Transforming

Industry
Digital technologies enabling the
businesses of tomorrow
 INTRODUCTION

Takuya Hirano, Vice President

For decades, Microsoft partners have Global System Integrator & Advisory Partners

been at the center of how we deliver

technologies and business transformation
to customers around the world.
Enabling digital transformation
across industries
The Microsoft partner ecosystem is extensive, diverse, and powerful. For decades it
has been and continues to be at the center of how Microsoft delivers technology,
services, and cloud-to-edge solutions to customers around the world. Global System
Integrators (GSI) and Advisories, who represent our most strategic partner segment,
play a pivotal role in providing services and solutions on the Microsoft Cloud –
enabling rapid digital transformation for organizations and entire industries.

Microsoft has deep, highly collaborative, and impactful relationships with our GSI
and Advisory partners, recognized as having massive influence with enterprise and
industry customers around the world. We work in close collaboration with our GSI
and Advisory partners to jointly deliver best-in-class solutions powered by Microsoft
Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform – helping businesses
quickly adapt and thrive in these challenging times.

Our GSI and Advisory partners are empowering people and organizations across
the globe to do and achieve more by delivering innovative services, applications,
and solutions. Please read on to learn about the unique industry offerings Microsoft
partners have created for our mutual customers. And, if any of these examples
inspire you to make changes in your own business, I invite you to learn more about
our growing GSI and Advisory partner portfolio highlighted on page 50.

3
CONTENTS
FINANCIAL SERVICES
6 Real estate firm RXR Realty creates
cloud-based platform for tenant services
12 
Vida Homeloans transitions to Azure
for online broker portal
16 Insurance company Zurich chooses
Dynamics 365 and Azure for CRM
17 Payment solutions provider IR improves
speed and agility with Dynamics 365
28 
Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank improves client
experience with core banking on Azure
29 Dynamics 365 provides Banco Sabadell
with 360-degree view of customers
49 New online portal improves efficiency at
Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
4 5
MANUFACTURING
9 Migration to Microsoft Azure cuts KION
Group’s IT infrastructure costs
20 Transition to Teams yields fast results for
consumer goods firm PZ Cussons
22 India’s Wonder Cement makes ERP savings
with deployment of Dynamics 365
33 Smooth rollout of new ERP platform for
fuel provider Gilbarco Veeder-Root
42 Digital portal helps paint manufacturer
AkzoNobel monitor machine performances
HEALTHCARE
21 Natural language processing solution helps
Covered California respond to calls
26 Ambitious solution addresses data
challenges for World Health Organization
45 Fitness provider generates operational
savings with updated ERP system
24 New platform enables State of Georgia to
distribute coronavirus aid funds
36 
Digital India uses Microsoft Power Platform
to engage and educate citizens
37 Belgian rail company SNCB improves
customer service with Microsoft 365
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
13 Cloud platform is single source of truth for
UK broadband provider Jurassic Fibre
34 Abu Dhabi-based developer Miral uses
RETAIL Azure to improve guest experience
35 Fujitsu supports build of fashion supply 46 
Mercer MacKay Digital Storytelling
chain transparency platform tex.tracer future-proofs business with Dynamics 365
39 New Zealand jeweler Michael Hill deploys
Dynamics 365 for retail operations AUTOMOTIVE
40 
Jacobs Douwe Egberts migrates 14,000
associates to Microsoft Teams
43 Dubai retail firm Al-Futtaim overhauls
operations with customer data platform
48 Italian chocolatier Venchi adopts Azure
solution to support growth plans
ENERGY
14 
TM International Logistics moves SAP
system to Azure for real-time visibility 18 
Toyota engages auto workers with
deployment of Teams for collaboration
45 Dutch manufacturer DSM improves
30 Dynamics 365 Sales produces strong results
sustainability with Teams implementation
for logistics specialist C.H. Robinson
GOVERNMENT
NON-PROFIT
8 
Government of India uses AI for citizen
health guidance 31 UK food charity The Felix Project improves
operations with new platform
10 Virtual assistant delivers results for Chile
Solidarity and Social Investment Fund
23 
Sensyne develops Covid-19 digital
symptom tracker with Azure-based bot
 FINANCIAL SERVICES

A safe reopening
for business
RXR Realty is the third-largest
real estate owner in New York
City, with over 25 million
square feet of space across the
tri-state area.
When the Covid-19 pandemic
hit, RXR Realty needed a way to
integrate new safety measures
for tenants after its buildings
reopened for business. Working
with key partners McKinsey
& Co., Infosys, Rigado, and
Microsoft, the company used
Microsoft Azure to create and
deploy an intelligent, secure,
hyperscalable solution—in just
a few months. This enabled the
company to reopen for business
using Azure IoT and the
intelligent edge to empower
tenant safety.
tech to automate building
systems, adding a more
hospitality-focused experience
for occupants—a blending of
physical and digital offerings
that RXR likes to call ‘phygital’.
Cory Clarke, RXR’s vice president
of Product Management,
explains: “Landlords typically
have a relationship with the
tenant—the person that pays
the rent—and not necessarily
the individual occupier. We
wanted to shift towards a more
user-centric focus and serve
that end occupier.”
RXR worked with Leap by on board as the Lab’s systems RxWell shifted as the initiative edge, and firmly rooted in
McKinsey to help establish and integration partner. became a core means of responsible AI principles, RxWell
launch a whole new business coordinating essential services, leverages Azure to combine
unit with RXR’s Digital Lab as its Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, communicating with tenants real-time computer vision,
the company already planned and occupants, and screening sensors, AI, mobile apps and

” We wanted to shift towards a to leverage IoT to monitor

more user-centric focus and
serve that end occupier”
The solution, RxWell, grew
out of an initiative RXR Realty
had launched in early 2019
to transform RXR properties
into smart buildings. The
goal was to go beyond using
innovation engine, creating
new digital products and
services, building proprietary
software, and forging strategic
partnerships with best-of-
breed solutions. Infosys came
buildings’ mechanical systems,
air quality, and more. These
devices would feed into a
cloud-based platform where
the data would be analyzed,
powering real-time info
dashboards for tenants and
management. As a statewide
stay-at-home order shut down
all non-essential services in New
York, development work on
everyone who entered a
building for signs of Covid-19.
RxWell took shape as a
comprehensive, public-health-
based, data-driven program
that merges physical and digital
assets to help keep employees
informed and supported during
the pandemic and beyond.
Powered by the Internet of
Things (IoT) and the intelligent
dashboards, and in-person
service offerings. It’s a new
take on building management.
“Instead of being focused on
increasing density, we focused
now on the reverse—on
decreasing density,” says Clarke.
“We’re managing the same
numbers, but it’s with a different
end goal in mind.”
Read the full case study >

6 7
 MANUFACTURING

Speedy data center migration

Germany-based warehouse
automation company KION
Group sought the help of DXC
to migrate its IT environments
to Microsoft Azure.
Targeting lower costs and
improved scalability, the
solution DXC implemented
uses DXC Platform as a Service
for SAP Results. Helping unite
information from disparate
data centers, the solution
cut IT infrastructure costs by
25% and delivery time of fleet
management systems from 8
weeks to one day, while CPU
core upgrade speeds that
had taken 6 to 12 weeks were
achieved in 12 hours.
The benefits of the new system
were quickly felt during the
Covid-19 crisis, enabling 22,000
employees to work from
home, says Hansjörg Heinrich,
vice-president of global IT
infrastructure services at KION
Group. “We were able to just
crank up the volume overnight
and, in the end, everything
worked.” This flexibility has
brought benefits beyond the
pandemic. “We can simply shut
down the unused resources
and thus improve our business
model by passing on our cost
savings to our customers as
price advantages.”
Read the full case study >

