Bath Fitter - Microsoft Enterprise

The Perfect Fit for Bath Fitter Franchise: Microsoft Dynamics

Bath Fitter has grown from a small, sibling-run company, founded in 1984 in Montreal, to a corporate operation with manufacturing facilities, retail outlets, and franchise locations across the U.S. and Canada by putting people first and delivering top-quality service. The technology platform to sustain this winning formula as business continues to grow includes Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Dynamics NAV, Office 365, and Skype.

Bath Fitter takes great pride in making people happy, on the surface by converting worn-out tubs and showers into custom-made, customer-accessorized bathroom beauties, but on a deeper level by listening to its customers, employees, and franchise partners and responding to their needs. It’s a results-oriented company that also believes strongly in giving back to the communities in which it operates, making local headlines with a variety of social-service initiatives, from working with Habitat for Humanity to adapting bathrooms for people with special needs.

“It’s our mission to make every single customer smile,” says Alain Henein, VP of IT who is responsible for the systems that make it possible to deliver great service, everything from front-line communication to back-end logistics and analytics that track performance and forecast success. Aside from being a values-driven organization, Henein says it aims to achieve ambitious goals by focusing on five key areas. “Instead of pounding fists, we’re motiving sales by adhering to our five pillars: strong customer service, effective systems, our commercial division, our product selection, and staffing, having the right people do the right jobs,” says Henein. “We’re driving growth as well by continuing to expand through our franchise network.”

From Small Family Business to Supply-Chain Franchise

Three brothers started Bath Fitter in 1984 to make it easier, quicker, and more affordable for hotels to renovate bathrooms by creating one-piece liners to fit perfectly over worn bathtubs and showers. The first clients were four-star hotels in Canada, and by 1987 the family business had expanded into the residential market. To meet growing demand across Canada and the United States, the company evolved to a franchise model. Henein says they’ve been able to maintain high-standards in quality and service by training all of its sales representatives and installers. “We do not use contractors like some companies,” says Henein. “Everyone goes through an established process of rigorous training.”

In addition, Henein says Bath Fitter keeps it commitment to excellence by making all its own products, including the machines that manufacture the bath fixtures. The company runs two modern manufacturing facilities, one in Montreal and a second in Springfield, Tenn., to provide products to company-owned stores and franchises in both countries. The product line includes acrylic bathtubs and surrounds; shower bases, walls, and liners; tub and shower doors; a variety of color-matched accessories, and more.

“We think our expansion goals are very achievable,” says Henein. To ensure that the company is set up to support rapid growth, he says they went through a thorough, company-wide, brainstorming exercise. “We imagined what the future would look like and what it would take to support that vision. We knew that choosing the right tools for our network was essential,” he says.

The Platform to Deliver the Promise

Bath Fitter has always been what Henein refers to as a “Microsoft shop,” so when they decided to upgrade their homegrown tool for customer relationship management, it seemed natural to consider another Microsoft solution. “We involved people from every level within the organization to help make the decision. We looked at Salesforce, but Microsoft Dynamics CRM was the right decision,” says Henein, emphasizing that the key selling points were its power and simplicity. “We have a lot of moving parts, so we wanted to make sure the platform was easy to use and customize,” he says. They liked that there was single sign-on and that Outlook, SharePoint, and Skype all tied together with the CRM. “We wanted a one-stop shop for our users to be able to make appointments, track progress, and follow up with accounts. We’ve been very happy so far.”

Instead of using different productivity tools, all employees and franchisees will use Dynamics CRM, which will connect with Office 365 and Skype. Henein says this will help to reinforce Bath Fitter’s already successful practice of working together as a team. The expectation is that everyone will have better, more accurate information, and workflow processes will be standardized to improve consistency of sales and service.

Henein explains that when databases aren’t integrated, it’s hard to make sure customers get all their questions resolved in a timely manner, and it’s difficult to see what’s working or not. Dynamics CRM will decrease duplication, process delays, and errors, while improving response times and customer satisfaction. Henein asserts, “We’re not changing the way we do business, but Dynamics CRM is helping us to innovate and enhance everything we do.”

“The manager tool is tremendous,” says Henein. “It provides a birds-eye view into the heart of the department.” The dashboards will show income for each day, month, quarter, and so on, as well as outstanding leads and collective sales-versus-budget views. Customer wins and trends will be more visible, which will help the executive team refine strategy. “We’re putting in turnkey systems today for our 2020 goals.”

Next Steps

Bath Fitter will pilot Dynamics CRM Online in two stores in the next couple of months, then roll it out with training to the rest of the company. “We haven’t had any pushback because we involved everyone from the president to the retail users from the beginning,” says Henein. “We listened carefully to what people wanted in the discovery process, and we did our homework. We didn’t want IT to be the only driver, so we created a cross-departmental CRM task force to build consensus.”

In addition to Dynamics CRM Online, Bath Fitter is in the process of testing Dynamics NAV, which it will use to streamline order processing, manufacturing, and accounting. Once Bath Fitter can quickly see the true cost of goods and the status of inventory control, combined with the knowledge of what customers are buying and what’s not selling, Henein says they will have realized the true power of the Microsoft platform.

Just as Bath Fitter is taking the frustration out of expensive, time-consuming bathroom renovations, Henein says Microsoft has helped Bath Fitter modernize its IT systems and replace labor-intensive, expensive manual processes with a more unified approach to doing business. Henein concludes, “We’re committed to being a great company to work for and do business with, and Microsoft technology helps make that possible.”

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