Air Products Accelerates Sales Transformation with Dynamics 365 – Achieving Real-Time Visibility, Efficiency, and Data Trust

Air Products Accelerates Sales Transformation with Dynamics 365

Achieving real-time visibility, operational efficiency, and trusted sales data through a strategic CRM implementation by The CRM Team.

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Industry:

Manufacturing & Industrial Gas

Company Size:

Enterprise

Solution:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

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The CRM Team

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29 Jan, 2026

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15 Mins Read

Arthi Govender
GENERAL MANAGER: MARKETING, AIR PRODUCTS

“Microsoft Dynamics Sales has created a focused approach to lead management, improved turnaround times to customers, and built synergy between business areas. The CRM Team’s commitment, expertise, and local support have been world-class.
Their transparency and dedication made this journey a success.”

Overview

In 2023, Air Products set out to replace their legacy CRM with a unified, scalable, and intelligent sales platform. After a thorough evaluation of multiple providers, Air Products selected The CRM Team based on their deep understanding of the company’s systems and processes, strong local support structure, and proven ability to deliver Microsoft-based solutions with precision and quality. The CRM Team deployed Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales enabling Air Products to centralise customer data, streamline sales processes, and empower commercial teams with real-time visibility, analytics, and integrated workflows across Microsoft 365.

Key Challenges

Disconnected systems leading to duplicated data entry
No single source of truth for customers or sales activities
Lack of visibility into leads, renewals, scheduling, and forecasts
Manual quoting and fragmented reporting
Limited analytics and reactive decision-making
Loss of critical insights during staff turnover

Solution Delivered

The CRM Team implemented a modern, integrated CRM powered by:

Dynamics 365 Sales

Centralised sales and customer management
Intelligent lead tracking and opportunity management
Real-time activity visibility and forecasting
Automated quoting linked with Air Products’ ERP data
Seamless use across Outlook, Teams, mobile, and web
Consolidated customer data for deeper engagement

Noluthando Maraqana
MARKETING BUSINESS PARTNER, AIR PRODUCTS

“Dynamics 365 Sales has centralised our customer data and improved day-to-day operations. The detailed reporting gives us real-time insights and supports better decision-making. The CRM Team was professional, knowledgeable, and deeply invested in understanding our business.
We truly selected the right partner.”

Outcomes & Business Impact

Faster lead turnaround times and improved customer engagement
Reliable data and consistent reporting across all divisions
Better forecasting and visibility enabling proactive management

Strong user adoption due to system usability and training
Efficient quoting and structured workflows, reducing delays
Year-on-year improvements in customer service, supported by real-time commercial visibility

Pregie Maistry
SALES MANAGER, AIR PRODUCTS

“The system has transformed how our sales teams work. We now have instant access to leads, real-time visibility, and structured workflows that help us respond faster and support customers better. Working with The CRM Team has been seamless – they understood our challenges and guided us through every step.”

Key Wins

A scalable CRM foundation supporting Air Products’ long-term growth
Increased collaboration across sales units
Enhancements in sales efficiency, customer service, and decision-making
A successful implementation marking a milestone for The CRM Team in the gas and manufacturing industry
A trusted partnership built on transparency, alignment, and shared goals

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Customer Success Story Toyota Industries Corporation

Microsoft Case Study

Improving Global Service Operations and Maximizing Uptime with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Toyota Industries improved after-sales service efficiency, reduced man-hours, and enabled predictive maintenance through Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service, IoT, and Azure.

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The CRM Team

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Oct 12, 2025

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15 Mins Read

Toyota Industries Corporation Improves Service Operations to Maximize Uptime for Their Customers

For Toyota Industries, the deployment of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Services enables them to visualize the added value to its customers, helps improve work efficiency, reduce man-hours and shift to paperless operations.

