1. Microsoft Dynamics
Partner Solution Case Study
ISV Speeds Innovation and Reaches New
Markets with Microsoft Dynamics xRM
Development Framework
Overview
Country or Region: United States
Industry: IT services
Partner Profile
Based in Muncie, Indiana, Ontario
Systems has led in accounts receivables
management software for 30 years,
serving healthcare systems, hospitals,
debt buyers, and collection agencies.
Business Situation
Ontario Systems needed to replace its
aging technology with a more flexible
platformthat would help speed time-to-
market and open up new market
opportunities.
Solution
Ontario Systems achieved Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner status and rewrote its
software on the Microsoft platformfor
faster development, greater ease-of-use,
and increased customer confidence.
Benefits
 50 percent faster time-to-market
 Improved productivity for customers
 Expanded market reach and faster
sales cycle
 Greater business flexibility
“CollectSavvy is not a small product—itis enterprise
software—butwe were able to move the solution to an
entirelynew platform in just 90 days.”
Tony Reisz, President and CEO, Ontario Systems
Having led the industry in accounts receivables management
software for 30 years, Ontario Systems wanted to move to a
newer, more flexible technology platform that would enable the
company to deliver new functionality and features faster. After
an extensive study, Ontario Systems chose the Microsoft
technology platform over IBM and Oracle and quickly became a
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Working together with
Microsoft and with the xRM application development framework
in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Ontario Systems designed,
developed, and brought to market a revolutionary new product
that significantly improves customers’ productivity and decision-
making abilities. Built 50 percent faster than previously possible,
the new solution is available as an on-premises or hosted
offering and has increased vertical functionality, enabling
Ontario Systems to expand into new markets.

2. Situation
Ontario Systems offers a full portfolio of
software, services, and business process
expertise for accounts receivables
management. Recognized as a thought-
leader in the industry, the company holds
the largest portion of market share for
accounts receivable management software
at 33 percent of the market. More than 400
hospitals use Ontario Systems products, as
do 9 of the 10 largest collection agencies in
the United States.
In early 2009, Ontario Systems decided to
find a new technology platformfor its
software solutions.Up to that point, the
company offered two major products built
on different legacy technologies,one of
which was nearly 30 years old. Because of
the aging technology on which it had built
these solutions, Ontario Systems could not
easily introduce new featuresand
functionality, and the company’s customers
spent more resources maintaining the
systems. In addition, although these
software packages met the requirements of
large organizations,they did not scale
down to address the unique needs of
smaller companies.
“Our technology platformhad become too
cumbersome. We had developed
everything on our own, including compiling
tools, report tools, and integration
methods. This from-the-ground-up
approach slowed our time-to-market for
new innovations,” says Michael Zammuto,
Chief Operating Officer at Ontario Systems.
“We envisioned more automation and
intelligence in our solutions that would
help our customers transformtheir
operations, but we needed to get these
capabilities to market faster.”
With a customer base of more than 600
organizations,Ontario Systems needed to
take special care about which technology
platformon which to base its product. “We
have a tremendously solid customer base,
and many of our customers have been with
us for decades,” says Tony Reisz, President
and CEO at Ontario Systems. “Bringing all
of our customers forward onto our new
platformwas critical, so we had a long list
of requirements. We talked to major
technology vendors, including IBM, Oracle,
and Microsoft. When we sat down and
looked at everything, Microsoft came out
on top in every single category.”
Solution
Ontario Systems chose to build the new
version of its accounts receivable
management solution on the xRM
application development framework in
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “With xRM and
the Microsoft technology stack, we can
focus on our customers’ business
requirements instead of creating the
technology platformourselves,” says
Zammuto. “Our customers have greater
confidence in our solution because it is
based on Microsoft products and
technologies. Taking advantage of the
platformhas resulted in simpler
implementations, minimal training, and
greater ease-of-use.”
The company’s new Collect Savvy software,
available through both on-premises and
software-as-a-services models, helps
companies of any size manage receivables
more effectively for greater revenue.
Ontario Systems uses the new solution to
help existing customers increase
automation and gain better insights, and to
reach new markets outside of its traditional
customer base, especially smaller
healthcare entities and law offices.
Becoming a Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner
To get the most out of its relationshipwith
Microsoft, Ontario Systems completed the

