How Lightforce Replaced Salesforce and Scaled Smarter
From friction to flow with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Published: October 2024 | Industry: Energy, Solar, Marketing | Location: New Zealand
From Friction to Flow
Lightforce Solar, one of Aotearoa's fastest-growing renewable energy companies, had reached a critical inflection point. With operations expanding nationwide and customer demand surging, their legacy Salesforce system had become a bottleneck rather than an enabler.
The symptoms were clear: marketing teams lacked customer insights for effective campaigns, sales teams struggled with complex quoting processes, and the back office was drowning in manual reconciliation tasks. Expensive Salesforce licensing costs were compounding the problem, with disconnected data creating silos across the organisation.
Lightforce needed more than a CRM replacement—they needed a complete digital transformation. In partnership with Microsoft, Delta Insights delivered an integrated Dynamics 365 Sales + Marketing and Customer Insights platform that unified every aspect of their solar business operations.
Reduction in System Conflicts
Quote to Invoice Process
Implementation Timeline
Business Intelligence Dashboards
The Challenge: Scaling in a Fragmented System
As New Zealand's renewable energy sector experienced unprecedented growth, Lightforce found themselves constrained by legacy systems that couldn't keep pace with their ambitions.
Legacy CRM Limitations
Salesforce wasn't working for sales or service teams, with expensive licensing and disconnected data
Too Many Tools
Team was juggling multiple systems, struggling with duplicate data and scaling issues nationwide
Marketing and Customer Insights
Teams lacked the visibility needed for customer engagement and data-driven marketing decisions
Scaling Solar Energy for Aotearoa
Founded with a mission to accelerate New Zealand's transition to renewable energy, Lightforce Solar has grown from a local installer to a nationwide leader in residential and commercial solar solutions. But their rapid growth exposed critical gaps in their operational infrastructure.
The team needed a platform that could:
- Unify sales and marketing operations across multiple regions
- Automate complex solar quoting with real-time pricing and inventory
- Provide marketing teams with complete customer insights and analytics
- Generate comprehensive reporting for stakeholders and compliance
- Scale efficiently without proportional increases in administrative overhead
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform delivered exactly that transformation.
Hear from Hussain Sohani
GENERAL MANAGER OF FINANCE, LIGHTFORCE SOLAR
From friction to flow - see the transformation in action
Unified Platform, Exponential Results
Delta Insights implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales + Marketing and Customer Insights, creating a unified ecosystem that connects every aspect of Lightforce's solar business operations.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
Unified customer relationship management with lead-to-job automation
- Lead-to-job automation
- Integrated quoting system
- Customer lifecycle tracking
- Sales pipeline management
Marketing and Customer Insights
Data-driven marketing platform for customer engagement and analytics
- Customer analytics dashboards
- Marketing automation
- Lead scoring and tracking
- Customer journey insights
Power Platform Integration
Automation and dashboards for streamlined operations
- Automated workflows
- Real-time dashboards
- Financial system integration
- Business insights
The platform is cloud-native, scalable, and built on Microsoft's enterprise-grade infrastructure—giving Lightforce the foundation to lead New Zealand's renewable energy transformation.
Transformation That Delivers
Since implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365, Lightforce has achieved measurable improvements across every aspect of their operations. The integrated platform eliminated the friction that was holding them back, enabling the team to focus on what matters most—accelerating New Zealand's renewable energy adoption.
Key improvements include:
- 75% reduction in system conflicts through unified data management
- 3x faster quote-to-invoice process with automated workflows
- Real-time visibility for marketing teams and back-office operations
- Seamless handoffs between sales, marketing, and support teams
- Comprehensive business intelligence enabling data-driven decisions
Beyond operational efficiency, the platform has positioned Lightforce to scale confidently across New Zealand's growing renewable energy market, with the infrastructure to support their ambitious expansion plans.
18-Week Transformation Journey
From initial assessment to full deployment, our proven methodology ensured a smooth transition from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics 365 without disrupting daily operations.
Assessment & Design
3 weeks
- Business process analysis
- System architecture design
- Integration planning
Core Implementation
8 weeks
- D365 configuration
- Custom development
- Data migration
Marketing Setup
4 weeks
- Customer insights configuration
- Marketing automation setup
- Analytics dashboard creation
Testing & Go-Live
3 weeks
- User acceptance testing
- Production deployment
- Post-launch support
"A Game-Changer for Our Operations"
"With the support from Delta Insights' team, we managed to go live exactly as committed and without any disruption. In the first week, our whole team was using Dynamics as if they'd been on it for years—having instant access to reports and vital numbers for sales, operations, and finance. That was the big achievement for choosing Delta Insights—we found a great team to work with."
Hussain Sohani
General Manager of Finance, Lightforce Solar | August 2024
Delivered by Delta Insights. Powered by Microsoft.
By replacing Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Lightforce now operates on a platform built for scale, efficiency, and innovation. The unified ecosystem enables them to lead New Zealand's renewable energy transition with confidence, knowing their technology infrastructure can grow alongside their ambitions.
Built with
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
- Marketing and Customer Insights
- Power Platform (automation and dashboards)
- Azure Cloud
Project Details
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