Customer

Toyota Industries Corporation

Products & Services

Azure
Dynamics 365 Field Service
Microsoft Services

Industry

Automotive

Organization Size

Corporate (10,000 plus employees)

Country

Japan

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“We strive to provide uniform, quality after-sales services in a global partnership with Microsoft. Going forward, we want to create a mechanism to collect forklift data by using IoT and telematics to prevent failures.”
Mr. Michio Yonezawa
General Manager, Services Department

Maximize Uptime by Leveraging Forklift Data

Toyota Industries aims for further growth in the business of industrial vehicles that have grown into a business that accounts for 60 percent of the company’s.

Mr. Michio Yonezawa, General Manager, Service Department, spoke of the significance of maximizing forklift utilization by offering after-sales services that meet the business needs of their forklift customers.

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“The mission of the Service Department is to improve our after-sales services and establish strong relationships with our customers, so that we can receive additional orders from them. We think that offering satisfying after-sales service ultimately contributes increase sales.”

Improving Global After-Sales Service Operations

The company wanted to offer high quality services globally, and decided to introduce Dynamics 365 for Field Service as the primary tool for managing the after-sales service skills and operations for those distributors offering services to forklift customers all over the world.

They wanted to improve their operational management accuracy, shift to a paperless process, reduce man-hours, and increase efficiency.

They would do this by visualizing business KPIs in digital form, and laying out a framework to help boost their strengths and compensate for any weaknesses in various regions.

Partner Selection and Technology Strategy

Mr. Yonezawa explained the reasons for selecting Microsoft Enterprise Services as their partner in achieving their objectives.

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“Microsoft has many great accomplishments as a global IT company, and above all, Microsoft Enterprise Services made an achievement to implement our systems to our European sites. In addition, Microsoft Enterprise Services not only understands the latest technologies, but they also develop systems based upon our after-sales service operations, and they provide global assistance. They will help us achieve our goal of global expansion.”

Leveraging IoT and Cloud for Preventive Maintenance

Toyota Industries plans to perform maintenance prior to the occurrence of failures, which also necessitates linkage technologies between the Microsoft cloud and IoT.

The company uses Azure to collect machine information of their forklifts in operation. Linking information related to after-sales service from GMSS to the machine information in the cloud is expected to assist the Service Department in performing the right maintenance at the right time, preventing forklift failures from occurring at minimal cost.

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“Sudden failures greatly hinder the customer’s business activities, and generate extra-budgetary expenses. Previously, we conducted regular inspections in accordance with the guidelines based on how long the machines had been operating. By leveraging the machine information collected via telematics, inspections can be carried out in response to the customer’s usage, thereby reducing their burden,” explained Mr. Yonezawa.

Visualization of Business Operations and Paperless Transformation with GMSS

Toyota Industries chose Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service which is already in worldwide use, cooperates with the latest technologies including IoT, AI, and machine learning, and enables practical applications to visualize and improve after-sales service operations for GMSS development.

Mr. Senichiro Kondo, General Manager, Overseas Service Operation, Service Department, stated the reasons for selecting a cloud-based system for improving their after-sales service operations.

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“Since we manage operations in countries except for Europe and North America, the cloud enables us to facilitate management in a unified manner, and lay out a framework that helps provide the same services worldwide. In addition, Toyota could differentiate itself from its competitors by being first to introduce IoT to the service operations. Our competitors have not done this yet. The Microsoft cloud meets our security guidelines and we did not hesitate at all to use the cloud.”

Initial Deployment and Operational Improvements in India

India was selected to be the first country for the deployment of GMSS, which occurred in February 2018.

“One reason we chose to deploy GMSS to India first is that we directly manage the distributors with standard service operations and it would allow us to examine their cost-effectiveness in detail. Another reason is that, if it is proven cost-effective in India, where wages are low, we could promote the deployment of GMSS to distributors in other countries,” said Mr. Kondo.

In India, approximately 80 field service technicians had been receiving instructions on after-sales service operations in written form or manually.

Technicians’ visit plans had been written on white boards, and material preparation before the visits was time-consuming.

