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  • Writer's pictureLJ (Laurent) Launay
    • Jan 27, 2022

From employee engagement to productivity – 5 Microsoft Teams Success Stories


Microsoft Teams is already 5 years old and when it was launched back in 2016 as part of the O365 productivity suite, the intention was to unify chat voice, video, and file sharing. Fast forward to 2022 with more than 250 million monthly active users, Teams has evolved into an integrated technology which provides a centralised user experience working seamlessly with the different products of O365 such as: Microsoft SharePoint, Power Apps, Planner, Office 365 Groups, Bots, Shifts and many more.


With the remote and hybrid work that we are now all so familiar with (courtesy of covid-19), one of my favourite functionalities of Teams video calls is the ability to blur the background, particularly when you are trying to hide that messy bookcase behind you, questionable artwork, or just your kids barging into the room dancing (you might remember the viral video of Professor Robert Kelly being interviewed live on BBC News back in 2017 that gifted the whole world seconds of pure hilarity).



But jokes aside, I often get asked: ‘Can you give me examples of Microsoft Teams success stories?’ or ‘How are organisations successfully adopting MS Teams?’ Success stories powerfully bring to life the benefits of this platform and it is always one of my recommendations to learn from those organisations that lead by example. Here are some of my favourite and most insightful Microsoft Teams success stories.




Success Story 1

Streamlining work and optimising productivity

Iconic British retailer Marks & Spencer has been able to save half a million pounds by streamlining work and optimising employees’ productivity. Initially thought as a mere communication platform, Teams became the ecosystem used to operate the stores, where more than 80 apps are embedded.


When covid hit for example, the store chain used PowerApps to develop an app that, embedded in Teams, helped colleagues count people in and out of a store, keeping track of the reduced capacity.


Another great example, is the People Finder app. With over 70K staff, Marks & Spencer acknowledged that it’s often difficult to connect with the right person. The People Finder app, also developed with Power Apps, gives staff the ability to search for anyone based on store location or role and immediately start a chat or call in Teams.


Full case study HERE and HERE.



Success Story 2

Capitalising on sharing information

A North American Fire District wanted to capitalise on the valuable information captured by their drones during fire, emergency medical, and rescue missions. How to overcome the limitation of having only one person interpreting and relaying information to 200 staff members over 556 square kilometers?


Installing MS Teams as an app on the drone controller (Android device) was the answers. Everyone on site, in vehicles or at the station is now able to see what the drone sees.


Lifesaving is a very important job and being able to achieve that at no additional cost for humanity is in my opinion the best a technology can provide.


Full case study HERE and HERE.



Success Story 3

Managing tasks and tracking accountability

UK Opticians Boots faced the challenge brought by communications from the central operations team to franchise store not reaching every team member daily, with the result of tasks failing to be completed


Introducing Tasks within Microsoft Teams has helped staff manage their task more effectively, track accountability and manage documents easily and securely. My personal favourite in this case study is the adoption of Shifts in Teams. The example of the What’s in Store Pack (WISP) as mentioned in the case study as a brilliant way to simplify manual work and processes into an automated and centralised tasks plan using Teams.


Full case study HERE and HERE.



Success Story 4

Collaborating and escalating issues to improve efficiency

A German automotive company with a global workforce of 160,000 employees required more agility in all aspects of plant management. Having the right information presented and acknowledged across different shifts was a vital challenge, successfully met thanks to MS Teams. Since adopting Teams for collaboration and escalations of equipment downtime, they have been able to achieve 8 percent year-over-year improvement in operational equipment efficiency.


Another significant and easy to achieve success has been a replacement of an Excel application (raise a hand if you have one too) for overtime schedules and requests by utilising Power Apps.


Full case study HERE and HERE



Success Story 5

Creating time for the business to focus on what matters most

Telstra, the largest telecommunications company in Australia, managed to return 10 million minutes to the business (speaking of ‘creating time’!) by using Power Apps to automate processes that were slowing down customer service, such as tickets creation, resolution, reporting etc. All the apps (more than 77) are contained in MS Teams, a real one-stop-shop for all the field technicians who no longer need to access different systems, applications and drives.


This was particularly vital to plan restoration following the bushfires and floods that affected Australia in 2020.

Full case study HERE.





I would love to tell you more about the wonders of MS Teams! If you wish to explore how MS Teams and Microsoft Power Apps can make a difference in your organisation in terms, feel free to reach out for an informal discussion at esad.ismailov@definiti.com.au or on Linkedin.


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