In our latest Team Spotlight, we introduce you to Lisa Stovold. Lisa's role as a Power Platform Consultant places her at the heart of our project delivery operations, leveraging her extensive expertise in Microsoft Dynamics (D365) and Power Platform to provide exceptional CRM support to our clients.
Hello Lisa!
With over a decade of experience in the membership sector, Lisa's deep insights have played a significant part in shaping our Membership Experience platform, MemEx. Not only is she a D365 maestro and capable Business Consultant, Lisa also brings infectious enthusiasm to her work, inspiring everyone she comes into contact with. Lisa shares her journey with us, discusses the key challenges in the membership sector, and sheds some light on what's in store for our clients from a D365 and Power Platform perspective.
I'm Lisa Stovold, a Microsoft Dynamics (D365) and Power Platform Consultant at Wattle. I've been with the company for almost two years. My role involves anything related to the D365 component of our Membership Experience platform, MemEx. I'm a business consultant and a D365 guru. I handle everything from membership requirements gathering and MemEx D365 system configuration to user and general MemEx D365 system support following project go-live.
I've been a D365 Consultant for about 13 years now. My journey in the membership sector started with Silverbear in 2010. I then moved to Trillium after 8 years with Silverbear. Interestingly, both companies are now under the same umbrella, having been acquired by ClearCourse. I've always preferred working for independent companies, so I joined Wattle. My career in IT has always focused on the membership and not-for-profit sector, which I've become very specialised in, having worked with organisations of all sizes.
I love the variety! It's fascinating to see how different membership organisations approach the same tasks in various ways. I really enjoy problem-solving and thinking about how to tackle these differing membership challenges with our clients. Additionally, I love the people aspect of it – I thrive on building relationships with our clients.
My remote location in the Southeast of England does limit my ability to interact in person with the rest of the team, but I haven't missed a chance to engage socially when the opportunity arises. For example, I couldn't make it to the company barbecue last year due to a prior holiday, but I'm excited to be attending this year. Despite the distance, I still feel part of the vibrant Wattle community.
Member Engagement.
Member Retention.
Growing membership in a cost of living crisis.
Having primarily worked supplying the membership sector with Dynamics CRM (D365) for over 10 years, I have been fortunate enough to work with all sizes of organisations, so I have seen many different ways that organisations work to engage, retain and grow their membership base. During this time, it has become clear how vital the role of D365 is in building key strategies within a business through data quality, integrity, structure, and ease of access. I think this experience and knowledge are key when building an effective CRM system that can evolve with an organisation's vision.
The focus for Microsoft over the next few years is more low-code / no-code solutions and their ever-evolving artificial intelligence (AI) offering. Low-code / no-code solutions ultimately mean more flexibility for systems and a lower cost to maintain as the skills required to update / modify processes are increasingly no longer necessarily reliant on Developer skills (which keeps me busier as a Consultant!). I also think that as AI becomes more ubiquitous we will see some of that become increasingly popular for Member Engagement functions in particular.
Towards the end of the pandemic, I got myself a dog (a Cavachon), so a lot of my time involves her, whether it be walking, exploring new places, or bathing her after she insists on swimming or rolling in various things! I am also rather partial to a cider or a cocktail, so anything that involves those, I'm in!!
