An Increasingly Comprehensive View of Students in Education
Over the past 225 years, ThiemeMeulenhoff has evolved from an educational publisher into a designer of educational processes. They create learning materials for elementary, secondary, and vocational education, with the goal of helping students learn in a way that suits them and, above all, makes learning more enjoyable. Over the years, it has become increasingly important to have a comprehensive view of customers in the education sector. Why is that? We’ll discuss this with Karin de Beer, Product Owner for Business Operations & Commercial Solutions at ThiemeMeulenhoff in Amersfoort.
Diversity in Education
More than 120,000 people work in education in the Netherlands; for ThiemeMeulenhoff, this is a large target audience, particularly when it comes to promoting new teaching methods. “We deal not only with teachers, but also with school boards, contract partners involved in bidding processes, the wholesalers where books are ordered, and, of course, we also talk to many teachers. Among all these contacts are decision-makers and influencers who are valuable in strengthening our educational position and proposition. To gain a better understanding of our customers in the education sector, we decided over ten years ago to purchase Dynamics 365—at that time, through Centric,” says Karin.
Getting Started with DynamicHands
Karin explains that Alistar was already working as a Dynamics 365 knowledge partner on behalf of Centric at the time; it was an indirect collaboration. “ThiemeMeulenhoff is a major name in the education sector, but as an organization, we’re classified as a small to medium-sized business. At the end of 2020, our partnership with Alistar was formalized, and we began working together directly. In hindsight, it’s clear we couldn’t have made a better choice.”
Three Examples of Collaboration
Karin explains—using three examples—that Dynamics 365 is about more than just implementing a CRM solution; it’s primarily about active collaboration.
Example 1: The Customer Voice module
People in the education sector who have contacted the customer service department by phone or email automatically receive a message asking them to provide feedback on the quality of service. “Using the Customer Voice module, we send an email asking customers in the education sector to provide a brief evaluation. Based on this data, we calculate our NPS (Net Promoter Score) and receive feedback, which helps us further optimize our customer service.”
Example 2: Setting Up Bidding and Sales Processes
A complete customer view is certainly also important in procurement processes. Here’s what Karin has to say about it: “We’ll soon have set up the entire procurement process as a workflow in Dynamics 365. That means, for example, that the associated locations of school districts are automatically retrieved. This saves time and provides insight into the hierarchy of the relevant educational institutions. Furthermore, in Dynamics 365, we can see which partnerships exist, which gives us a comprehensive view of the customer. This enables ThiemeMeulenhoff to create even better educational content. We’re also identifying sales opportunities earlier and earlier. For example, if someone requests a sample copy of a particular book, we can assume they’re interested. Our account manager automatically receives a notification about this.”
Example 3: Setting Up an Event Process
Karin explains that ThiemeMeulenhoff began hosting more and more online webinars during the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a lot involved in organizing them, both before and after the event. “For an online event, for example, you want people who drop out to still be able to watch the recording afterward, but you also want to know whether the target number of participants was met or even exceeded. When setting up all these kinds of processes, they always work proactively with us to find solutions,” says Karin.
“It’s the people at Alistar who make all the difference to me. To us, they’re not just a supplier—they’re more than a partner. I see them as colleagues who contribute their insights both operationally and strategically. They may be called Alistar, but it’s really about their minds and hearts. No challenge is too big, and I always sense their passion and drive to help us move forward.”
Tangible results
- An increasingly comprehensive view of the customer, which ThiemeMeulenhoff uses to continuously optimize its services in the education sector;
- Up-to-date insight into customer satisfaction and the corresponding NPS score;
- Sales opportunities are identified earlier, which benefits our sales colleagues;
- Optimization in the customer service department; fewer screens are needed to accurately record customer data. Among other things, this results in time savings and greater convenience;
- Integration of Dynamics 365 with ERP systems and other data sources. For example, Alistar has also created integrations with the email marketing application.
In conclusion
At ThiemeMeulenhoff, there is a strong focus on giving people the space they need to grow. Karin also mentioned that a colleague from customer service now handles the functional management of Microsoft Dynamics 365. On-the-job training is provided by Maaike Meijer, Manager of Continuous Improvement at Alistar. ”It’s wonderful to see that my own colleagues can also grow through this kind of partnership,” Karin concludes.
