Case study · B2B software and services
Customers who help themselves, and get help faster
B2B support teams answer the same questions many times and chase updates by email. This is how we gave customers a secure portal on Dynamics 365 to raise and track cases, find answers and manage their account, while agents work from the same records.
Project overview
A self-service portal on the same data agents use.
- Industry
- B2B software & services
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Customer self-service
- Platform
- Power Pages + Customer Service
- Timeline
- 8–14 weeks
- Team
- 4 people
- Sign-in
- Microsoft Entra External ID
- Branding
- Company design system
- Users
- Customers, agents
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
Deflection and fewer status-chasing emails are the main gains.
-
15–30%
Cases resolved through self-service
Customers find answers in the knowledge base before raising a case.
Target range; depends on knowledge base quality
-
30–50%
Fewer 'any update?' emails
Customers see case status and history in the portal.
Target range after the portal becomes the main channel
-
24/7
Case submission
Customers raise cases with attachments whenever they need to.
Portal availability
Business challenges
How support worked before
Email is the channel, and email hides everything.
Cases
Raised by email with missing details, then clarified back and forth.
Updates
Customers email to ask for status; agents stop work to reply.
Knowledge
Answers exist in agents' past emails, not anywhere customers can see.
Accounts
Contact changes arrive by email and are updated late.
Visibility
Customer managers can't see their colleagues' open cases.
Proposed solution
What the portal build covers
Power Pages on top of Customer Service, styled to the company's brand.
-
Portal
A branded, secure portal on the company's domain, built with Power Pages.
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Case forms
Guided forms by product and issue type that collect the right details first time.
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Case tracking
Status, history and messages for each case, visible to the customer.
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Knowledge base
Searchable articles suggested as customers type their issue.
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Account management
Customer admins manage contacts and see all cases for their company.
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Secure sign-in
External identity with single sign-on for larger customers.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was fewer emails. The portal only works if it is easier than email, so forms are short and the knowledge base answers common questions well.
We start with the most common case types, write good articles for them and measure deflection before expanding.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Structured cases from the start
- 02Status without asking
- 03Answers customers can find
- 04Company-level visibility for customer admins
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
-
Knowledge that exists only in agents' heads
What we did
Agents' knowledge was written up as articles before launch, starting with the most frequent questions.
-
Customers who prefer email
What we did
Email stayed available and fed the same case record, so customers could choose their channel.
-
Complex account hierarchies
What we did
Account hierarchies were modelled so a customer administrator could see every case across their company.
-
Brand and accessibility requirements
What we did
The portal was built to the brand guidelines and tested against accessibility standards.
What we watched for
- Write the knowledge base before launch
- Keep forms short
- Give customer admins company-wide views
- Measure deflection honestly
Development process
Start with the common questions
The portal launches with the case types that make up most of the volume.
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Case analysis
Past cases analysed to find the most common types and questions.
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Knowledge base
Articles written for the top questions with the support team.
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Portal build
Portal, forms and sign-in built in the company's design system.
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Pilot customers
A group of customers uses the portal and gives feedback.
-
Launch
Portal opened to all customers, with email gradually redirected.
Technology stack
Power Pages on Dataverse
The portal reads and writes the same records agents work with.
Portal
- Power Pages
- Liquid templates
- Custom CSS
Service
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service
- Knowledge management
Identity
- Microsoft Entra External ID
- SSO for enterprise customers
Reporting
- Deflection metrics
- Power BI
Quality assurance & deployment
Tested by the people who use it every day
A CRM succeeds when people choose to use it. Every process was tested with real users on real scenarios, and data migration was rehearsed until the record counts agreed.
- Scenario testing with users from each role
- Migration rehearsals, with record counts reconciled
- Integration tests for every connected system
- Security roles checked against real job roles
- Solutions moved between environments as managed releases
Deployment
- 01Pilot customersA group of customers uses the portal and gives feedback.
- 02LaunchPortal opened to all customers, with email gradually redirected.
- 03Phased go-liveOne team or region first, then the rest, each wave with training by role.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyDaily support through the first weeks, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
Support that scales without more inboxes
Customers raise better cases, find many answers themselves and see progress without asking.
Agents spend their time solving problems rather than replying to status requests.
- Branded self-service portal
- Structured case intake
- Visible case status
- A growing knowledge base
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Dynamics 365Production and test environments
- 02Solutions and integrationsAs managed, documented releases
- 03Migrated dataWith record counts reconciled
- 04Training by roleWith short guides
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Cases resolved through self-service | 15–30% | Target range; depends on knowledge base quality |
| Fewer 'any update?' emails | 30–50% | Target range after the portal becomes the main channel |
| Case submission | 24/7 | Portal availability |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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The work produced by the team was of exceptional quality.
Jon Thies
CTO, Model Rocket Feb 2022 – Mar 2023
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Silver Scintilla was responsive, respectful, and enjoyable to work with, quickly addressing any questions or requests.
DeShawn Brown
CEO & Founder, Lithios Jun 2021 – Nov 2022
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Silver Scintilla provided the best solution with scalable functionality, personalized features, and robust security.
Suheb Khan
Director, Collaborative Insight Technologies Jul 2020 – Jun 2022
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