Major agricultural producer speeds up brand transformation via citizen development and automation

Major agricultural producer speeds up brand transformation via citizen development and automation

MHP is the largest poultry and grain producer in Ukraine, selling its goods in 80 countries around the world. Recently, MHP decided to transform into a culinary company with an emphasis on ready-to-eat food. To support the massive change, MHP sped up its digital transformation with Microsoft Teams and Power Platform. As a result of a citizen development program, a group of non-IT employees started automating and enhancing daily business processes, which they shared with their colleagues. Some even got formally certified in Power Platform technology too, having passed respective certification examination by Microsoft. The company has also engaged more field workers in digital interactions, saving time and increasing job satisfaction.

MHP’s poultry and meat products are well-known in Ukraine, with a brand recognition of around 97% and being a household name for more than 20 years. Its international product brands are represented in the CIS, Middle East, Asia and Africa. In search for new business models and proximity to the customer, MHP started transforming itself into a culinary company. The move was quickly supplemented with digital transformation as well. “To keep up with the change, employees needed to be more organized. We knew that with Microsoft tools, we could do more,” says Olha Keldiushova, HR Project Manager at MHP.

Empowering employees

Like many production companies, MHP has only a fraction out of around 28,000 employees who provide IT services. The rest work in fields and factories and help manage the business. However, that didn’t stop MHP from launching an ambitious citizen development project.

Chief Digital and IT Officer at MHP Oleksiy Reshetniak explains, “We pursued two main goals. Firstly, to cut down routine work and encourage creativity. Secondly, to unite field and production workers under the same informational environment, communicating news firsthand and increasing their sense of belonging.” Although MHP’s IT resources were limited, it already had some successful integrations with Power BI made by non-IT employees. “We figured, why not launch it as a full-scale project?” says Olha Keldiushova.

Inspiring innovative solutions

MHP decided to encourage its employees to explore all that Microsoft has to offer. “We chose Microsoft cloud products because they are flexible, connected with each other, and are constantly upgraded,” adds Andriy Selezen, Head of Service Development Department at MHP. The agri-company started with inviting 59 representatives out of 11 lines of business. This team comprised of accountants, quality assurance managers, factory employees and more. The company launched a three-month training course together with its partner, SMART Business, and the result was rewarding. A team of students dubbed as Microsoft Champions learned to use Microsoft 365 tools and Power Platform. However, instead of studying random cases, the group tried to prototype solutions for the most frequent pain points in their daily work. They developed automated send-out of meeting minutes and agrarian reports, as well as simplified routine operations. Now, the team is sharing its newfound solutions with other people. “We wanted to shift people’s mindset from depending on IT support to solving problems on their own and being more innovative,” says Olha Keldiushova.

Single hub for all

Another massive transformation for MHP was uniting core operations and employees, as well as automating processes in one interface with a secure access point. “Every employee with a Microsoft 365 license has the app on their mobile phone, with calling, messaging and collaborating options. All we need to do is to add business processes and the information people require. We use Microsoft Teams as our Digital Experience Platform and expand it with our service operations via Power Automate,” says Reshetniak.

Together with technology partner DevRain, the company plans to unite 40 processes under Teams, some of which are already up and running.

“User adoption of digital solutions among field workers was usually very low,” Reshetniak says. “So, we started with small services that everyone needs. For example, employees can view information about salary and benefits in Teams and the time left to payday. They can also check the schedule of the company bus for their ride home instead of waiting outside in the rain. We’ve seen job satisfaction increase since the change.” MHP has already seen an increased number of Microsoft 365 users from 80 to 3,000 people.

The automation has already brought tangible time-saving results. “We used to get 75 requests per day about vacation days left. Now, with the automation, we don’t get anything,” says Vadym Parashchevin, IT Project and Program Manager at MHP.

In the coming months, the company will launch the analytics center in Teams where all important reports will be visualized via Power BI as a single source of information. Another project is creating the Center of Competency, which will inform employees about Teams and Power Platform updates. “These solutions empower people and erase barriers in communication. Decision-making speed in MHP is astonishing, thanks to fast exchange of information in Teams,” concludes Reshetniak.

Source: Major agricultural producer speeds up brand transformation via citizen development and automation

Tags: , , ,

Related Posts