Mike’s Carwash has a Clean Dynamics SL Lift and Shift to the Cloud

Mike’s Carwash moves its Microsoft Dynamics SL solution to the Velosio Stratos Cloud which proves to be more cost effective than hiring additional IT resources to maintain the systems in-house.

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Table of Content

    Client Overview

    Founded in 1948, Mike’s Carwash strives to offer its customers an exceptional experience, a superior carwash, and the best team members around, and it shows. They’ve received both national and local recognition for being a top workplace, and for team member training that is nearly unprecedented in the service industry. Business accolades include recognition for marketplace ethics and entrepreneurial excellence. While Mike’s Carwash is truly honored by all the recognition, earning a customer’s repeat business is the biggest compliment of all.

    Challenge

    A long-time user of Microsoft Dynamics SL, Mike’s Carwash had Dynamics SL 2011 and ReQlogic 9.x implemented using managed IT services from a local company. Since Mike’s Carwash has limited resources related to IT, the cost of moving the Dynamics SL ecosystem to the cloud proved to be more cost effective than hiring additional IT resources to maintain in-house servers. The team at Mike’s Carwash knew that a shift to the cloud would allow them to modernize, innovate, and adapt their application landscapes to the latest technology available on a cloud platform.

    Stratos Cloud

    Mike’s Carwash reviewed 10 Microsoft partners and then narrowed the selection process to three — Eventually selecting Velosio and the Stratos cloud to host the Dynamics SL ecosystem in Microsoft Azure over the other Microsoft partners. “The Stratos Cloud Team demonstrated the knowledge and expertise related to Azure, and the Dynamics SL implementation and consulting teams have the knowledge, experience, and expertise related to Dynamics SL, ReQlogic, SL eBanking, and SQL Server,” says Dan Shawver, IT business analyst for Mike’s Carwash.

    Mike's Carwash

    The ground to cloud migration was smooth. “The Stratos Cloud Team did the initial installation and setup of the production and test servers for Dynamics SL, SQL Server, and ReQlogic without any issues,” says Shawver. “The Stratos Cloud Team resolved issues and answered questions typically within an hour,” continues Shawver.

    Mike’s Carwash has its Microsoft Dynamics SL application integrated with ReQlogic for eProcurement, Requisition, Approvals and AP automation. This enables the business to further drive efficiency and take control of costs. “ReQlogic is a web-based solution and requires an IIS Server, which is easily maintained in Stratos,” says Shawver.

    Post-implementation, Mike’s Carwash leaned heavily on its internal training department for staff training. “Training videos and supporting documents were created, which were required to be reviewed by each user on the Mike’s Carwash Training Portal,” describes Shawver.

    Business Benefits

    Moving to the cloud has offered cost savings to Mike’s Carwash. “Moving the Dynamics SL ecosystem to the cloud proved to be more cost effective than hiring additional IT resources to maintain the systems,” says Shawver. Zero staffing was added to the Mike’s Carwash IT for maintaining six separate servers related to the Production and Test Ecosystem for Microsoft Dynamics SL:

    • Production Server for Dynamics SL
    • Production Server for SQL Server
    • Production Server for ReQlogic
    • Test Server for Dynamics SL
    • Test Server for SQL Server
    • Test Server for ReQlogic

    Additionally, key business benefits in migrating Mike’s Carwash Dynamics SL solution to cloud are:

    Mike's Car Wash

    • Shifting focus from underlying infrastructure and platforms to application innovation
    • Unmatched availability, scalability, and agility of cloud resources when compared to on-premises deployments
    • On-demand usage pattern and pay-as-you-go cost management offered by cloud, which helps to convert huge CAPEX to smaller chunks of OPEX
    • Alternative solutions to replace end-of-life hardware/software
    • Need for hybrid architecture to leverage services that are not available on-premises
    • Effective compliance and security management

    Future Plans

    Mike’s Carwash is now looking at Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement as a potential CRM solution for contact and activity management to gather customer data so that customer service agents can view all communication and interactions with customers. The team is also reviewing Power Platform as a solution to create a mobile app for interacting with their car wash customers.