GOVERNMENT

AI tool drives Covid response

Accenture and Microsoft
worked with the digital service,
MyGov Saathi, to equip India’s
1.3 billion citizens with a
Responsible AI tool.
During the unfolding Covid-19
crisis, the government of India
sought easy-to-use, efficient
tools to provide accurate
information on the pandemic
and to help citizens keep pace
with evolving health guidance.
Harnessing the capabilities
of Microsoft’s Power Virtual
Agent low-code solution, the
tool chosen for these tasks can
handle up to 300,000 users per
day and 20,000 concurrent
users per minute.
In the next phase, the MyGov
AI engine will be upgraded to
evolve from the menu model
to engage in actual intuitive
conversations with users.
“The government of India’s
‘AI for All’ focus recognizes
the potential of AI-based
technologies in providing
citizen services, and MyGov
Saathi brings this potential to
life by combining data and
analytics, natural language
processing and conversational
AI capabilities,” says Abhishek
Singh, President and CEO –
Government of India’s National
e-Governance Division.
Read the full case study >

8 9
GOVERNMENT

AI agility for Chile

Chile’s Solidarity and Social
Investment Fund (FOSIS)
has benefited from a virtual
assistant that takes advantage
of Microsoft Azure AI
technologies.
Launched in 1990 under the
Ministry of Social Development
and Family, FOSIS oversees
social programs, public
investments, and other social
measures. Thanks to the new
virtual assistant, FOSIS can now
easily address frequently asked
questions from its more than
120,000 beneficiaries regarding
the application process for
business funds.
FOSIS has 16 regional offices
and 20 provincial offices
throughout Chile and its
activities include providing
citizens with access to social
that support employment and
entrepreneurship,” says Felipe
Bettancourt, Executive Director
at FOSIS.
Together with EY Chile, FOSIS
redesigned its customer service
with a project based on agile
methodology. “The 2020 context
has prompted us to accelerate
our digital transformation
to remotely respond to the
applications that people file
each year,” says Bettancourt.
The main goal of the initiative
was to offer users a single
source of clear information
with an immediately available
communication channel. FOSIS
implemented Microsoft Azure Head of Digital Transformation some felt unsure about the time. More specifically, FOSIS performs in-depth analysis of
AI technologies to address Department, at FOSIS, explains: application process for funds. implemented a Microsoft users’ communications) allows
frequent questions related “We trained the virtual assistant The organization decided to service called Language FOSIS to effectively process
to the services the institution with frequent questions asked use disruptive technologies Understanding (LUIS), which applications that are filed
provides to its users. by our users. Our goal was to to address the issue of applies machine learning directly by citizens. More than
ensure the bot recognizes as accessibility. intelligence to a conversation. 270,000 users have engaged

”Our goal was to ensure the many questions as possible,

bot recognizes as many
questions as possible”
assistance through applications
for benefits. “Our mission is
to help the most vulnerable
families in the country
overcome poverty, and we do
this mainly through programs
A virtual assistant, based
on Azure AI and Cognitive
Services, answers questions
regarding the application
process for the agency’s social
programs. Cristian Arnolds,
and provides correct answers.”
At first, FOSIS focused on
developing the virtual assistant
for its Yo Emprendo Semilla
program, an initiative that
allows citizens to apply for
funding and benefits to
support their business ventures
and drive income. Feedback
from users indicated that
The Azure-based specialized
services chosen work
seamlessly with other
Microsoft solutions, such as
Power BI, which shows the
status of applications through
information dashboards
Microsoft Azure Cognitive
Services allow FOSIS to address
questions from a greater
number of applicants in real
LUIS allows users to create
their own language models
with the virtual assistant and
up to 127,000 users access the
in a natural way, so that bots, tool in a single day. Satisfaction
applications, devices, or even surveys show that 83 percent of
websites can understand users feel comfortable using the
commands and perform virtual assistant.
certain actions.
Read the full case study >
The use of technologies and
specialized services based
on Azure (such as the Text
Analytics service, which

10 11
 MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

Digital core for Jurassic

Established in 2018 and
acquired by Fern Trading
Limited in February 2021,
Jurassic Fibre is conducting a
£250 million fiber roll-out in
the United Kingdom.
Based in the Southwest of
England, where demand for
faster, more reliable broadband
FINANCIAL SERVICES
is high, Jurassic Fibre identified
for quick onboarding of
customers for its roll-out
of ultrafast broadband in
previously under-served areas.
The TCS HOBS architecture also
helped the firm to integrate
with multiple vendors by
creating flexible processes
suited to manual, tactical, and
fully automated processes.
include product portfolio
management, digital customer
engagement, collaborative
selling, contract management,
dynamic orchestration,
revenue management,
partner management, device
management, network
inventory management, and
assurance.

Leveraging the public cloud the need for a cloud platform

Vida Homeloans (‘Vida’),
a trading style of Belmont
Green Finance Limited, is a
specialist mortgage lender that
works exclusively with expert
intermediary partners.
Launched in 2016, Vida now
has over 10,700 borrowers and
160 employees and more than
£2 billion lent in mortgage
assets. The company has also
successfully completed five
securitizations worth almost
£2 billion.
Vida needed to update its plans
for an online broker portal
that was intended to bring
together elements of automated
decision making and human
underwriting to gauge risk and
make recommendations. Having
previously abandoned a private
cloud strategy, the company
wanted the ability to manage
its public cloud transformation
with a longer and more
deliberate view and decided on
Microsoft Azure. By leveraging
the Microsoft Cloud Adoption
Framework for Azure, Vida could
also easily establish and maintain
the controls that are required to
operate in the United Kingdom’s
financial services sector.
Representatives of Cognizant
Microsoft Business Group
(MBG) met with several
members of Vida’s executive
team to understand their
business requirements.
Over a four-month period,
workshops were held with key
stakeholders to shape their
vision. Cognizant MBG led
the Azure transition during
an ambitious three-month
setup phase.
“With the Cloud Adoption
Framework for Azure, we
could master issues like
authentication, security and
performance and still switch
on new services and features
at a rapid pace; we launched
our first production workload,
a data analytics platform,
within six weeks of setup,” says
David Flashman, director of
Technology at Vida. In future,
the company plans to explore
other Azure resources, such as
data analytics, AI, and Azure
Machine Learning.
Read the full case study >
that would act as a single
source of truth for all employee
The cloud HR platform
deployed by TCS brought
“We see TCS’s cloud-based
HOBS platform, combined with
the expertise and commitment
information while keeping pace together disparate employee of the TCS team, as the right
with business expansion. processes at Jurassic Fibre foundation to realize our vision,”
and enabled the use of data says Michael Maltby, CEO
The firm’s wish list included fully analytics for visibility on of Jurassic Fibre.
automated service fulfillment, employee demographics.
service assurance and billing Read the full case study >
processes and the ability to The solution is an end-to-
meet the evolving requirements end, modular, SaaS platform
of a multi-vendor network. whose key capabilities
Given Jurassic Fibre’s heavy
investment in Microsoft cloud
platforms, Microsoft Dynamics
365 HR was selected for the
workforce transformation
program. Microsoft partner TCS
installed its Next Generation
HOBS SaaS Platform, which now
provides the digital core for the
company’s services.
The HOBS subscription
management platform solution
met Jurassic Fibre’s requirement

