DIGITAL READY
How one Turkish company was ready for anything.
The Covid-19 pandemic took everybody by surprise. Businesses suddenly had to embrace remote and digital work practices, often with whatever technology was to hand. Businesses had to undergo a similar level of change - equivalent to a years-long digital transformation project - almost overnight.
Arçelik was better prepared than most. As one of the world’s largest consumer goods manufacturers, selling electronic home appliances in over 145 countries, Arçelik had started a ground-up digital transformation program in 2016. Taking its strength from its success in technology, production, and retail, Arçelik uses Microsoft's products and services to achieve its goals in its digital transformation journey.
Although it was blindsided like everybody else when the pandemic hit, the company is a testament to how an agile digital infrastructure can prepare an organization for anything.
Arçelik’s operations in Turkey had an advantage that optimized a core element of the business and kept things moving: Microsoft Dynamics Finance & Operations Retail.
The virtual office
While others grappled for the first time with remote workflows, Arçelik had unified all its communications in Microsoft Teams and Office 365 in 2019.
And rather than be restricted to whatever laptop they had at home, employees could use virtual desktops via the company’s hybrid Azure cloud infrastructure – granting access to the latest generation business applications, powered by Microsoft’s servers.
Granular supply chain monitoring
While disrupted supply chains were a common feature in the early days of the pandemic, Arçelik’s operations in Turkey had an advantage that optimized a core element of the business and kept things moving: Microsoft Dynamics Finance & Operations Retail.
This centralized system connects all authorized dealers to Arçelik’s e-commerce system, providing a real-time view of all orders, stock levels, and stock locations. The platform enabled Sales and Marketing to push any e-commerce orders through to the nearest dealer with the product in stock.
And having already implemented an Azure Machine Learning Studio based inventory management system in 2017, the company was able to keep a predictive grip how to provide spare parts and replacements for any after-sales service.
Company contact tracing
Sending workers home is one way to keep them safe. But when your business relies on moving physical products in warehouses and delivery trucks, there’s no one size fits all solution.
With a Microsoft Cloud infrastructure already in place, Arçelik implemented a contact tracing system based on Microsoft Power apps. QR codes were displayed at various locations in the workplace, which employees could scan with their phones. The data updated immediately to their Health Dashboard.
Using this information, the company’s health officers could determine if anyone infected with the virus had crossed paths with other employees and then send these workers home to limit the spread of infection.
Having an agile digital architecture built into the organization enabled them to respond quickly, maintaining continuity during major disruption.
Digital resilience
Arçelik didn’t prepare for the pandemic specifically. But having an agile digital architecture built into the organization enabled them to respond quickly, maintaining continuity during major disruption.
With such a framework in place, the possibilities are limitless. The company is already implementing AI-powered customer service bots, to deliver immediate personalized response, and allow human service agents to spend more time on more complicated cases.
Having already made substantial progress on their digital transformation journey, the company is aiming for full digitalization. As Utku Barış Pazar, Chief Strategy & Digital Officer at Arçelik puts it, “One of our most critical needs is to digitalize all our processes and provide high quality digital services to all our stakeholders; namely consumers, customers, suppliers and employees.” With this “strong technological infrastructure” Arçelik really will be ready for anything.
