Set up IT infrastructure for future sites in just two weeks—for Greenreb, Dynamics 365 makes it possible

The challenge: Digital infrastructure in just nine months

Topgolf’s overall goal is to make golf an entertainment experience. For its innovative experience venue, the company relies on a broad technological base: around 350 screens, IoT sensors, and augmented reality components on the outdoor golf practice range bring the entire system into a digital world. Visitors can try their hand at classic golf or check out some virtual games. All the balls are equipped with microchips so that strokes and results are recorded automatically. After their game, the players can eat and drink right at the teeline or in the dining area, which is also open to the public. Here, too, the signs of digital transformation are plain to see: the kitchen and service areas have direct access to the digitally recorded orders, and some orders are even delivered right to the table by service robots.

With the construction of Germany’s first Topgolf location in Oberhausen and the foundation of the Greenreb AG headquarter in Switzerland, two companies and their infrastructure had to be built up in parallel—with a clear vision for the future: “We established our first site with the goal of operating many more sites across Europe in the next seven years. From the outset, we needed an infrastructure that could scale quickly across multiple sites,” reports Phillip Fu, CTO at Greenreb. “From the point-of-sale system to financial accounting, from sales and marketing to game data—everything has to be connected so you get an integrated overview of the operation and the guests.”

Such a project is difficult to realize with traditional technology. That was clear to Andreas Eickel and Nico Straub, the Managing Directors at NAS conception, which provided support as a project partner: “In an on-prem world, you’d have to purchase new servers and reacquire existing licenses for each new location. That means you’d be running up costs in the five-digit range even before the initial setup. In addition, data would have to be maintained manually and databases would have to be duplicated and triplicated, which is all very time-consuming.” Phillip Fu agrees: “What we’re building now is the foundation for our future. A cloud-based approach was the only way for us to achieve our goal and scale our business in a fast and stable way.”

In setting up its infrastructure, Greenreb decided early on to implement Microsoft 365. This was followed by the question of which ERP/CRM system could be integrated as seamlessly as possible. The company felt it was important to employ standardized processes. “We definitely didn’t want a customized solution or a complete rebuild of an ERP system. That’s why we decided right away to go with Dynamics 365. It’s a product that’s already established on the market and Microsoft will continue to develop it in the medium and long term. This was a key point for our future planning,” Phillip Fu explains.

The solution: The core of the new ERP/CRM system is Dynamics 365 Business Central

Construction of the venue in Oberhausen began in January 2021. The project team, supported by NAS conception, started building the IT infrastructure shortly afterward in April 2021. Everything was already running smoothly for the opening in January 2022. “Plenty of hard work went into the first location,” Phillip Fu says, describing the implementation phase. “In about six months, the basic structure was in place. After that, our focus was on optimizing processes, setting up business rules, ensuring data quality, and defining the business logic.” Based on Dynamics 365 Business Central, today the solution connects various core systems via API interfaces and thus covers all work areas and customer touchpoints—from staff to reservations, the kitchen to the game system. For example, the interface between Dynamics 365 Business Central and the POS system can be used to collect daily receipt slips for all orders from the venue and to synchronize items and sales from the POS system, which in turn is seamlessly linked to the merchandise management system.

Game data is collected via Dynamics 365 Sales and Marketing and used for marketing that is personally tailored to each customer. Likewise, leads are generated automatically when someone fills out an event form on the website. “This gives Greenreb numerous metrics that help improve processes at the venue,” says Esther Lemmerz, Functional Consultant at NAS conception. “For example, employees can immediately see what’s being sold in which areas, how many food orders are going out, or which promotional events are particularly popular with customers. This allows the company to respond promptly.”

Today, deeper insights into business processes are made possible by the use of Power Platform, Power BI, and Power Automate. “Automating our processes not only gives us a growing number of daily and weekly reports, it also lets us make more targeted forecasts,” Phillip Fu says. “Our customers in German-speaking countries like to make reservations in advance, so we always know exactly how many people we’ll be welcoming to the venue. Based on these forecasts, we can estimate sales and schedule the appropriate number of employees, as well as directly manage where they should be assigned around the venue.”

Dynamics 365 also makes it possible to better plan and manage future expansion. “We can now roll out additional sites virtually at the touch of a button. Tomorrow, Italy; the next day, Austria,” says Phillip Fu with a smile. “It’s simple to transfer the basic structure; all that’s left for us to do is adapt it to country-specific requirements and conditions.” As a result, the basic infrastructure of a new site can be set up in a matter of weeks instead of several months and the systems can be scaled for any number of employees. “You just have to activate new employees and it works, because the standard processes are always already in place.”

The benefits of Dynamics 365’s scalability are clear to see in other areas as well. “Because we synchronize all our data in a dataverse and have it on one platform, all departments get the same access to all the data in every system. We’ve bundled many functions in one product and can integrate further modules quickly,” Phillip Fu explains.

The next stages of the expansion with Dynamics 365 Business Central have already been planned. For instance, the existing Shopify connection to the online store, which sells merchandise and vouchers, is set to deliver even more insights in the future. “We’ll also be testing and implementing further Microsoft Azure functionalities. Currently, we collect a lot of data across all departments, but we want to become even more analytical and generate real added value—for example, via machine learning and AI models for our forecasts or moving toward Data Factory, Databricks, and data pipelines,” Phillip Fu says.