How Immobel builds cities and digital efficiency

From fragmented tools to a unified sales approach

“We use Business Central for financial management,” says Wim. “Dynamics 365 Sales served as our CRM, containing our customer database and assets. However, our sales team found the CRM too complex, so we also implemented HubSpot. Today, Dynamics 365 Sales is much more intuitive, but the sales team has grown attached to HubSpot. As a result, both systems continued to operate in parallel.”

The outcome? Disconnected data, significant time loss, and an increased risk of errors. The first step in the Customer Connect initiative was therefore to integrate HubSpot and Dynamics 365 Sales. “By connecting the two, we combined the best of both worlds: sales can continue working in the familiar HubSpot environment, while all data is instantly available in our CRM.”

Integration with Business Central

Automated invoicing became more achievable, but additional steps were required. “The data models of Dynamics 365 Sales and Business Central didn’t align perfectly,” Wim explains.

“For example, we sell to both businesses and individuals, as well as to families who jointly purchase a unit. While our CRM could register these different scenarios, Business Central lacked that flexibility. To bridge the gap, we routed all data from CRM to Business Central through an Access database. By redesigning the CRM architecture, we eliminated this extra step.”

From 40 to 3 minutes for 1 invoice

The difference is remarkable: “Previously, creating the first invoice took 40 minutes, followed by another 15 to 20 minutes for each additional invoice. Now, the entire process takes just three minutes. In some cases, that’s a 3000% increase in efficiency. We can instantly see which invoices have been sent and paid, making life significantly easier for our finance team and improving our cash flow.”

Reliable data as the foundation

“Data cleansing and migration were, to put it mildly, challenging,” Wim acknowledges. “However, the end-to-end integration led to significant improvements in data quality and, as a result, much better reporting. All new data is now fully reliable.”

Meanwhile, Immobel continues to enhance and refine data from existing projects. Wim is also planning for a data warehouse and management dashboards, moving toward a true single source of truth.

Delivering on our reputation

Why Cegeka? “Immobel initiated a small selection process with two providers, and Cegeka stood out above the rest. The solution, the approach, and the clarity of their proposal were all far more convincing. Cegeka also had an outstanding reputation. We knew this would be an investment of several hundred thousand euros, and we wanted a partner we could trust.”

Three key lessons along the way

Immobel has the revenue and ambition of a large enterprise, but the size of an SME. This required a practical approach. Wim took on the role of program manager and collaborated with a small core team.

“When your core team is strong, you can achieve great results. Along the way, we learned the importance of involving key users early, communicating transparently with leadership without overwhelming them with details, and maintaining strict scope control. Balancing all of this is challenging for a program manager, but it truly makes a difference.”

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

The Customer Connect project was Wim’s first experience working with Cegeka, and it left a strong impression. “Yes, Cegeka is a bit more expensive than average, but they truly deliver on their reputation. What I appreciated most was their willingness to challenge us. Sometimes we wanted to stick to a certain idea, and Frederik—who served as both solution architect and application consultant—would push back, even when it was uncomfortable. But it was necessary. I’ve worked with many partners before, but in this respect, Cegeka truly stands out.”