Major Polish FMCG company unleashes the power to innovate by implementing a digital workplace in just seven months

Upgrading digital tools for business success

With a goal of sharpening its competitive edge and strengthening its market position, the organisation invests in development and improves company infrastructure. The group decided to modernise its office tools to continue the successful streak.

The first objective was to simplify the existing email system and introduce innovative features which are now commonplace in a modern working environment, including shared calendars and document repositories. The goal was to use technology to make it easier for knowledge workers to share information and documents and to organise meetings.

It was also important to update the intranet system, implementing an internal communications platform for all employees and departments.

In cooperation with Microsoft and SoftwareOne, the company decided to implement the Microsoft 365 cloud solution to enable its knowledge workers to share information easily. Using Microsoft technology, SoftwareOne’s experts helped the company’s IT department migrate their incumbent email system to Exchange Online, enabling users to share calendars and contacts. At the same time OneDrive for Business was also implemented and this enables real-time collaboration on documents by multiple users.

In addition, the intranet was modernised through the implementation of SharePoint Online and Yammer.

SoftwareOne has also introduced a couple of lesser-known services that are part of M365 as well, such as:

• Video Porta: to upload, share, and play videos across the company
• Planner: to easier organise and assign tasks and get updates on progress.

Enabling seamless communication and increased security

The foundation of the new emailing solution is Exchange Online. It enables the company’s employees to work more efficiently and securely on various devices. They can retrieve information they need at any time and from any location.

With the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, users also have access to a range of innovative tools, all in a single environment. This solution enables teams to collaborate easily, create and share documents, and co-edit them in real time.

OneDrive for Business also synchronises users’ files stored locally within their ‘My Documents'’ folders with Microsoft 365, with each user allocated 1 TB of storage space.

Microsoft Teams enables seamless remote meetings that replicate the experience of having the entire team gathered in a single conference room. This capability represents a significant improvement for the company, particularly in light of its geographically dispersed offices. In the past, organising internal meetings was both costly and time-consuming due to these geographical challenges.

With Microsoft Teams, synced calendars and OneNote integration, it is easy to arrange a meeting at convenient times for participants. During meetings, team members can share and edit notes, and then store them in one place for reference.

Another improvement is the modernisation of the intranet. The capital group’s internal communications team and other approved users publish useful and important content without the need to involve the IT department. The new network has been built on SharePoint.

Each of the new solutions, accessible via the company’s public cloud service, required the development and implementation of identity management tools to ensure only authorised users were granted access. These now make it easier for the company to manage permissions and access to Microsoft 365 services and sensitive company information.

In parallel with the Microsoft 365 implementation, SoftwareOne ran a series of workshops for senior managers and the company’s leadership team. The training involved real-life demonstrations of systems usage, as well as business cases and practical examples of their application.

The participants used Microsoft 365 tools which meant that they could see the benefits of the new software in practice. As a result, they quickly developed the understanding needed to become product champions, as the solutions were rolled out to members of their teams, advising on usage and best practice.

Implementation and migration took place gradually so that team members could get used to using the new solutions for their everyday work. During this process, the IT department were working with incumbent IT systems at the same time phasing in the new solutions. This secured the company against interruptions or downtimes and ensured the successful migration of all data.

The entire process, including planning, development and implementation, migration and training, was completed in just seven months.