3. requirements to become a Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner, giving the company
access to a partner account manager,
technical resources, and marketing and
sales support.
“Achieving the status of Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner helped us in many areas,”
explains Zammuto. “Right away, we gained
access to resources that helped us to not
only design and develop our product but
also to get it to market. We interact closely
with Microsoft, whether it’s our developers
and architects communicating with their
peers at Microsoft or our account
management team working with Microsoft
to reach further into the healthcare
market.”
As a Microsoft partner, Ontario Systems
received critical technical assistance as it
developed Collect Savvy. “We were
experiencing some load issues with timing
and how many accounts we could load at
one time,” explains Reisz. “Microsoft came
through and demonstrated a commitment
to helping us resolve those issues and
succeed.”
Ontario Systems also takes advantage of
sales and marketing advice and resources
from Microsoft, including collaboration
with the company’s partner account
manager, to identify and capture market
opportunities. “Microsoft has a heavy
footprint in the industries we are targeting,
especially healthcare,” says Reisz. “We can
capitalize on the good reputation of
Microsoft when we’re in sales
conversations. In addition, potential
customers gain confidence in our product
and road map when they understand how
we are building on Microsoft investments.”
Building with the Microsoft
Technology Stack
Ontario Systems used platform
components in the xRM application
development framework to help speed the
development of Collect Savvy. “With xRM,
we don’t have to worry about things like
security and underlying infrastructure,” says
Zammuto. “Our developers have a world-
class, deeply integrated set of tools to work
with. These were things that we used to
spend time creating ourselves, and now we
can take advantage of the investment that
Microsoft puts into those technologies.”
The solution takes advantage of business
intelligence (BI) features in Microsoft
Dynamics CRM, Microsoft SharePoint
Server, and Microsoft SQL Server to help
companies analyze, formulate, and test
optimal strategies for revenue recovery.
Employees at customer companies use
role-based landing pages and dashboards
to get an up-to-date view of how their
strategies are performing.
Ontario Systems built the interfaces for
Collect Savvy by using Microsoft Silverlight,
which lends greater responsiveness and
graphical richness to online interactions.
“Our account representative screen is
designed entirely with Silverlight,” explains
LeAnne Hester, Chief Marketing Officer at
Ontario Systems. “These people spend
eight hours each day working in these
screens. If our customers can save their
account representatives even five seconds
for each account, they can increase revenue
by up to $1,000 each month.”
To connect Collect Savvy with various third-
party services, such as credit reports and
insurance verification,OntarioSystems took
advantage of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009.
Customers can configure business rules to
automate processes and ensure they are
only using the services that provide the
“With xRM and the
Microsoft technology
stack, we can focus on
our customers’ business
requirements insteadof
creatingthe technology
platform ourselves.”
Michael Zammuto, Chief Operating
Officer, Ontario Systems

4. highest return, potentially saving thousands
of dollars in fees paid to these providers.
Ontario Systems used Windows Workflow
Foundation in the Microsoft .NET
Framework to create a feature called
Strategy Commander. This solution enables
managers without technical expertise to
create and alter workflows. By using this
tool, managers can ensure that
representatives are handling accounts
proactively. The tool works together with BI
in Collect Savvy so that managers can
adjust their approaches to maximize
revenue recovery.
Creating a Hosted Solution
Ontario Systems offers Collect Savvy as a
subscription-basedhosted solution, which
makes it more appealing to smaller
organizations that might not have
significant ITresources to set up and
manage their own implementation. To
make this arrangement easier, Ontario
Systems takes advantage of the multitenant
architecture in Microsoft Dynamics CRM,
which helps the company to manage
separate software instances while sharing
hardware resources. In addition, the
company is involved in the Microsoft
Services Provider License Agreement, which
enables Ontario Systems to license
Microsoft products on a monthly basis and
charge customers for only what they use.
Benefits
By working with the xRM application
development framework and through the
Microsoft Partner Network, Ontario
Systems successfully rewrote its primary
accounts receivable management software
on a modern, flexible platformin just 90
days. The company is positioned to
introduce innovations to the market at a
much faster rate than before, and it has
more opportunities to expand its business.
50 Percent Faster Time-to-Market
With the Microsoft technology platform,
specifically the xRM application
development framework, Ontario Systems
can deliver new features and functionality
significantly faster than before. Reisz notes
that the release of Collect Savvy proves this
point. “Collect Savvy is not a small
product—it is enterprise software—but we
were able to move the solution to an
entirely new platformin just 90 days,” he
says. “That’s incredible speed for an
enterprise software solution. We can build
our business solution on the Microsoft
platformmuch faster than with our
previous approach and legacy technology.”
Improved Productivity for Customers
Ontario Systems uses Microsoft technology,
including Silverlight and BI tools from
Microsoft, to improve customer
productivity and decision-making abilities.
“Collect Savvy is the most important
product we have in our portfolio today,”
says Zammuto. “It will dramatically reshape
the way our customers run their businesses,
with greater automation to free their
employees to accomplish more and BI
integrated throughout the platform. The
product is transformative for the accounts
receivables management industry and has
already garnered attention.”
One customer, whose company previously
used the FACS product from Ontario
Systems, says it succinctly, “After using
FACS for nearly 20 years, our agency has
been blown away with the features and
functionality of Collect Savvy; it’s basically
night and day as far as ease-of-use,” says
Nate Olson, Vice President of Operations at
Illinois Collection Service.