12 13
ENERGY
Real-time visibility
from warehouse
to doorstep
TM International Logistics
Limited (TMILL) needed to
overhaul its SAP solutions after
developing a range of in-house
applications.
A joint venture of Tata Steel
Limited, NYK Holding (Europe)
BV and IQ Martrad, with clients
in dry bulk, containerized
shipping, break bulk and
”We have a high performance,
real-time engine capable of
supporting the most demanding
analytics use cases”
project cargo, TMILL relies
on SAP solutions to drive its
logistics business processes,
including financial accounting
and consolidation, sales and
procurement.
However, a range of initiatives
addressing aspects such as
warehouse management,
cargo-loading and customs
clearance had left the company
facing complex challenges
14
Abhishek Verma, Chief of IT
at the company, explains:
“In recent years, we’ve seen
significant growth in demand
for logistics solutions that show
where consignments are in our
global network in real time.
Our in-house applications were
developed at different times,
to support different tactical
requirements, and only a handful
were interconnected. As a result,
we lacked a single, integrated
view of our business data.”
Knowing that its on-premises
SAP ERP applications would
be unable to deliver supply
chain insights at the required
speed and scale, TMILL decided
that enhanced analytics from
SAP S/4HANA and the agility
of the cloud would deliver
the real-time services it was
seeking. IBM Services enabled
the company to move from
SAP ERP on-premises to
SAP S/4HANA on Microsoft
Azure, with a solution that
included human resource
management capabilities.
“This would offer us the
performance we were targeting,
and we could integrate data
from our in-house applications
to create a single, accurate and
timely source of business data,”
says Verma.
IBM Services ran a HANA
Impact Assessment during the
vendor evaluation phase to
determine which parts of the
existing SAP ERP environment
could be moved to the new
platform, which had to be
modified, and which could
be removed.
As the company was already
using Microsoft Office 365 as
its business productivity suite,
Azure cloud was a natural
choice for the new platform
and would also make it easier
to deliver single-sign-on
capabilities for business users
of the company’s Microsoft and
SAP solutions
The implementation led to
faster financial reporting,
improving employee
productivity. Meanwhile,
accelerated SAP S/4HANA
deployment led to reduced
time-to-value. The high-
availability cloud configuration
enabled 24/7 uptime for SAP
S/4HANA solutions.
The IBM Services deployment
of best-practice accelerators
as part of the IBM SAP HANA
Impact Assessment gave
TM International Logistics a
smooth, low-risk path to real-
time analytics when deploying
development and production
environments in the cloud.
Today, all members of the TMILL
finance, sales and procurement
teams use SAP S/4HANA to
drive their day-to-day work.
“With SAP S/4HANA at the
heart of our business, we have
a high-performance, real-time
engine capable of supporting
the most demanding analytics
use cases,” says Verma.
Read the full case study >
15
FINANCIAL SERVICES FINANCIAL SERVICES

Record-breaking cloud migration Single-system simplicity

To enable more effective
business processes and
customer communications,
insurance company Zurich
needed adaptable, future-
ready tools.
Zürich Versicherungs-
Gesellschaft AG, known as
Zurich, is Switzerland’s largest
insurance company, providing
individuals and companies
in Switzerland with property,
casualty and life insurance
products. Its legacy on-premises
solution was highly customized
and ran on a hosted service,
making any changes and
upgrades costly.
Zurich wanted a modern CRM
platform that would enable
it to respond faster to its
customers and understood that
this would mean moving to the
cloud. Microsoft Dynamics 365
and Microsoft Azure were the
company’s products of choice
for the new platform.
Zurich called on Avanade
for this challenging project
because of its expertise with
cloud migrations. Avanade
Advisory worked with Zurich
to develop the prototypes, set
up new IT infrastructure and
then move up to 4,000 users to
the cloud.
This implementation
became one of the largest
Dynamics 365 Customer
Engagement projects in the
financial services industry
and laid the foundation for
Zurich’s improved customer
management system.
The new Dynamics 365 and
Azure cloud components
support Zurich’s business
processes so it can continue
expanding its customer
base and support additional
business units. Enhanced
customer, policy and
complaints management will
allow Zurich to identify new
opportunities for customer
care in future.
Read the full case study >
When IR’s existing ERP system
was reaching end of life in 2019,
the organization worked with
DXC Technology to modernize
its applications using Microsoft
Dynamics 365.
IR is a leading global provider
of user experience and
performance management
solutions for payments
transactions and collaboration
systems, creating value through
its hybrid cloud platform.
Already familiar with the
Microsoft platform, IR decided
to move to Microsoft Dynamics
365 because it was a modern
system that would enable
seamless working out-of-the
box and deliver a whole new
cloud-based ERP system.

“We wanted to move from
having diverse, unintegrated
systems to a single system that
was organically integrated
by being one product and
Microsoft Dynamics 365
ticked all the boxes for us,”
says Naheen Mahbub, Group
Financial Controller at IR.
IR worked with DXC Eclipse
to move to the cloud-based
solution. The company went live
with Microsoft Dynamics 365
in March 2020 and saw instant
benefits during the Covid-19
pandemic, as the solution
enabled the company’s teams
to overcome the challenges of
working remotely.
With an integrated, data-
driven system in Microsoft
Dynamics 365, IR has been
able to improve speed, and
increase agility within the
business. IR’s finance team’s
response time is faster and
there is a more transparent
and effortless experience for
its employees. The company’s
purchasing processes have
also been improved by the
cloud migration, allowing
for a seamless, end-to-end,
purchase-to pay-journey.
Read the full case study >

16 17
AUTOMOTIVE

Engaging auto workers

Tools such as Microsoft Teams
and Microsoft Power Platform
are helping Toyota Motor
North America (TMNA) to
uphold the company credo,
The Toyota Way.
TMNA has 14 sales regions, 14
manufacturing plants, 1,500
dealerships, more than 36,000
employees, and more than 30
million US-built vehicles.
Based on the kaizen workplace
philosophy, The Toyota Way
emphasizes the principles
of respect for people and
continuous improvement.
With digital tools that feel like
a natural extension of kaizen,
employees are empowered
to work more efficiently
by cultivating teamwork,
gradually improving everyday
procedures, and increasing
their engagement. The result
is a more fulfilling work
environment that strengthens
TMNA employees’ allegiance
to the company. There have
also been significant benefits
to this approach during the
Covid-19 crisis.
“Teams was our lifeline
for creating a safe work
environment for every team
member when the pandemic
struck,” says Jason Ballard,
IS executive and general
manager of Infrastructure and
Operations Services at TMNA.
With plants and manufacturing
facilities closed and office-
based employees suddenly
working from home, Teams
became the go-to platform for
refining hundreds of processes
and moving forward with safe
reopening of manufacturing
facilities.
TMNA had begun preparing the
organization to transition from

