Meet D365 Customer Engagement Practice Director Matt Van Dyke
Matt Van Dyke has recently been named Stoneridge Software’s Practice Director for D365 Customer Engagement. Matt brings a wealth of experience to the role with nearly 30 years of history in the technology industry and more than 15 years dedicated to Dynamics CRM / D365 CE. Previous work experience includes serving in nearly every role from developer and consultant to project director and director of solution delivery at other Microsoft partner organizations. On the flip side, he also has experience from a CE client perspective in the recent positions of IT Relationship Manager for D365 CE and Senior Product Manager for Sales and Customer Service at CHS, Inc. Matt is a certified ScrumMaster and certified Change Practitioner. We asked Matt a few questions about himself and his passion for Microsoft Dynamics business applications.
1. What excites you most about leading the D365 Customer Engagement Practice at Stoneridge Software?
In a rapidly evolving economy, Dynamics 365 CE is a difference-maker for our clients. It’s fun and exciting to help our clients grow and transform their business with tools they may never have imagined were possible. Once known as Dynamics CRM, CE has been coupled with the Power Platform and has evolved into an amazingly powerful platform. Now, more so than ever, companies can target nearly any business need imaginable, without needing deep technical/development skills. Most importantly, businesses of all sizes can deliver solutions to meet those needs fast, iteratively, and cost-effectively. CE is about configuring digital tools to engage with your customers. In today’s world, customers use technology in so many ways…Dynamics 365 allows you to keep up with the technology.
Think of the following:
- pricing tools
- cross-selling collaboration
- site visits
- sales pipelines
- mobile lead capture
- automated approvals
- pricing alerts
- events check-in
- order entry
- chat
- SMS messages
- remote assist
- invoice generation
- order fulfillment
- and more!
The applications for solving business needs are endless. Dynamics 365 CE and the Power Platform allow the rapid, low-code development of productivity tools. That’s what this platform is about and it gets better and more powerful every day. With the deep customer base of Stoneridge software, the possibilities are endless to help our customers thrive.
2. What is one piece of advice you would like to share with CRM/CE users?
Your CRM system should enable the people in your business that engage your customers. Simple, fast, efficient “apps” can transform your business operations and build your relationships with your customers. So, ask your employees (your sales personnel, support reps, marketers, service technicians) what digital tools would make them more effective in their jobs. Then, call Stoneridge and we’ll work with you to build those tools. The platform provides all the capabilities; together, we can build your customer engagement platform.
3. What would you do if you weren’t a D365CE Consultant/Practice Director?
I would love to be a teacher.
4) Looking back, has there been a watershed moment in your career?
I was studying IT Business Analysis around the time Dynamics CRM 2011 was being released. The significance of the two things changed the direction of my career and still is. You can’t build effective software without effectively understanding how a business functions. Dynamics CRM/CE is the ultimate business applications platform, it’s meant to build software the way a business works, it’s not about asking a business to change based on how the software works.
5) What’s your favorite way to spend a day off from work?
Hanging out with my kids or 18 holes of golf with friends.
6) What makes you nerd-out?
Power Platform is the ultimate nerd-out software. It allows you to target business problems and solve them in so many different ways…to build digital productivity tools for your employees to excel. So nerdy but so awesome and so great for business growth.
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