Post the global pandemic, the workplace experience has evolved in leaps and bounds. Flexible environments, easy-to-use interfaces, and high levels of data visibility have become the norm in today’s modern organizations. With the right suite of tools, teams and employees can rapidly connect their systems and drive collaborative efficiency to new heights.

We are witnessing powerful technologies come together to drive collaboration and connectivity in the enterprise. Take for example, SAP and Microsoft Power Platform. SAP users can seamlessly collaborate with other internal users and/or external parties (such as customers and suppliers), whilst interacting with SAP data directly from within Microsoft Teams. In an enterprise scenario, this effectively means that activities, actions, planning scenarios and so much more can be collaboratively worked on, and outcomes dynamically displayed in real-time during a ’Teams Meeting’ – as opposed to the conventional approach of being bookmarked for follow-up later.

To highlight how this impacts outcomes, take for instance a sudden shift in consumer demand that disrupts planned logistical and warehousing functions. By leveraging the integration between Microsoft’s Power Platform, Teams and SAP, logistics executives can now directly collaborate and conference with their entire distribution network while accessing a single pane-view of data from their demand planning platforms. This makes it far easier for executives to redirect fleet movements and plan routes to relevant geographies without needing multiple approval sequences, meetings, or manual data extraction.

While this use case is specific to logistics, technology solutions like this can create connected enterprises and improve the scope of collaboration in nearly every industry.

One of the world’s largest electrical infrastructure manufacturers, for example, leveraged a combination of smart chatbots integrated into SAP to streamline help-desk functions that support over 1.6 million customers. Service requests are received via an omnichannel interface and processed via AI bots to categorize and match solutions to each service ticket rapidly. Automated data extraction and delivery gives dispatchers immediate data on the skills required to fix the issue and staff availability. Similarly, field service engineers would receive information on their schedule, work orders, and client details – all in one PowerApp interface) – while customers get automated updates on their ticket status. For each stakeholder, the entire process occurs within their persona-based interface that combines the functionality and data in multiple technologies and IT solutions across the enterprise.

In building this system, the company worked with Avanade to compose a symphony of technology solutions for their specific needs and the integrations needed to make everything come together seamlessly at scale. And the results were significant – average ticket handling time was reduced by 45 minutes and visits to customer sites dropped by 50% across 400 offices. At the same time, the workplace experience was transformed for over 12,000 employees.

Another requirement we often hear is ‘Approvals’. Managers complain that they have to go in and out of SAP, Success Factors, Ariba, CRM, and others to review and manage Approvals from these different backend systems. To address this cumbersome process, why not simply have all the Approvals come directly through Microsoft Teams, where a single interface can provide the capability to review and approve (or reject) any Approval from any system.

Using a potent combination of Microsoft Power Platform and SAP means that individuals have accelerated access to real-time data and insights exactly when they need them the most. And together, Microsoft’s collaborative application suites and SAP’s deep understanding of ERP can lay the data foundations for a faster, more connected and intelligent enterprise.

But as with all enterprise technologies, tailoring a solution that fits your specific needs via trial-and-error can waste valuable resources and hamper your ability to scale.

If you’d like a more informed view of which tools and technologies work best for your business goals, get in touch, and let’s start a conversation today.