Skype for Business to Teams in
2019 and this preparation was
key to helping the company
successfully recover operations
when Covid-19 arrived, allowing
the company to deploy Teams
Phone to 40,000 employees in
just three weeks. “I give credit
to our team, Microsoft, and our
partner, Accenture,” says Ballard.
“It was a three-way partnership.”
The move to the new Teams
collaboration platform was
popular, despite the stress of
transitioning to remote work.
“For the first time in my career,
we had people asking if they
could go to Teams early,” says
Beth Davis, IT experience
owner, Digital Workplace &
Learning at TMNA. “ Since the
migration to Teams included
Teams Phone, employees could
make, receive, and transfer
calls to and from landlines and
mobile phones over the public
switched telephone network—
all in Teams.“
“When we talk about The
Toyota Way, we talk about
‘plan-do-check-act’ and going
through a kaizen process to
get value out to the business
as fast as possible,” says Tim
Holman, Enterprise Architecture
Business Intelligence at TMNA.
“We use the Teams platform
in two ways to support this.
One is the traditional activity
for communication and file
sharing and chat, and using
Planner in Teams for scrum
activities. The other is the
integration of Power Automate,
Power BI, and Power Apps
into the channels in Teams.
This significantly enhances the
solution as a one-stop platform
for collaboration, data analysis,
and workflow automation.”
Read the full case study >

18 19
 HEALTHCARE

Automating insurance benefits

Covered California is the
largest health exchange
in the U.S. and works in
close partnership with the
California Department of
Health Care Services.

Serving more than two

million state residents and
5,000 insurance agents
and enrollment counselors,
Covered California plays an
important role in the state’s
health and dental insurance
market. With the help of
KPMG, the organization has
transformed its application
and certification processes,
MANUFACTURING
automating previously

A healthy Teams transition manual activities.

Global manufacturer of
personal healthcare products
and consumer goods PZ
Cussons chose Cognizant
Microsoft Business Group for
its transition to Teams.
The planned move from Skype
for Business, which was no
longer fit for purpose, was
accelerated after the Covid-19
pandemic stepped up the
remote working needs of the
company. The transition took
just five days from concept to
delivery and included business
change consultancy from
Cognizant to enable users to
adopt Teams quickly.
After Teams was deployed
to the entire company,
usage increased significantly
and positive feedback was
received from across the
business on how employees
could collaborate and
communicate more efficiently
with each other.
“This project has enabled us
to keep our determination to
grow our business, meanwhile
maintaining focus on our
key brands, none of which
can be done in isolation,
so the communication and
collaboration Cognizant
Microsoft Business Group has
brought is essential,” says Jan
Hodges, CTO at PZ Cussons.
Read the full case study >
Dealing with spikes in calls
during health insurance open
enrollment periods was an
annual challenge. Covered
California asked KPMG to help
it reduce the call volume so
it could avoid hiring seasonal
call center employees while
also providing better customer
service with extended
support hours.
The KPMG team used its
natural language processing
framework to architect and
implement a virtual assistant,
CiCi, using agile methodology
and a cloud-based machine
learning and artificial
intelligence platform.
The data the assistant
collected provided insights
into usage trends, unanswered
questions, and user sentiments
during chat interactions.
In addition, self-service
productivity tool simplified the
training of the virtual assistant,
which runs on the Microsoft
Cortana and Microsoft Cloud
platforms and integrates with
other back-office platforms
like identity, ruled engine, and
interactive voice response.
Within four months during
the 2019 open enrollment
period, CiCi achieved
lower seasonal call volume
for Covered California by
responding to more than
111,000 user questions and
constantly evolving responses
based on its artificial
intelligence training.
Read the full case study >

20 21
 GOVERNMENT

Digital symptom tracker

Healthcare technology company
Sensyne wanted to help people
track Covid-19 symptoms and
share information with medical
providers in the UK.
Cognizant built a digital
symptom tracker app for the
company in just 16 days, based
on the Microsoft Healthcare
Bot service integrated
with Microsoft Azure B2C
authentication, Microsoft
Healthcare Bot verification, and
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB.
The digital-first mobile app,
called CVm Health, helps
people record and monitor
their symptoms to assess their
Covid-19 risks. It includes a
vital signs tracker to record
and store data including blood
oxygen rate (via data from a
pulse oximeter), blood pressure
(from a pressure cuff) or
temperature (via thermometer).
The app also monitors and
manages a user’s Covid-19
testing status. The information
gathered is easy to share
securely with a medical provider
and is General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR)-compliant.
Read the full case study >

MANUFACTURING

Building a scalable future

Headquartered in Udaipur,
Rajasthan, family-owned and
community-focused Wonder
Cement is among India’s largest
cement producers and is a
leading brand.
In 2014, Wonder Cement
deployed Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012, now known as
Dynamics 365 Finance +
Operations (on-premises).
Although the company
appreciated the gains it had
made with this deployment,
by 2021 it wanted to progress
to the cloud. The aim was
not simply a migration, but
a total refresh of business
processes that would deliver a
resilient, flexible, and scalable
environment that would be
future-ready.
The company engaged with
the Microsoft FastTrack for
Dynamics 365 team and EY
India to deploy a full range of
Dynamics 365 solutions and
Power BI for easy reporting. It
used Microsoft Power Automate
to streamline data transfer
between systems.
Within four months of
deployment, Wonder Cement
had consolidated its license
costs, reduced inventory levels
by 6-8%, made significant
savings in the time spent on
data management between
disparate systems, and amplified
data visibility for better insights,
while also reducing risk.
“We save 80 to 85 percent of
the time we used to spend
on moving data from the
production system to our ERP
now that everything runs on
Dynamics 365. That’s a huge
win for our company,” says
Arun Attri, Vice President (IT),
Wonder Cement.
Read the full case study >

22 23
GOVERNMENT

Managing Covid aid

The US State of Georgia
helped its citizens during
the pandemic by careful
management of Coronavirus
Relief Fund aid.
management solution platform
that tracks where and how
money is spent, making
accurate and accessible
information available to all.

The United States Treasury sent Keeping the fund management

aid to state governments as
part of the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief, and Economic Security
Act to provide assistance
for workers, families, small
businesses, and industry
sectors that Covid-19 affected.
KPMG and GrantCare helped
the State of Georgia deliver
and manage its economic
recovery funds for citizens who
were affected by Covid-19.
As part of this engagement,
they supported the state in its
processes in-house was an
important principle, says
Stephanie Beck, deputy
director of the Office of
Planning and Budget, State of
Georgia. “We use Dynamics
365 and Microsoft Power
Platform to get better insight
into every dollar going out
the door—and to manage
everything ourselves, which
could potentially save millions
of taxpayer dollars, rather than
outsource management of
Coronavirus Relief Fund aid.”
Less than three weeks after
and easily accommodate the grant management process Power Apps to customize insights to decision makers.