“The introduction of GMSS based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Services enabled the dispatchers to prepare and allocate instructions to give to the technicians. A mobile device app scheduled customer visits, periodical inspections and repair work for the technicians. Service reports can now be displayed on a screen, explained to the customer, signed by the customer, and submitted to the technician’s superior in a paperless stream, resulting in a significant improvement in work efficiency,” said Mr. Ryo Makino, Group Manager, Planning Group, Overseas Service Operation, Service Department.

Various materials, including service materials, maintenance check sheets and visit histories, can now be accessed from mobile devices, helping reduce preparation time.

Toyota Industries intends to reduce technician man-hours by 20 percent to 25 percent with this system in India.

Global Expansion and Future Outlook

GMSS will have been deployed in Vietnam by June 2018, and then expanded into Singapore, Malaysia, South America, and Japan after that.

“Nowadays, there are fewer technicians available, and more problems with an aging workforce and shortages. We want to deploy a system and create an environment where problems with paper are eliminated, and work can be performed in a safe and efficient manner to attract more human resources,” said Mr. Kondo.

To conclude, Mr. Yonezawa said, “Our next goal is to achieve improved failure prediction together with Microsoft. We want to identify what makes our customers happy to tell us that choosing our service was the right idea. We also want to sample forklift data, use it to facilitate the design and development of future forklifts, and deliver better products and services to our customers.”

Toyota Industries will continue to improve the quality of their after-sales services and boost customer satisfaction and sales growth as it approaches the 100th anniversary of its foundation.

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Customer Success Story Takeuchi

Microsoft Case Study

Cutting Order Creation Time from Hours to Minutes with Experlogix and Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Takeuchi transformed dealer and customer order creation by implementing Experlogix CPQ with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, dramatically reducing configuration time and improving pricing accuracy.

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The CRM Team

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Oct 12, 2025

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15 Mins Read

Success Story

Founded in 1963, Takeuchi was the first company to introduce the compact excavator to North America, transforming the North American construction equipment market and positioning Takeuchi as a leading provider of compact earthmoving equipment.

Challenge

Takeuchi was poised to launch several new, compact equipment models but recognized that its time-to-market was seriously constrained. Takeuchi’s existing enterprise technology platform was over-taxed especially its labor-intensive product configurator.

Takeuchi’s existing product configurator was entirely menu-driven. Every feature selected in one menu had to be properly linked to desired items in other menus. It was common to end up with thousands of permutations with numerous errors. Those had to be found and corrected before the configuration could be released to production. The process took hours.

The company also lacked a state-of-art customer portal where dealers and customers could access real time pricing and configure their own orders.

“Takeuchi is a premium product, and we wanted customers to also know that we are very competitive,” says Jonathan Pollard, IT Manager.

“The company was at a crossroads. We were faced with either adding more programmers to rectify system deficiencies or find a new product,” Pollard says. “We run very lean, and adding more programmers went against that.”

Long term, the existing configurator simply didn’t provide the foundation needed to scale with company growth.

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“As a twenty year technology veteran, I immediately spotted the level of support, confidence, and knowledge that Experlogix offered. It really stood out.”
Jonathan Pollard, IT Manager

Solution

Takeuchi started by selecting Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP as the base of its new technology platform. When Pollard searched for configurators that integrated with it, Experlogix Configurator always came up top of the list.

Company

Takeuchi
Pendergrass, GA
www.takeuchi-us.com

Corporate Details

Takeuchi US is a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeuchi, a global leader in compact construction equipment. Takeuchi US provides a premium line of products including excavators, track loaders, wheel loaders, and skid steer loaders, all offering maximum maneuverability and power. It serves a dealer network, builders and landscapers, and the rental equipment industry across the United States and Canada.

Products

Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Microsoft SharePoint

Success Story

“As a twenty year technology veteran, I immediately appreciated the level of support, confidence, and knowledge that Experlogix offered. It really stood out,” Pollard states.

The company invited a short list of vendors to showcase their products. They asked other providers how their products handled certain requirements, and they told us they didn’t really know. This was a situation Pollard knew made for a high potential of implementation cost overruns.

