Customer story - TransNumerik

The regional transit agency powers productivity and trust with Microsoft technology

The regional transit agency works to ensure that the region's only rapid rail network operates reliably. The agency aimed to operate more efficiently and upgrade its customer-facing services, but internal technological mistrust curbed its progress. In 2016, the agency switched to Microsoft 365. It recently added Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Apps, Microsoft Teams, and more to the mix to further boost the ability to deliver, while enhancing the trust of its customers and the capabilities of its staff.

A state-of-the-art rapid rail network, constructed in 2006, provides inter-city links between major urban centers as well as an easy way of commuting to the region’s largest and busiest international airport. The regional transit agency is responsible for managing the concessionaire that operates this rapid rail service.

“To keep improving our services, we realized we needed to better understand our users’ needs,” reflects the CIO of the regional transit agency. “But we had other ambitions too: to automate a lot of our processes and enable employees to be more productive and make faster decisions. However, mistrust in IT and technology was holding us back. We needed to find a way to get the stakeholders to see value in the technology investments. We looked at different solutions, and Microsoft was the one-stop shop we needed. We knew we’d be more secure, and that we could do anything anywhere, anytime.”

Daily processes made easier

The agency initially deployed Microsoft 365 applications, then moved on to other Microsoft solutions, such as OneDrive, Teams, Power BI, and finally, Dynamics 365 to drive employee performance. Through a carefully curated change management program, staff was trained on new technologies, such as Dynamics 365. Alongside, Microsoft Power Apps and Microsoft Power Automate were adopted to digitize and automate various business processes.

“For starters, we saved time company-wide as so many of our processes were automated, even across corporate governance. Moreover, our e-recruitment benefited hugely from Power Apps,” explains the CIO. “The candidate shortlisting process is streamlined since the system can actually do some of the work for us. We’ve also used Power Apps to develop a supplier portal for onboarding and tender submissions. With Teams, we can collaborate faster, which accelerates decision making by removing paperwork. Meetings are of better quality and we save time and expenses on travel.”

With the rise of increased mobility among its employees, the agency bolstered its cyber defense thanks to Microsoft 365 security tools. “We roughly saved a couple million in the process. More importantly, with things like advanced threat protection tools, our security is more effective without impacting users’ performance. They have total flexibility and can access whatever document they need from wherever they are without jeopardizing its security.”

Business continuity was also unaffected when a global pandemic forced the region into lockdown. “For us, it was business as usual. A lot of that is thanks to Teams. We use it extensively and our adoption rate is very high. We do everything with Teams, share documents, communicate, have meetings. It’s our livelihood, in many ways. We instilled trust in technology. So now, we’re empowered to bring that trust to our customers, with higher value services built on more automation and zero paperwork.”

"For us, it was business as usual [in response to a global pandemic]. A lot of that is thanks to Teams. We use it extensively and our adoption rate is very high."