”We were able to make changes

to the platform quickly to get
the data we needed”
efforts to meet federal eligibility
rules and requirements in a fast-
moving environment.
Blending GrantCare, Microsoft
Dynamics 365, and Microsoft
Power Platform technologies,
KPMG created a robust grant
the funding was announced,
the State of Georgia began
accepting applications through
the new platform. KPMG and
GrantCare helped the state
give decision makers real-time
insights, boost staff efficiency,
increase transparency,
future grants.
When it comes to grant
management, KPMG risk
advisors stay up to date on
ever-evolving federal rules
and regulations to make sure
eligibility and compliance
requirements are met, funds
are disbursed appropriately,
and taxpayer dollars are spent
without fraud or abuse. “As state
and local governments need to
do more with less, understanding
is particularly critical,” says Peter
Zalkind, Principal, Health and
Government Solutions Practice
at KPMG. “Fewer government
resources make it essential to use
available grant dollars wisely.”
GrantCare is a ready-made,
highly customizable grant
management solution built
on Dynamics 365 Customer
Service and other Microsoft
technologies. The team
used Microsoft Power BI and
dashboards, templatize views,
and automate processes to
help the State of Georgia
deploy a robust solution.
The result is an agile, flexible
platform that can easily be
extended with other Microsoft
resources for data visualization,
dashboards, and insights.
Tailored workflows and a clear
view of data made it easier
for state planners to meet
grant requirements and deliver
“While other states faced
challenges in meeting evolving
reporting guidelines, we were
able to make changes to the
platform quickly to get the
data we needed to respond
to United States Treasury
requirements,” says Beck.
Read the full case study >

24 25
 collaborating with WHO
to create the world’s first
comprehensive, end-to-end
data solution for global health:
The World Health Data Hub.
The initiative aims to reduce
fragmentation, streamline
processes, identify and resolve
gaps and inequalities, and
ensure data is accessible,
findable and usable for all
stakeholders.
Avanade and Microsoft are
working closely with WHO to
deliver this ambitious, end-
HEALTHCARE
to-end solution with a shared
commitment to establish health
data as a global public good.
As the ‘new home of health
data’, the Hub will transform
data ingestion from multiple
sources. It will also provide
a secure environment for
countries to upload and validate
their data while leveraging the
latest technology in predictive
analytics and data visualization
for policymakers, academia and
the general public.
“Every data point is a person.
It’s an event. It’s a place. It tells
a story about right now, one of
humanity’s greatest challenges,”
says Justin Spelhaug, Global
Head of Tech for Social Impact
at Microsoft Philanthropies.
“There’s so much power
in being able to unify that
data across countries, across
demographics, [and] across
different parts of WHO and
use the analytical tools that we
have to understand what it’s
trying to tell us.”
Read the full case study >

Fighting infection with data

As steward of the world’s
health data, WHO has a
responsibility to make it
accessible to all so that no
country, city, community or
person is left behind.
Although the international
community had previously
imagined the impact of a
global pandemic and prepared
for it, multilateral action
following the outbreak of
Covid-19 was hindered by
the lack of robust data to
inform real-time public health
policies and programs. In
addition, information about the
pandemic was often collected
and shared in ways that made
a comprehensive perspective
nearly impossible.
To address data fragmentation
and gaps, WHO partnered with
private sector organizations to
build innovative, sustainable
solutions that address pain
points in countries and
accelerate progress towards
the health-related Sustainable
Development Goals and
WHO’s Triple Billion targets on
healthier populations, universal
health coverage and health
emergencies protection.
“The pandemic drove home
our need to tackle the systemic
issues that keep us from being
data-driven so that we can
adequately respond not only
to the pandemic but also
ensure…that every citizen in
every country has a chance for
a healthier life,” says Dr Samira
Asma, WHO Assistant Director-
General for the Division of
Data, Analytics and Delivery
for Impact. “Without data, it
is impossible to know what
impact we are having on health
or how we are tracking towards
our goals.”
Among the private sector
partners who have answered
WHO’s call to action are
Avanade and Microsoft. Both
organizations are actively

26 27
 FINANCIAL SERVICES

Personalized and agile service

Banco Sabadell needed
quick and agile access to
the complete profile of its
customers. Dynamics 365
provided the solution.
Banco Sabadell’s digitalization
and innovation journey led
to an alliance with Microsoft
which delivered the required
360-degree vision of customer
data on the Dynamics
platform. The partnership
facilitated the integration of
marketing and sales data and
represented greater flexibility
and security for customers.  Banco Sabadell and CEO of
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Accenture managed the
project, focusing on the
integration of data sources,
while Microsoft expedited
the jump to the cloud with
the help of Avanade. The
implementation of Dynamics
365 was the largest in Spain.
“This project has provided our
teams with a flexible and easy-
to-use solution in to improve
our customers’ experience
and provide them with added
value,” says Enrique Solbes,
Deputy General Manager of
Sabadell Information Systems.
“Now, with Dynamics 365,
Banco Sabadell employees
have quick and easy access to
the complete profile of their
clients, can better understand
their needs and propose
personalized banking solutions
in a very short time.”
Read the full case study >

Digital-first challenge
As the world’s first fully
digital trade finance bank,
Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank sought
help to enable data-driven
operations.
The organization needed to find
solutions that would enable it to
safely manage the information
exchange between internal
and client-servicing platforms,
while simplifying and supplying
client-centric trade banking.
Publicis Sapient provided agile
program management and
systems integration, leading a
consortium including Microsoft,
whose technology powered
the vision, and Mambu, which
provided the cloud-native core
banking solution, leveraging
the Microsoft Azure cloud
environment. This strengthened
the company’s cyber security
and infrastructure resilience and
satisfied its high security and
performance requirements.
Daniel Gould, Deputy Chief
Executive Officer at AGTB,
explains: “We want to deliver
an industry-leading client
experience, particularly to
under-served firms, and seek
to disrupt the conventional
trade finance business model
by bringing approaches from
other banking segments
and industry sectors. By
combining fintech expertise
and the courage to reimagine
corporate banking with a
premium user interface, we are
able to customize at scale.”
Read the full case study >

28 29
AUTOMOTIVE
Improved customer visibility
Logistics specialist C.H. Robinson
has seen strong results from
Dynamics 365 Sales and
Microsoft Power Platform.
In April 2018 the company
decided to implement the
solutions to achieve specific
goals including capturing
customer shipping volumes
and other supply chain data to
give salespeople and account
managers more insight into
customer needs. C.H. Robinson
chose HCL Technologies
company PowerObjects as
implementation partner.
The solution replaced several
home-grown systems and
provided the capacity to
deliver personalized customer
engagement that helps close
deals. Salespeople spend less
time finding opportunities
and more time closing them,
thanks to streamlined capture
of detailed customer data
and intelligent, automated
workflows that provide
contextual insights and
streamline sales processes.
Deployed to 2,700 employees
in 180 days, the company’s
solution paid for itself in just
11 months.
“We’ve created and captured
more than 14,000 individual
sales opportunities in the
first six months, and we’ve
increased the quality of data on
potential sales opportunities
by 89 percent,” says Jennifer
Stocco, director of CRM.
Read the full case study >
30
NON-PROFIT
Going digital against hunger
With Microsoft Dynamics 365
and Power BI, The Felix Project
is growing toward its goal of
providing 100 million meals a
year to people in need by 2024.
Every day in the UK’s capital,
London, 1.5 million adults
and 400,000 children go
hungry. Working with local
food retailers, restaurants,
wholesalers and farms, The Felix
Project secures fresh food that
cannot be sold and delivers it to
over 350 organizations.
Following the Microsoft
implementation, the charity is on
31
course for a tenfold increase in
the number of meals it delivers.
Established in 2016, The Felix
Project is on a mission to
save food and change lives.
However, due to unwieldy
and time-consuming manual
processes, operations were not
as efficient as they could have
been. Entering information
into The Felix Project’s siloed
”We were able to make changes
to the platform quickly to get the
data we needed”
data management system and
creating reports took several
days of manual work each
month, and it was very difficult
to ensure accuracy or visibility
into day-to-day operations.
“What we had was a whole
system of systems that didn’t
talk to each other, lacked
connecting interfaces and
required a huge amount
of manual processing of
paperwork,” explains Mark
Curtin, CEO of The Felix Project.
With no IT department of its
own, The Felix Project needed
the support of trusted digital
transformation partners,
and turned to the expertise
of Accenture, Microsoft
and Avanade.
Several workshops were
held, led by Fjord, a division
of Accenture Interactive,
during which The Felix Project
outlined its core challenges
to determine the best way to
solve them. What started as a
brief to create a simple mobile