“Experlogix came in and wanted to know how we run our business. They wanted to understand what our requirements were. They listened. And then they told us how much it would cost. They molded their product around our needs,” he says. “They did some pretty interesting integration work to make it all work.”

“I wish all my vendors were like that.”

Result

By implementing Experlogix CPQ for Dynamics NAV, Takeuchi is seeing immediate benefits internally and externally.

From an administration perspective, Takeuchi was able to shift responsibility for new product configurations and maintenance of existing models to the sales department. Instead of requiring programmers to handle configurator maintenance, one product specialist trained in Experlogix now easily manages it all.

Externally, customers and dealers now create all quotes and orders using Experlogix CPQ through a portal. Previously, according to Pollard, it used to take three hours to configure an order. Today, it takes 10 minutes.

Pricing is also simplified. All equipment and component prices are maintained online, rather than on paper-based price sheets. This makes it easy for end users to look at pricing via the customer portal. The single system sign-on ensures that customers are directed to the proper pricing schema for the class they’re in. In this way, pricing is more tightly controlled.

The company’s website typically receives more than 1,000 to 1,500 daily log-ins. All customers visiting have direct access to configure their own orders using Experlogix CPQ.

Experlogix CPQ also helps Takeuchi control and monitor the critically important issue of product branding. Fonts, colors, and logos can be changed, added, or deleted through a common tool set. This also helps Takeuchi ensure that products are going to market as advertised.

“We received excellent support throughout the Experlogix implementation and continue to receive excellent support,” says Pollard. “There’s never been an issue that they’ve not been able to resolve. From a business, budget, and engineering perspective, I couldn’t be happier.”

Benefits

Quote and order configurations reduced from three hours to 10 minutes
Order errors dramatically reduced
Faster time-to-market for new products
Sales administrators maintain configurator versus software programmers
2,000 plus daily customer sign-ons do self-service order configurations
Appropriate product branding ensured throughout dealer network

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Customer Success Story Strongco

Microsoft Case Study

Automating Heavy Equipment Quoting with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Strongco unified quoting, pricing, and sales pipeline visibility by implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Experlogix Configurator across its national branch network.

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The CRM Team

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Oct 12, 2025

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18 Mins Read

STRONGCO

Construction Equipment Dealer Automates Heavy Equipment Quoting

Company

Strongco Equipment
Mississauga, ON
www.strongco.com

Corporate Details

Strongco Income Fund is a trust established to hold one of the largest multi-line industrial equipment distribution providers in Canada. Over 600 employees provide retail service at 27 branches located from Newfoundland to Alberta. Strongco sells, rents and services mobile industrial equipment to sectors that include construction, road building, mining, forestry, utilities and municipalities. Strongco represents leading equipment manufacturers, including Volvo, Case, Manitowoc, Cedarapids, Fassi, Allied, Gomaco, Taylor and ESCO. Volvo Construction Equipment recognized Strongco as its largest volume dealer in North America for 2008.

Benefits

Consolidated numerous quoting spreadsheets
Multi-currency quotes
Accurate pricing and product details by vendor
Improved field sales visibility and pipelines
Offline quoting
Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration

Success Story

Strongco sells, rents and services mobile industrial equipment to sectors that include construction, road building, mining, forestry, utilities and municipalities.

Volvo Construction Equipment recognized Strongco as its largest volume dealer in North America for 2008. In addition, Volvo Financial Services recognized Strongco as its largest producer in North America of financing at the retail level. Strongco also represents leading equipment manufacturers Case, Manitowoc, Cedarapids, Fassi, Allied, Gomaco, Taylor and ESCO.

Challenge

With more than 600 employees providing industrial equipment retail services at 27 branches located from Newfoundland to Alberta, implementing a CRM software program complete with a quoting configurator solution was an immediate requirement in order for Strongco to maintain its competitive edge in the market.

Quotes and cost sheets were being handled manually using Excel by the sales staff and any supplier pricing structure changes were communicated separately and often inconsistently to each sales team across Canada.

