Writeimage CSB U.K. Clay Pigeon Shooting Club Ensures Business Continuity with Cloud Computing

Microsoft Dynamics Customer Solution Case Study

U.K. Clay Pigeon Shooting Club Ensures Business Continuity with Cloud Computing

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online was absolute gold for us. We re-opened three weeks after the fire and members overwhelmed us with supportive messages. None of this would have happened without the cloud.” Peter Usher, Managing Director, Lakenheath Clay Target Centre Lakenheath Clay Target Centre (LCTC) shooting club was back in business just hours after a fire destroyed its clubhouse. A few months earlier, LCTC had migrated its membership, marketing, and office systems, to the Microsoft cloud with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The new system has ensured full business continuity due to ease of integration and will help reduce marketing spend by around 20 per cent.

Business Needs £15,000 annual marketing budget by Lakenheath Clay Target Centre (LCTC) making it largely web-based and is a popular shooting club in England, therefore more cost effective. specialising in clay pigeon shooting. It has 948 members. In 2011, LCTC LCTC also needed to organise the Owner Peter Usher wanted to improve business around the needs of its key the business value of the club’s staff. The Marketing Manager worked

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2012 some of the week from home and Jonathan Holmes, Business Benefits required access to the website 24 hours Development Manager, Softwerx, says: The Microsoft public cloud provided a day, seven days a week. At the time, “Once this was established, we advised LCTC with a complete disaster recovery marketing campaigns depended on a LCTC on cleansing its data. We then solution following a fire. This event paper records, a series of Excel imported all contacts, created various could have put the club out of action spreadsheets, Microsoft Office Outlook, marketing lists, and customised the for months had it been relying on its and plug-in functions from the LCTC cloud-based system to reflect the previous traditional small business website. The organisation also had a special needs of a membership setup with spreadsheets and paper- Microsoft Access membership database, organisation.” based systems. Once fully recovered which provided basic functionality, but from the fire, LCTC estimates savings was unable to track campaign Softwerx deployed Microsoft Office of around 20 per cent on its marketing responses, member activity, or member 365, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM budget by lessening its reliance on spend at the club. Online went live in January 2011, 10 print media. months before the fire. Office 365 As a small business with limited capital, delivers familiar Microsoft Office Cloud-based CRM provides LCTC wanted to avoid any major collaboration and productivity tools business continuity after fire. The upfront investment in servers. In through the cloud, while Microsoft hard work and careful planning of addition, it was looking to reduce Dynamics CRM Online delivers the deployment of Microsoft marketing spend and organise the powerful cloud-based CRM software. Dynamics CRM Online and Office business around its people. Usher says: 365 ensured LCTC users were kept “We wanted to give staff anytime, As a result, LCTC made a rapid informed about recovery just hours anywhere access so they could log on recovery from the fire. Usher says: after the disaster. Usher says: to systems from home without having “Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM “Microsoft Dynamics to maintain virtual private networks. Online, we emailed all our members CRM Online was absolute gold for But, because all the systems were on- with news of the fire within hours of it us. We re-opened three weeks after premises, the major concern for our occurring. We told them about the the fire and members overwhelmed small team was disaster recovery.” action we were taking to return to us with supportive messages. None business as usual, although without of this would have happened The LCTC site is across the road from the clubhouse or catering facilities. If without the cloud.” the RAF Lakenheath air base, so Usher only our insurers could move as Pay-as-you-go model avoids the was always aware of the risk, however quickly as that.” need for upfront capital small, of the potential risk to the club of expenditure. The pay-as-you-go an aircraft or other accident. But Usher’s LCTC re-opened on 24 December in financial model for Microsoft cloud- fears of a disaster proved to be real time for the expected increase of based computing eases the cashflow when fire destroyed the clubhouse and visitors for clay pigeon shooting over pressures on small businesses— offices on 3 December 2011—an event the holiday season. Usher says: “The especially important after a major that would have put most membership easy integration and synchronisation setback such as a fire. “Upgrading organisations out of business. of our Office 365 suite and Microsoft our software in the traditional way Dynamics CRM Online means that we could cost us between £400 and Solution operate all our systems from a single £500 a time, but with cloud-based In early 2011, working with Microsoft module.” In addition, as a small services the updates are delivered Gold Partner Softwerx, LCTC the club business using the Office 365 suite, automatically and you’re always up assessed the feasibility of transforming LCTC no longer needs to worry about to date,” says Usher. CRM systems using Microsoft cloud upgrading its Office toolset because Online CRM helps save 20 per cent services by investigating the extent of updates are automatic and at no extra from marketing budget. customisation, configuration, and cost. Integration with Office 365 gives training required. LCTC the opportunity to use its

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2012 website for marketing campaigns, less use of print media and do more “Softwerx went far beyond its brief in driving customers to its website on the Internet.” offering guidance, training, and fine- through targeted email messages. Partner acts as trusted adviser and tuning of our systems,” says Usher. Usher says: “We estimate that the systems integrator. Usher pays “Its vision was part of the success new cloud-based system will help tribute to Softwerx for introducing story and has helped our business save 20 per cent from our annual LCTC to Microsoft cloud services emerge stronger following a marketing budget because we’ll make and for its diligent work as trusted disaster.” adviser throughout the project.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published March 2012