To this end, the organization has a large network of various stakeholders. To manage and reach all those contacts efficiently, Tourism East Flanders needed a specific solution. “Given the nature of our sector, we primarily provide services; we don’t follow a traditional business flow. So we needed a customized solution,” explains Project Coordinator Elisa De Puysseleyr regarding the choice between CRM and Power App.
Fragmentation
As part of its B2B operations, Tourism East Flanders has a large network and a vast number of contacts with various stakeholders. These include, for example, cities and municipalities, as well as the Nature and Forest Agency. But their contacts also include private partners, such as guide associations, lodging providers, and rental companies for boats, bicycles, canoes, and more.
“We really had no way to manage all that data. Like so many others, we each did it on our own, which led to a complete mess. Hundreds of Excel documents were scattered across our headquarters and our satellite offices. Everyone was working with their own files and sources, so it was very disorganized. We then started looking for a solution, with the guiding principle being: a single database, a single source of truth. We wanted to create a centralized overview that way, and thus save all our employees valuable time.”
Our Power App looks personalized and does everything we asked it to, so it really feels like ours
Elisa De Puysseleyr—Project Coordinator
Route
To find the right partner to support them in this effort, Tourism East Flanders developed a preliminary plan in collaboration with a consulting firm. “We don’t have any data-oriented staff on our team, so together with that external partner, we conducted an analysis of exactly what we needed. This involved addressing questions such as: What exactly do we manage? How are we going to set up the data structure? How will we group our contacts, and what information do we want to track for each group? Through workshops, they helped us answer all those questions and organize them into a comprehensive overview. After that, we were able to draft a public request for proposals that clearly outlined our specific needs.”
Choosing Power Apps
“After the public contract was published, Alistar quickly emerged as the winner, because it was the only supplier Power Apps proposed as an alternative CRM tool. All the other vendors opted for a ‘full-fledged’ CRM system, but that was actually way too much for what we wanted to do with it. We’re not in a sales environment either; our operations have a completely different context. We don’t need to follow up on leads or create opportunities. So we didn’t need a full-fledged CRM system. With Power Apps, we were able to perfectly meet all our needs—namely, maintaining, enriching, and tracking our contacts. And of course, it was also very cost-effective!”
“We didn’t need a comprehensive CRM system. Power Apps allowed us to perfectly meet all our needs.”
Tourism East Flanders mainly uses its Power App to manage contacts, which is already a major step forward for them. “When you consider where we came from in terms of data management and how much time it used to take to create an address list, for example, we’ve really made giant strides. We simply didn’t have the habit of updating our data or keeping it all in one place. Centralizing all our data has made a huge difference. We’ve also configured various features so that we can find them more easily. For example, we can register the services we offer in our Power App to see who signs up for them. This gives us a clearer overview.”
Alistar worked with them through a series of workshops, soliciting input from Elisa and her colleagues who specialize in specific data sets. In this way, the Power App was progressively configured and tested using sample data to achieve a satisfactory end result.
“Because we focus more on service delivery in our sector-specific operations, our workflow is a little less straightforward. It’s not a traditional business workflow, so we needed a custom solution. Our Power App has a personalized look, does everything we asked for, and it’s our own environment, so it really feels like ‘ours.’”
Integration
When it comes to integration with other systems, there’s still work to be done. There’s already a connection to the Flanders Tourism Basic Registry, a database where accommodation providers are required to register. “That’s our source for seeing what’s available within East Flanders. That data then flows into our CRM app, and we enrich it with additional information specific to our operations.”
In addition, Tourism East Flanders plans to integrate with Touchdown, a marketing automation tool. “We definitely want to set up this integration in the future, but it still needs to be worked out in more detail. We really want to take our time with it.”
Touchdown is a marketing tool that would allow Tourism East Flanders to implement marketing automation in addition to their Power App. With Touchdown, you can easily get started with email marketing, SMS communication, and campaign tracking. It would certainly be a valuable asset for the organization when sending targeted email campaigns to specific groups. Touchdown also makes it possible to automate customer journeys.
Mindswitch
Two months after going live, about 31 people are already using the Power App—that’s 90% of our employees. “I’m getting a lot of positive feedback, even though it’s still a ‘mindset shift’ for many. We’ve been too lax with our data management for too long, so now we just have to adjust. We started with a clean slate, and I’m confident that, in the long run, keeping everything up to date will become second nature.”.
“It’s so easy now! With just three clicks, you can remove specific groups from the system, whereas I used to have to fiddle around in Excel. Thanks to that comprehensive overview, I can also very quickly reach out to providers or organizations I wouldn’t normally have much contact with. Our Power App is definitely a real asset—no doubt about it.”
Want to use Power Apps in your business?
Power Apps enables you to develop functional mobile apps that support your business needs. It can also communicate and integrate with other Microsoft 365 services, such as Power Automate, SharePoint, Power BI and Exchange Online.
Follow the example of Tourism East Flanders and reach out to experts that help you build Power Apps the right way.