“We were looking for a powerful quote and order configurator tool to reduce the risk of pricing errors and we wanted to enhance pipeline visibility for everyone in the sales chain,” says Anna Sgro, Vice President Multi-Line Division at Strongco. “Our customer quotes needed to be available to management and all sales coordinators and we needed to be on top of machine warranties and expiration dates.”

Solution

“We evaluated other software packages but found that Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Experlogix Configurator was superior. The seamless integration of Experlogix with Microsoft Dynamics CRM eliminates the requirement for redundant data entry as quotes and orders generated by Experlogix create corresponding records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM,” says Sgro.

“The innate flexibility of Experlogix accommodates our varied equipment and attachment suppliers and allows us to use both standard and non-standard pricing structures. Completely customizable, Experlogix gives us the ability to maintain and push through updates in-house and to keep our sales staff current on pricing and product information.”

The ability of Experlogix to import product models and pricing provided electronically by Volvo corporate streamlines the process.

Result

“In the past, quotes and cost sheets were done manually in Excel and stored on individual laptops. Any supplier pricing structure changes were communicated separately and sometimes inconsistently to each sales team across Canada,” explains Sgro.

Since going live with the Experlogix Configurator, Strongco has consolidated their product and service options, rules and pricing into a single intelligent system, eliminating the need for catalogs and cumbersome to maintain spreadsheets.

With Experlogix, “having a centralized and updated configurator system reduces the risks of pricing and quoting errors including machine warranty and expirations. The integration with Dynamics CRM gives everyone along the sales chain a forward view of the potential sales pipeline.”

Strongco’s sales force relies on Experlogix with Dynamics CRM to create proposals while traveling often at a job site where network connections are not available.

“Pricing and product rule updates are communicated automatically to the field so they can create accurate quotes in multiple currencies each day,” says Sgro. “Our offline developed quotes are synchronized back to our central Dynamics CRM server, providing great visibility into sales activity and accurate pipelines. The Experlogix Configurator has assisted us in conquering all our quoting hurdles.”

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MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365 CASE STUDY: Sasfin Wealth

Microsoft Case Study

Driving data consolidation and strategic client insights with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Sasfin Wealth partnered with The CRM Team to centralise client data, enhance digital engagement, and power strategic insights through an end to end Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution.

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The CRM Team

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Oct 12, 2025

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20 Mins Read

About The CRM Team

The CRM Team is a Microsoft Gold Partner that implements world class CRM solutions for companies, transforming their customer experiences to increase revenues and reduce costs.

Using state of the art Microsoft technologies, we help companies automate marketing, improve sales forecasting and deliver omni channel customer service. Our unique implementation and training approach ensures that our customers get excellent user adoption. This ensures the shortest time to value.

This case study was put together in collaboration with Sasfin Wealth.

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“Dynamics is key to our digital strategy and will be the core of our client engagement.”
Tinus Verster, Wealth Technology Strategist, Sasfin Wealth

About Sasfin

Sasfin Wealth comprises Sasfin Healthcare, Sasfin Wealth Management and Sasfin Securities, a member of the JSE and a pioneer of private client portfolio management in South Africa. With roots dating back to 1890, Sasfin Wealth has grown into one of South Africa’s leading wealth management and stockbroking businesses.

The company’s digital ambition is to enhance the client experience through more modern and professional digital engagement.

The company had set itself a challenge to manage data more effectively and improve client engagement.

Most importantly, Sasfin Wealth wanted to develop a deeper understanding of clients’ interests, needs, wants and preferences.

The CRM Team was chosen to facilitate that journey.

Insights and efficiency: A new approach

Recently, Sasfin Wealth embarked on a technology drive with a focus on client experience.

Thinking bigger and building beyond

Alex Elsworth, Chief Technology Officer at Sasfin Wealth, notes:
“Our value proposition lies in the personal service and attention which we apply in managing our client portfolios. As a business philosophy, client relationships, client orientated processes, client retention and superior client value are core to our offering.”

