AI, for example, to evaluate data to forecast hiring needs based on upcoming projects, currently a time-consuming manual process. The company is considering adding a chatbot to its website to field sales inquiries and answer frequently asked questions.

Argano now benefits from the same high-performance operations it delivers for clients around the world. COO Mark Hermans sums it up: “What we help clients do every day we have done for our newly connected company with Dynamics 365. And we’re just getting started.”