In the next 5 years, 500 million apps will be built, more than all the apps developed in the last 40 years, according to IDC forecasts. Aware of the importance of creating automations and business applications quickly, Repsol, the global multi-energy company, has introduced the Do It Yourself (DIY) program. The initiative, unprecedented in Spain, aims to extend the reach of Power Platform, Microsoft’s low-code tool, throughout the organization.
The figures achieved this year have been impressive: Repsol estimates savings of more than 2 million euros. The company’s own employees have built more than 165 applications, produced up to 6,500 workflows with more than 38,000 executions thanks to Power Automate and Power Apps.
Repsol has become a benchmark in digital transformation more than four years ago, when it launched its Digital Program. It has evolved into a customer-centric and data-driven company thanks to proprietary products such as ARiA or Repsolver, which leverage technologies such as big data and Artificial Intelligence. Today they are taking another step forward in their growth plan by adding tools such as Power Automate, Power Apps and Power BI to their processes, which will help them in their goal of continuously and agilely providing value to their customers and employees through technology and the digitization of processes.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for companies’ IT departments to meet the demand for apps, which has increased fivefold. In this scenario, automation and low-code approaches (developing applications without code) make it possible to streamline the execution of processes: they offer employees the ability to build solutions quickly and without having to rely on complex technical skills.
DIY, a program tailored to Repsol’s needs
Repsol’s Do It Yourself (DIY) Center of Excellence seeks to promote the development of applications by the company’s own employees with which to create all kinds of applications and bots quickly, easily and custom-made, without the need to use code, to cover different needs of the company, regardless of the area to which they belong.
So far, the project has achieved great results. The processes of external users have been optimized and their experience considerably improved, significantly relieving the pressure on IT departments. This allows for greater availability of resources for more complex and critical issues, along with access to usage and performance information through dashboards and reports. In addition to ensuring the optimal security model in the construction of applications thanks to the management of information through Microsoft Dataverse.
The technologies considered are Microsoft Power Automate, for the development of workflows, and Power Apps, for the generation of low-code applications. Two solutions that provide comprehensive and optimized experiences through a single platform built on the Microsoft cloud.
«We believe in people and the concept of community. We are witnessing a scenario where our makers share skills and knowledge while driving digital transformation and scaling the use of technologies faster. The use of Microsoft technology has led to a significant improvement in terms of collaboration, agility and team productivity,» explains Javier Espasa, head of the DIY (Do It Yourself) Center of Excellence at Repsol.
An expert support
Repsol was faced with the need to design a governance environment to control the use of these low-code tools, while at the same time defining policies to help users create solutions in compliance with good corporate practices.
Faced with this situation, the company decided to rely on Kabel, a Microsoft partner, to accompany it on this path. Kabel helped them ensure governance, standardization, adoption and operational needs, exposing the power of these technologies through a simple experience for business users. Likewise, policies and models were defined to facilitate the adoption of corporate standards.
The creation of a Center of Excellence (CoE), jointly managed by Microsoft and Repsol, was proposed, based on four main areas of action:
- Definition of standards and best practices, development of documentation templates, blue prints, repeatable processes and methodologies.
- Reuse of assets. Identification and cataloging of existing assets within the organization, such as human assets, relationships, code and artifacts.
- Insights and performance analysis for continuous improvement. Development of reports and dashboards that allow tracking, measuring and drawing conclusions about the performance of the team’s initiatives and efforts.
- Guidance and governance. Guidance through standardized training and support through the DIY Corner. A virtual space where the Repsol and Kabel team help employees resolve any doubts that may arise, conducting training and generating content, focusing on functional areas to accelerate execution and mitigate risks through guidance on proven practices and reusable components.
The initiative’s roadmap plans to add Power Virtual Agents capabilities, which enables simplified creation and management of chatbots in Teams; Power Automate Desktop, for robotic process automation (RPA); and AI Builder, which uses AI and machine learning to make PowerApps and Microsoft Flow applications and automations more intelligent and easily tailored to each user’s needs.
«Microsoft and Kabel have been a key element in the project thanks to their experience in the development of these solutions, the planning of the entire process and training, helping Repsol workers to take advantage of these new tools in a simple way, with high levels of commitment and motivation,» concludes Espasa.