With the support of Dynamics 365, the company has obtained a 360° vision of its business, which has improved its sales operations and customer relations. In addition, it has been able to automate different processes, and comply with the regulations of the local superintendence of securities.
Alpha Inversiones is one of the most important brokerage firms in the Dominican Republic, positioned as a leading reference in the securities market. The company is dedicated to financial intermediation, with the vision of offering wellbeing to its clients through long-term relationships and intelligent investments.
In 2018, after making a diagnosis of its technological infrastructure and consolidating the commercial vision of its directors, the entity prepared a strategic plan for digital transformation in which it evaluated different options, opting primarily for Microsoft technology.
In conjunction with the company C-Ven Technologies, a Microsoft partner in the region, which already had experience working for the financial sector, Alpha Inversiones implemented Dynamics 365 for Sales as its customer relationship management (CRM) support system. In addition, StocKloud, a modern and adaptable platform for stock market management, was deployed on top of Dynamics 365. Santiago de la Cruz, IT and project manager at Alpha Inversiones says: “The main objective of this action was to have a tool that would provide a 360-degree view of each client, as well as tracking for the sales force. Previously, there was no tool where they could consult the information and interactions they had with each client”.
Benefits for the sales force
Dynamics 365 for Sales has been a valuable tool for Alpha Inversiones’ sales force. According to the IT director, the Dominican Republic’s securities market is relatively new, so winning over a potential client requires various business strategies. In this sense, he says that the investor’s confidence in the stock exchange plays a fundamental role.
Before, in order to open an account for a new customer, it was necessary to print the file for each user and initiate a manual process involving different service areas, which were responsible for validating compliance with all the requirements.
The implementation of Dynamics 365 for Sales has made it possible to strengthen alliances with investors, as well as streamline and automate customer relationship processes in a centralised manner. De la Cruz equates the execution of stakeholder onboarding as follows: “When a prospective customer asked to evaluate our service offering, the sales force would schedule a face-to-face visit, and take notes in an agenda manually. Without technology to unify the process of onboarding new customers, we often missed the opportunity to follow up, and the sale slipped through the cracks,” he says. With Dynamics 365 for Sales, we were able to automate the previous process.
Today, the interested party has the possibility to become a client of Alpha Inversiones from home, and in a matter of minutes. The process consists of completing a web form created using an Azure-based solution from C-Ven Technologies called Stockcloud. The shared data travels to Alpha Inversiones’ CRM and then this information is assigned to a broker, who is responsible for finalising the request online. Michelle Periche, Account Manager at C-Ven Technologies, comments: “It’s a complete solution: it helps foster investor relationships, create brokerage accounts, manage orders and streamline operations. It increases broker productivity by consolidating operations onto a single platform, and has integrations with Core and other systems.
Improved financial and operational control
Together with partner KCP, Alpha Inversiones implemented Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that has had a direct impact on internal operations, making it possible to link tasks that were previously done manually (accounts payable and receivable, purchasing process, fixed assets, etc.), which has resulted in agility and consolidation in internal procedures. Cristina Bermudez, KCP’s Regional Manager for the Caribbean and Central America adds:
“In the past, the client used to use five tools for accounting. Now it has been simplified to a single ERP where everything is integrated, allowing better traceability and productivity”.
For the implementation of Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations as ERP, information gathering sessions were held. The partner KCP and the accounting users of Alpha Inversiones made their design and customisation proposals, taking into account the needs of each ERP module. After consensual approval, the final configurations, balance sheet uploading, and the implementation of the tool went live. Bermudez adds: “One of the major challenges was the need to complete the project in the shortest possible time. We set ourselves an ambitious goal of six months, even though it was a big challenge. Thanks to the synergy of the Alpha Inversiones, KCP and Microsoft teams, we were able to achieve our goal.
The KCP partner offers services for different regional consulting teams, which is why it employs both on-site and remote working models. In the case of Alpha Inversiones, several project activities were carried out under these two concepts, effectively and without technical complications. During implementation, it was necessary to train around 12 people within the company, who were then responsible for passing on their knowledge to new users. Paul Saldivar, Project Manager at Alpha Inversiones says: “Adopting these two models was very practical for our projects as it made it easier to coordinate the teams, made training more fluid, and reduced costs”.
Integration with the superintendency’s reporting system
These implementations represented important challenges for Alpha Inversiones. Together with KCP, a customisation of Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operation was executed, which represented 11% of the solution. The platform enables Alpha Inversiones to automatically generate a series of financial reports for the local securities superintendence. These are delivered continuously throughout the year, as part of the requirements the company must follow to comply with local regulations. Saldivar explains: “On the one hand, we had to make sure that the processes in the ERP were in line with the superintendency’s regulations, and on the other hand, we had to make sure that they could be integrated with the platforms we were already using. Previously we used to spend a lot of staff hours to comply with the reports”.
In the words of Alpha Inversiones’ IT director, Santiago de la Cruz: “The Dominican Republic’s securities market is a young market that is constantly evolving”, which is why Alpha Inversiones is frequently in technological growth to be able to take on the challenges of the sector. For this reason, it expects to continue optimising its financial services through technological investment and the additional adoption of Microsoft solutions. Its intention is to increasingly meet the requirements of its customers and positively impact the nation’s economy.