5. Expanded Market Reach and Faster
Sales Cycle
Hester notes that the partnership between
Ontario Systems and Microsoft is
advantageous froma sales and marketing
perspective. “Our partnership opens doors
for us in organizations thatwe wouldnot
have been able to reach previously,” she
says. “Many organizations already rely on
Microsoft technology and appreciate the
fact that they can take advantage of those
skills and investments with our product,
which is based on the same platform. As a
result of increased customer confidence,
the sales cycle for our software is
approximately 25 percent shorter than
before.”
In the same way, the new software-as-a-
service version of Collect Savvy appeals to
smaller organizationsthat OntarioSystems
did not traditionally market to. “We can
have conversations with smaller companies
that we probably wouldn’t have previously,
because we now offer our solutionsin a
hosted environment,” says Hester. “The
subscription model works for these
companies because it simplifies the
deployment and maintenance. For example,
they don’t have to worry about updating
their solution to comply with regulations
like HIPAA or PCA—we do that for them
automatically.”
Greater Business Flexibility
By working with the Microsoft technology
platform, Ontario Systems has more
freedom to deliver on specific vertical-
industry requirements. “In our space, the
accounts receivables management industry,
we’re the undisputed thought leaders,”
explains Zammuto. “We don’t need to be
the technology leader in the sense that we
create everything ourselves fromthe
ground up. Partnering with Microsoft helps
us to get a head start over the competition
so that we start with world-class
technology that we can build innovative
business solutions on top of.”
Reisz notes that his company’s migration to
the Microsoft platformhas positioned
Ontario Systems for significant gains.
“Looking forward, we no longer feel limited
by our technology platform,” he says.
“Instead, we are seeing more and more
opportunities. In a short period of time,
through our relationshipwith Microsoft,
our business expanded into a market where
many other software companies have had a
difficult time. We feel that this is a golden
opportunity for us. We’ve been able to
move our product suite onto a more
modern platform during the economic
downturn,and now we’re on the precipice
of something really significant.”
“As a resultof increased
customer confidence,
the sales cycle for our
software is
approximately25
percent shorter than
before.”
LeAnne Hester, Chief Marketing Officer,
Ontario Systems

6. Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated,
adaptable business management solutions
that enables you and your people to make
business decisions with greater confidence.
Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar
Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office,
which means less of a learning curve for
your people, so they can get up and
running quickly and focus on what’s most
important. And because it is from
Microsoft, it easily works with the
systems that your company already has
implemented. By automating and
streamlining financial, customer
relationship,and supply chain processes,
Microsoft Dynamics brings together
people, processes, and technologies,
increasing the productivity and
effectiveness of your business, and helping
you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft
Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 426-
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-
2495. Customers in the United States and
Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
can reach Microsoft text telephone
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234.
Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide Web,
go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about Ontario
Systems products and services, call (765)
751-7000 or visit the website at:
www.ontariosystems.com
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published September 2010
Software and Services
 Technologies
− xRM
 Microsoft Dynamics
− Microsoft Dynamics CRM