One integration that survived three ERPs

About Contour Design

Founded in 1995, Contour Design is a market leader in ergonomic computer hardware. Its purpose is straightforward: prevent and relieve strain injuries for office workers by designing better things to put your hands on. Products like the RollerMouse, the SliderMouse, the Unimouse, the Multimedia Controller and the Balance Keyboard have set the standard in their category and collected a long list of awards. The RollerMouse, SliderMouse, Unimouse and Balance Keyboard lines have sold more than a quarter of a million units worldwide.

The company has helped thousands of people avoid unnecessary strain while improving comfort and productivity at a desk. Its headquarters are in Denmark, production is in China, and it has offices across Europe and the United States.

The challenge

At the start there was only Microsoft Dynamics C5 and some basic reporting tools. In 2016 Contour Design brought in Salesforce as its CRM. As the company expanded across Europe and the United States, the cost of running those systems apart became obvious.

Natalia Izabela Kuraszynska, BI and System Administrator at Contour Design, set out what was needed: a flexible platform that could carry data between separate systems without interruption, a tool the team could operate internally rather than through a vendor, and something robust enough to keep scaling as the company grew.

From the very beginning, we only had MS Dynamics C5, and later, upon establishing Salesforce CRM, the need for a comprehensive integration solution became evident.

Natalia Izabela Kuraszynska, BI and System Administrator at Contour Design

What the integration does

Rapidi was recommended by Contour Design’s Salesforce partner. The core of the setup moves three things from the ERP into Salesforce.

• Customers. Account information in NAV or Business Central is synchronised with customer records in Salesforce, so both platforms show one view of the customer.
• Products and items. Product and item information held in the ERP updates automatically in Salesforce, so the sales team is quoting from current detail, pricing and availability.
• Sales history. Purchase invoices and lines transfer into a dedicated Sales History object in Salesforce, which is what makes trends, buying behaviour and overall performance visible in one place.

Two custom flows the other way

Two further integrations run from Salesforce back into the ERP, and both exist to remove a wait.

Support cases become sales orders. Case information captured in Salesforce transfers to NAV or Business Central, where it creates sales orders and credit memos automatically. Customer service resolves an enquiry without anyone re-keying the order behind it.

Sample orders without ERP access. A purpose-built Demo Customer object in Salesforce feeds sales orders in the ERP, so sales people who have no ERP login can still raise demo orders themselves. Product demonstrations are a real part of how Contour Design sells, and this is what keeps them from queueing.

Between them, the two show how far the setup was shaped around this particular business rather than dropped on top of it.

The results

The team runs it themselves. The interface is usable enough that Contour’s own people manage the integration without outside help, which has cut their dependence on support and built real confidence in handling system changes.

Manual entry is gone. Sales, marketing and customer information consolidated into one place, with the data exchange automated rather than typed.

It scales. As a company that intends to keep growing, Contour Design has something that adapts to new markets and new technology rather than having to be replaced.

This partnership has not only enhanced our operational capabilities but also improved our working efficiency and cooperation between teams around the world.

Natalia Izabela Kuraszynska, BI and System Administrator at Contour Design

The efficiency of our work increased significantly.

Natalia Izabela Kuraszynska, BI and System Administrator at Contour Design

Through three ERPs

The part of this story that is hard to arrange deliberately is its length. Contour Design began on Dynamics C5, moved to Dynamics NAV, and has now upgraded its US offices to Dynamics 365 Business Central. The European offices are still on NAV and will follow in the coming years. Rapidi has been in place through all of it, which is the difference between a migration and a rebuild.

It was always very smooth, and I was involved from the first meeting. This partnership has not only enhanced our operational capabilities but also strengthened our commitment to delivering ergonomic solutions that make a difference.

Natalia Izabela Kuraszynska, BI and System Administrator at Contour Design