app for drivers turned into a
much more comprehensive and
impactful proposal to replace
several existing tools and
methodologies.
The resulting solution, based on
the Microsoft Power Platform,
including Power Apps portals,
Dynamics 365 and Power
BI, is a combination of route
and volunteer management,
customer relationship
management for donors
and beneficiaries, the mobile
application for volunteer
drivers, and a reporting and
analytics platform.
During the planning phase
of the solution, the Covid-19
pandemic began, greatly
increasing the demand for
the non-profit’s services while
limiting the availability of its
volunteer drivers. With The Felix
Project’s resources stretched to
the limit, Accenture and Avanade
developed and deployed the
platform and moved into pilot
testing in less than six weeks.
Just four weeks later, the solution
was fully adopted and in use
across the organization.
With the new mobile app,
named RouteMe, drivers can
access routes, maps and pickup
information, and fill out digital
forms. This has led to improved
route optimization as data is
automatically uploaded into
Dynamics 365 in real time.
Power BI dashboards give The
Felix Project full visibility into
operations and can generate
reports in minutes.
Read the full case study >
32
MANUFACTURING
Fueling transformation
Integrated technology solutions
provider Gilbarco Veeder-Root
(GVR) chose TCS to implement
a new sales, contracts and
operations solution.
When GVR, a global leader
in the retail petroleum
and commercial fueling
industries and an EV charger
manufacturer, needed
a modern, future-ready
solution to run its global
sales, contracts, and finance
operations, TCS came onboard
to help it achieve its goal.
Key objectives for GVR were
improved systematic processes,
enhanced checks and balances,
and better assurance of
contractual revenue, for
its EMEA-based business.
33
TCS implemented Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Business Central
as an ERP platform, as it would
integrate well with the existing
landscape at GVR and would
also help the global organization
maximize its investments in the
Microsoft platform.
TCS worked with GVR’s Global
CIO team to identify Egypt
as a suitable pilot site for the
Dynamics 365 Business Central
cloud rollout, providing system
demos to key users. Business
process owners and business
SMEs were kept engaged
throughout and helped the
company to define a global
template for the solution.
Early indicators of the success
of the initiative include reduced
bookkeeping costs, tighter
controls of checks and
balances, and 100% accuracy
on contract revenues. Month-
end finance reconciliation and
closing for final trial balance
are now far more efficient,
with activities that previously
took more than a day to
complete now done in under
two hours.
“Throughout the years I have
seen numerous ERP go-lives
and this one was by far the
smoothest I have ever seen,”
says Martina Schoultz, CIO,
Gilbarco Veeder-Root Global.
Read the full case study >
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
Holistic digital journey
Established in Abu Dhabi in May
2011, Miral has played a key role
in the rapid evolution of the
leisure and entertainment sector
in the emirate.
Abu Dhabi-based developer
Miral has embarked on a major
digital transformation project to
create a seamlessly connected
destination of world-class
theme parks and attractions on
Yas Island.
In collaboration with Publicis
Sapient, and with the help of
Microsoft Azure, Miral created
an immersive digital experience
that further positions Yas Island
as a top global destination for
leisure, entertainment, and
business.
Despite having a unique
entertainment offer on Abu
Dhabi’s Yas Island, Miral
was missing opportunities
to promote the destination
holistically. The company also
wanted to capture customer
data and act on it to deliver
a seamless, personalized
experience. Miral approached
Publicis Sapient to help
it use digital solutions to
communicate the appeal of Yas
Island to travelers.
Miral and Publicis Sapient
created a unique and seamless
digital experience for the
leisure park’s visitors, powered
by Microsoft Azure. The Azure
platform provides Miral with a
limitless opportunity to further
evolve and expand its customer
and guest experiences as it
focuses on creating tomorrow’s
destinations in the emirate.
“With Yas Connect, our guests
can explore Yas Island in a
holistic journey that integrates
the physical and the digital
world across all channels—
website, phone, tablet, or
any smart devices—to enjoy
a unique experience before,
during, and beyond their visit,”
says Mohammed Al Zaabi:
CEO, Miral
Read the full case study > RETAIL
Supply chain transparency
Change has arrived in the the data needed to be stored system. With an average of
fashion industry with a new in a decentralized database 10 supply chain stakeholders
supply chain transparency that would ensure privacy, per order, this amounted to
platform called tex.tracer. It trustworthiness, and credibility. around 2,000 interactions. “We
gives brand owners the insights Blockchain is the answer. value our relationship with
they need, and by scanning a Fujitsu because they put our
QR code on a garment with Fujitsu built the core Blockchain business needs first and then
their mobile, consumers can platform with all the required use technology as the enabler,
also trace the garment’s history. cloud, internet, and security not the driver,” says tex.tracer
interactions and now has an co-founder Jolanda Kooi.
The platform build started in ongoing managed service
2019. In tex.tracer, information agreement for the platform. Read the full case study >
is obtained from brand owners
when they register a garment Following a soft launch at
and the system automatically the start of 2021, early users
emails companies down the included 10 brands with 200
supply chain. Once verified, orders going through the
34 35
GOVERNMENT
Chatbot health role
During the Covid-19 crisis,
government agency Digital
India used Microsoft Power
Platform and Microsoft Power
Virtual Agents to engage and
educate citizens at scale.
The aim of the initiative was to
provide real-time responses to
public health queries.
Working with teams at
Microsoft and Accenture,
Digital India built a chatbot
that uses AI and natural
language processing to
provide seamless answers
on the MyGov website.
The bot, which diverts load
from phone and emails, will
also be deployed for other
government services.
“We used the Power Virtual
Agents bot to play a significant
role in engaging citizens at
scale and educating them on
how to stay safe by providing
real-time responses to their
queries,” says Abhishek Singh,
Chief Executive Officer of
MyGov, Digital India.
“The better we communicate,
the more lives we save.”
Tens of thousands among
India’s population of 1.38 billion
citizens use the bot, which
frees up vital communication
channels and increases public
health knowledge. In turn, this
has helped reduce the spread of
Covid-19.
Read the full case study >
36
GOVERNMENT
A data-powered
train service
Established in 1926, National
Railway Company of Belgium
(SNCB) operates 3,672
passenger trains daily, serving
554 stations.
To provide better customer
service and safety to its annual
ridership of 253.4 million
passengers, while addressing
the imminent opening of its
market to competition, SNCB
wanted to move IT resources
to the cloud and digitize its
operations.
Government-owned SNCB is
currently the sole passenger
rail operator within Belgium,
but that will change in 2023
when the market opens up
to competition, which will
”Drivers now spend 75% less
time before shifts updating
vital safety information”
drive a greater need for
efficiency, agility, and an
innovative company culture.
The threat is not only from
other rail companies, but also
from technology companies
37
that might offer competing
products.
Having already adopted a cloud-
first strategy for IT, SNCB chose
Microsoft Azure as its platform
for the digitization initiative. “We
appreciate the flexibility, stability,
and ease of use of Azure and
the synergy it has with Microsoft
365,” says Guido Lemeire, Chief
Information Officer, SNCB. The
level of security offered by Azure
was another drawcard for the
rail operator, which experiences
frequent hacking attacks as a
highly visible public entity.
Working with Microsoft and
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),
the organization committed
to moving the majority of its cloud-based applications for
tablets and smart devices were
included in the implementation
to make daily operations easier
and more efficient.
SNCB’s Chief Information
Security Officer Tim Groenwals
750 applications to Azure explains: “We start every new
and developing services that business IT project by asking
provide passengers with more whether a cloud solution is
accurate information and available. If not, we develop it
make work easier and more ourselves in the cloud. We’re
efficient for employees. New, also migrating as many existing