One of Sasfin Wealth’s key strategic objectives is to enhance its technology platform, ultimately improving client experience.

“The right technologies enable us to keep the client at the core of everything we do,” emphasises Elsworth.

“Client information was stored in several different systems,” explains Marzanne Raubenheimer, Programme Manager, “and the integrity and quality of data were being compromised due to a lack of validation.”

Sasfin Wealth’s existing systems were also limited in their ability to capture information. Further data issues were arising as different branches and users were following inconsistent approaches.

The CRM Team was selected to work with key Sasfin Wealth stakeholders in developing an end to end CRM solution that would resolve the tactical and data consolidation issues the company was experiencing. Once fully implemented, the solution is set to power strategic insights, enhance business process efficacy and boost operational efficiency.

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“We conducted extensive research into technology that would service both internal and external clients in a more meaningful way.”
Tinus Verster, Technology Strategist, Sasfin Wealth

The CRM partner decision

“The Sasfin procurement process requires that a minimum of three solutions and or providers are considered before a recommendation is submitted for approval to proceed,” explains Raubenheimer.

“Following the evaluation of possible solution vendors, and taking into consideration the technology architecture, alignment to business strategy, cost, skills and experience, Microsoft Dynamics 365 was identified as the preferred solution, with The CRM Team as the partner for the implementation.”

Both strategic and customer focused elements were key parts of Sasfin’s CRM journey. The company wanted a central view of Wealth client information and the ability to track client interaction effortlessly. Essentially, Sasfin Wealth wanted to bring its hands on client experience into the digital age.

“During our research and evaluation, the Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution proved to be the platform that would best suit our needs and requirements,” notes Tinus Verster. “Microsoft Dynamics 365 has the capability to integrate into existing backend systems. It is key to our digital strategy.”

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“One of our key strategic objectives is to enhance our technology platform, ultimately, to improve our client experience.”
Alex Elsworth, Chief Technology Officer, Sasfin Wealth

From fragmentation to consolidation

Zamo Hadebe, Business Analyst at Sasfin Wealth, notes that Microsoft Dynamics 365 has the capability to address the company’s need for both a client information and relationship management system.

Elsworth adds:
“The CRM system is key in the technology roadmap, as the client is so central to everything we do. Dynamics 365 will be the core of our systems landscape and a key integration point for all our other systems. Implementing Dynamics 365 will allow our client relationship managers to spend more time with clients, continuously enriching the information we have on record and tailoring the engagements specific to the clients’ needs.”

The solution being developed by The CRM Team will power 360 degree client views, the ability to log leads and opportunities, assign work to both the relevant people and regions and onboard clients seamlessly.

“The engagement and interaction with The CRM Team has been exceptional,” notes Marzanne Raubenheimer. “The CRM Team is very professional and proficient. It has only been a pleasure to work with them. Sasfin engages with a significant number of providers and The CRM Team is definitely on our Top 10 List. We strongly recommend The CRM Team to any organisation considering embarking on a CRM journey.”

Continued confidence and ongoing improvement

Through the final Dynamics powered solution, Sasfin is set to benefit from a range of new business boosting capabilities. At the foundation, the company will be able to access 360 degree customer views encompassing all products, client relationships, roles and household structures. A streamlined client onboarding process spanning KYC, FICA, compliance and risk requirements will provide efficiency gains.

At the tactical level, end to end document and customer information management and critical improvements regarding the identification of on and up sell opportunities are set to provide further business benefits.

“We will be able to constantly enrich our data and use it in a meaningful way to tailor our offerings to the client’s requirements,” notes Verster. “Microsoft Dynamics 365 enables us to gather relevant information on the go, as well as launching workflows that will reduce the current turnaround times. Dynamics is key to our digital strategy and will be the core of our client engagement.”

Key Benefits Obtained

Data consolidation
Streamlining of the onboarding process spanning KYC, FICA, compliance and risk
Improved document management
Superior identification of both on and up sell opportunities

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics 365, go to
https://thecrmteam.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. THE CRM TEAM MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

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