What’s in Grande Cheese Company’s winning operations and sales recipe? Cloud transformation

Italian cheese: It’s the mozzarella at the heart of your favorite pizzeria, an indulgent first-course burrata and the rich ricotta filling in a classic cannoli. It’s all made of the same basic ingredients: milk, enzymes and salt. But when it comes to cheesemaking, there’s another ingredient — time — that makes all the difference.

As one of the nation’s leading Italian-style cheese producers, Grande Cheese Company knows that the same applies to business operations. Good timing unlocks quality, efficiency and profitability at every stage of cheese production — from ingredient sourcing to the first bite. After conducting a study that revealed opportunities to improve operations, Grande set out to upgrade its technology and reclaim associates’ time — helping them focus more on growing the business and connecting with the people who use Grande’s products every day.

A two-part tech upgrade: ERP and CRM

Gourmet cheesemaking is a tradition-rich business. But Grande knew its technology upgrade needed to start with a modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) strategy — one that could connect its various systems and reduce manual processes to keep crucial supply chain data in sync across the business. Real-time, accurate accounting of key ingredients and packaging supplies makes it much easier to deliver products at peak freshness and quality.

Plans to establish a single source of truth led Grande to rethink its approach to data in other areas of its business — specifically, customer relationship management (CRM) and analytics. With customer data and sales information spread out across multiple on-premise locations, sales associates could greatly benefit from a standard platform with a unified view of their customers’ needs. Grande expanded the scope of its project into a large-scale, multi-year transformation, and, with help from PwC, set out to move its operations to a cloud-based platform.

D365 CRM data helps personalize customer experiences

Using its ERP roll-out as a springboard, Grande developed a CRM specific to its place in the B2B market. PwC worked with Grande’s associates to develop a new D365 CRM platform tailored to their needs. Starting with the design stage, PwC conducted ride-alongs and site visits to understand their workload and concerns. It then met weekly with stakeholders to collect feedback and encourage adoption. Together, they centralized customer information in the cloud and connected it with relevant data and analytics from other areas of the business.

The new D365 CRM system is designed to give sales associates the tools to qualify leads, track prospects and build profiles on higher-converting customers. It offers reporting, analytics and third-party industry data — all of which can improve in-person visits with restaurant operators and make it easier to provide personalized service. The flexibility of the D365 CRM platform means sales associates can customize their dashboards to focus on the most important information, whether at the office or in the field. As a result, they can spend more time providing superior, hands-on customer experiences and making sure the top products make their way to diners’ plates.