applications as possible from
on-premises datacenters to the
cloud.”
In the past, SNCB customers
expressed dissatisfaction with
the inconsistency of information
about trains and schedules
across different channels. To
remedy this problem, the
implementation team created
a solution which consolidates
these back-end systems into
a single, integrated system
running in Azure, providing
effortless scalability.
As a result of the cloud
migration and the introduction
of new systems such as eDrive
and Linda, which automate
much of the data related
to journeys, drivers now
spend 75% less time before
shifts updating vital safety
information. SNCB developers
have also gained agility that
allows them to roll out major
RETAIL
One platform fits all
Founded in New Zealand in
1979, Michael Hill is one of
the world’s largest high-end
jewelers, with almost 300 retail
locations across Australia, New
Zealand, and Canada.
To manage global store
operations and deliver better
customer experiences at scale,
Michael Hill worked with
implementation partner DXC
Technology and Microsoft to
build a new retail operations
platform on Microsoft
Dynamics 365 Commerce and
other Dynamics 365 business
applications.
Matt Keays, Chief Information
Officer at Michael Hill, explains:
“We saw how we could use the
application releases more
frequently. In addition, SNCB is
more environmentally friendly,
after eliminating paper-based
processes. “We appreciate the
flexibility, stability, and ease of
use of Azure and the synergy
it has with Microsoft 365,”
says Lemeire.
Read the full case study >
38
out-of-the-box interoperability
in Dynamics 365 to help us make
the business more agile and
innovative.”
An internal initiative called
Project Obsidian was launched
to optimize in-store retail
operations, customer service,
warehousing, inventory, stock
movement, and other retail
processes by using Dynamics
365 Finance and Dynamics 365
Supply Chain Management to
expand its retail operations
Dynamics 365 helped to increase
visibility across the supply
chain and inventory availability,
enabling each individual retail
store to be managed as a
warehouse location.
The company is using
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain
Management to support its
warehouse management
system (WMS), transform its
supply chain, and connect
production, inventory, and
distribution directly to in-
store operations and customer
fulfillment. Nat Cooper, General
Manager of Global Logistics
at Michael Hill, comments:
“Now we can deliver agile
flow solutions that we could
only dream of with our
legacy systems.”
Read the full case study >
39
RETAIL
Remote coffee delivery
Established in 1753,
International coffee company
Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE)
serves customers through
a portfolio of iconic coffee
brands in 100 countries.
When the Covid-19 crisis hit
in early 2020, JDE was forced
to quickly adapt so that its
workforce remained connected
and its business continued,
ensuring a constant flow of
coffee to consumers across
the globe. The sudden and
sustained need to run the
business remotely meant that
JDE had to quickly migrate
40
more than 14,000 associates
from Skype for Business onto
Microsoft Teams.
JDE was already using most of
the features of Microsoft 365,
which had been implemented
as part of a longstanding,
trusted partnership with
Accenture and Avanade. It had
also discovered the benefits
of digital tools during its
2018 rollout of its internal
enterprise social networking
platform. However, it hadn’t yet
embraced Microsoft Teams and
the robust video capabilities
it offers.
Accenture, Avanade and JDE’s
teams launched the rapid
migration with a full week of
virtual workshops with key
functional experts around the
world. This process was used
to guide the company through
the strategy, technical details
and potential challenges
of migrating thousands
of associates onto a new
platform in a short amount
of time. Because of physical
distancing regulations and
work-from-home orders, the
entire project had to be done
remotely.
“This project was a combination
of technical know-how
and kicking open the door.
When we’re in high-pressure
situations where we need to do
something impossible, we turn
to Accenture and Avanade,” and other helpful materials Three weeks later, nearly was overwhelming support. We
says Alexander Min, CIO, Jacobs created in 11 local languages 85% of JDE’s associates were were offering something that
Douwe Egberts. so that all associates were migrated to Teams, while the people truly believed would
getting the same information. remaining users adopted the give them the tools needed to
During preparations for the In addition, 150 JDE tool shortly after. Within a few feel safe, stay connected and do
migration to Teams, Avanade ‘champions’ – associates with weeks of activation, associates their jobs.”
and JDE collaborated on existing Microsoft 365 and had conducted more than
a comprehensive, virtual Teams expertise – from IT, 82,400 video calls. Read the full case study >
change management program communications and HR were
to ensure its people were assigned to help colleagues “The success of any digital
comfortable using the new get familiar with the tool. program requires user adoption
tool. A dedicated SharePoint Remote training sessions were and leaders as role models,” says
site was built to house FAQs, held both globally and locally Orr. “In this case, the adoption
tips and tricks, one-pagers via Teams. was super strong because there
41
MANUFACTURING
Improving factory performance
Until late 2018, commercial
paint manufacturer AkzoNobel
monitored the performance
of its machines using pen
and paper.
A Digital Performance Portal
solution provided by Avanade
using Industrial IoT and
Microsoft Azure helped the
company maximize its use of
data to quickly identify and
respond to manufacturing issues.
As a result, AkzoNobel
can instantly compare the
performance of machines not
42
just within a single factory, but
also at different sites around
the world.
“It gives us the complete
picture, allowing us to see
exactly where we can make
performance gains across
multiple levels of the business,”
says Philippe Huberts, Director
for Digital and Automation
Technology at AkzoNobel.
Luca Ottolini, Production
Manager at AkzoNobel Como,
says AkzoNobel’s employees
have benefited: “My full focus
RETAIL
360-degree customer view
Dubai-based Al-Futtaim
operates six divisions and covers
brands including IKEA, Toyota,
Marks & Spencer, and Orient.
The company adopted an
intelligent customer data
platform (CDP) that leverages
data consolidation, integration,
and analytics to provide
hyper-personalized consumer
experiences.
Developed in collaboration
with PwC, the CDP combines
Microsoft Azure Databricks, Azure
with the team was to make
this system as user-friendly as
possible. A year down the line,
the system is now accessible
for everyone—no matter their
level of technical expertise.”
Read the full case study >
Data Factory, and Azure Synapse
Analytics services to provide
a single source of truth about
each buyer in real time, boosting
profitability and fostering
customer loyalty. Buyers receive
personalized up-sell and cross-
sell opportunities and products.
Previously, the organization
lacked a way to interpret
and leverage consumer data
from more than 40 sources,
including loyalty programs,
social registering, and retail
points of sale (POS). This
changed with the introduction
of the new platform. “CDP will
fundamentally change how
we interact with customers,”
Wingfield says. “We’re going
to get more visibility on how
customers behave, and better
understand who they are,
where they are, and what they
are buying.”
Read the full case study >
43 43

ENERGY
Sustainable Teams evangelism
Dutch manufacturing
company DSM implemented
Microsoft Teams for its 23,000
employees through Microsoft
partner Wipro.
DSM has transitioned over
its 100-year history from its
roots in the mining industry
to become a global entity
active in nutrition, health, and
sustainable living. The Teams
implementation was aimed
at improving virtual meeting
facilities for staff working across
50 countries and regions.
44
The project included launching
an innovative evangelist
program that provided 300
employees with Surface Pro
devices with Teams installed.
Building on the Teams
platform, Wipro developed a
chatbot for key departments
to use.
According to Peter Dew, Chief
Digital Officer, Chief Marketing
Officer at DSM, a key feature
of the Teams integrated
platform is its capacity to
drive more effective virtual
HEALTHCARE
Fit for franchise growth
With the help of IBM Services,
an international leader in
fitness updated its ERP system
using Microsoft Dynamics.
The company needed to
drive growth by enabling
greater financial automation,
innovation, and efficiency.
The cloud-based Microsoft
Dynamics 365 application that
IBM Services helped it select is
backed up by worldwide rollout
and support services.
Through a network of franchises
and other business associates,
meetings. “Sustainability and
being mindful of our carbon
footprint are very important
to us at DSM,” he explains.
“Those values are fueling our
Teams efforts. With Teams,
we’re able to have quite an
immersive experience at a
reasonably low cost.”
Read the full case study >
the company licenses group
fitness programs in a range of
exercise categories to nearly
20,000 health clubs in 100
countries. It wanted to achieve
more powerful ERP capabilities
alongside a consistently
excellent user experience for
employees, business associates
and customers, regardless of
their location.
As part of an IBM Microsoft
Dynamics Value Assessment,
IBM consultants guided
the company through an
in-depth ERP software
evaluation and helped align
the organization’s business-
driven solution requirements
with best practices. Since
implementation, the solution
has generated 50% savings
in on-premises management
costs and significant savings
on software licensing fees
using IBM’s insights into the
Microsoft Cloud Solution
Provider program.
> Read the full case study
47
45
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

Changing the story with tech

Professional services
marketing firm Mercer-
MacKay  Digital Storytelling
(MMS) needed a solution to
extend its reach beyond face-
to-face client meetings.
When her company reached
capacity for the in-person
sessions it could conduct,
MMS founder Gail Mercer-
MacKay began to consider the
possibility of creating a software
solution. However, a custom
solution similar to those her
business’s competitors were
launching would cost millions
and take many months the
business did not have.
MMS asked Cognizant’s New
Signature division to help
future-proof the business
through a tech-intensive
approach. New Signature set
out to develop the company’s
vision at a fraction of the cost
of custom solutions, using
Microsoft Dynamics 365. The
company was able to exchange
its siloed marketing apps for
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
and Dynamics 365 Marketing,
and launch its daXai customer
portal based on these solutions
combined with Microsoft
Power Apps.
Having previously worked in
sales for a Microsoft partner,
Mercer-MacKay recalls: “I was
fascinated by the ways in which
technology could transform a
business—how it could make
organizations more resilient and
agile so that they can quickly
respond to any new situation,
whether a market condition or a
pandemic. And that fascination
is what underlies the great
stories that sell technology.

She believes that Microsoft’s
technologies are making
technology markets more
accessible for female business
owners who have the vision
to solve business problems.
“Dynamics 365 is an incredible
platform to help women
entrepreneurs quickly bring
business solutions to life.”
With the annual Microsoft
awards submission deadline
less than three months away,
Mercer-MacKay needed the
solution to be live in time
for her customers to take
advantage of her vision. New
Signature built a custom portal
called daXai on Microsoft
Azure, using Dynamics 365
Sales and Dynamics 365
Marketing along with Microsoft
Power Apps.
The outcome of the project
has been positive, with MMS
experiencing savings on
licensing fees and gaining
efficiency by consolidating with
the Dynamics 365 platform.
Several high-value projects
and 300 new customers later,
MMS is enjoying profitable
new opportunities even as
it lays the groundwork for
more innovation.
Suzanne Huber, Marketing
Manager at MMS, says: “One
big benefit is that we now can
better organize the data we
need to communicate with our
customers. The segmenting is
very powerful; contacts coming
in through the portal mesh with
our customer information in
Dynamics 365.” She adds: “We
benefit from the interoperability
between the Dynamics 365
solutions, which helps us
create dynamic marketing lists
that automatically populate
from the configurations
we’ve created between
those solutions.”
Read the full case study >

46 47
RETAIL FINANCIAL SERVICES

Chocolate in the cloud Digital-first insurance

Ontario’s Workplace Safety
and Insurance Board (WSIB)
company teamed up with
Accenture to implement
ambitious new digital and
hybrid cloud offerings.
WSIB covers more than five
million people in 300,000
workplaces and had identified
the need to update both its
legacy infrastructure and its
management approach.
The implementation
included Login-for-Business,
a Microsoft Azure cloud-
based identity and access
management solution that
provides a new online portal
for external businesses to
interface with WSIB.
The end-to-end solution
standardizes processes,
provides self-service portals
and automation, and improves
customer engagement. The
result is a more flexible
technology and business
organization, with greater
transparency around operating
costs. The average time spent
by the customer online is now
only three and a half minutes,
resulting in additional call
center capacity for WSIB.
Overall customer satisfaction
is 80%, making the portal the
highest rated digital product
WSIB has launched to date.
Read the full case study >

Italian chocolatier Venchi has
adopted Microsoft Azure,
Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365,
Power BI and Teams to support
its growth plans.
Established in 1878 and active in
70 countries as a multi-channel
retail company, the company
operates through direct points
of sale and e-commerce and
is in the process of expanding
internationally.
Supported by Capgemini,
the company started a digital
transformation project,
called ‘chococloud’, moving
applications to Microsoft Azure
and activating approximately
350 Microsoft 365 users, 150
users for Dynamics 365 and
150 Power BI users.
The overall aim was to redesign
the digital strategy to create
a technological infrastructure
that would support the
growth and dynamics of the
company globally, says Fabio
Tormen, CIO of Venchi. “We
expect great improvement
in back-office activities such
as the administration cycle,
the planning and forecasting
area and the analysis of
data on consumer behavior
to improve the customer
experience and engagement”.
Note: Client story originally
published in Italian language.
Please access the link below and
right click to enable translator
tool for the English version.
Read the full case study >

48 49
 Partners make more possible

Learn more about how Microsoft GSI and Advisory partners are driving innovation
across industries by clicking on the logos above. General inquiries and requests
for information may be directed to gsipartnerinfo@microsoft.com.

October 2021