CUSTOMER STORIES

STALLION GROUP NIGERIA

To ensure the digital transformation of its processes and enable improved service delivery to its customers, the Stallion Group Nigeria undertook a journey to the cloud. As an initial step, the organization deployed its Automobile Application Solution (VAS) Development and Disaster Recovery (DR) environments, to the cloud.

INDUSTRY:  Manufacturing

Stallion’s Automobiles Division consists of a collective sub-group of companies which represent an array of globally renowned automobile brands on an exclusive basis for distribution, sales and aftersales service.

Stallion represents the following brands through independent management: Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Skoda, Changan, Ashok Leyland. Collectively these brands contribute to over 45% share of the new automobiles market in Nigeria.

For over 25 years, Stallion has worked closely with its auto OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) partners to develop the industry and bring global best practices and a unique brand experience to customers in Nigeria at par with the developing world. It is largely credited for opening exciting frontiers of motoring to the Nigerian people and providing them with first-hand experience of world-class automobiles throughout different model segments from passenger cars, SUVs, luxury vehicles, pickups, light commercial vehicles, and buses.

BUSINESS NEEDS

The Stallion Group Nigeria needed to deploy an enterprise-wide Automobile Solution that easily integrated with all existing systems and addressed fragmented business processes with resultant inefficiencies across the organization. As a result, the organization decided to Engage Velvot to participate in building their inhouse Automobile Application solution and Chooses to Host this Application on Microsoft Azure and dumps AWS and Google cloud.

When comparing the cost of deploying hardware on premise to utilizing the Microsoft Azure cloud platform found Azure significantly more cost-effective and Scalable. Because of the potential cost savings, coupled with the limitations of its existing infrastructure environment and the time that would be associated with an upgrade, the Stallion Group Nigeria decided to avoid risk of idling infrastructure and reap the benefits of the intelligent cloud.

The organization chose Microsoft as its partner of choice and joined forces with Microsoft top partner in Nigeria Velvot to undertake the required development and DR environments, which would complement the Stallion’s on-site production implementation and be hosted on Azure owing to the cost savings and flexibility offered.

CUSTOMER VALUE AND BENEFITS

Following the deployment of its Automobile Application environment on Microsoft Azure, the Stallion Group Nigeria expects the following benefits:

• The organization’s IT department to be better equipped to provide support to other departments with resultant increases in response-time.
• Cost savings owing to the reduction of infrastructure support and maintenance.
• Increased efficiency as staff will be able to focus on other critical operational aspects.
• Scalability to support the Stallion Group Nigeria cloud journey and meet its changing requirements.
• Ability for the Stallion Group Nigeria ecosystem to reap the benefits of the larger Microsoft intelligent cloud.

“Our Journey to the Cloud with Migrating our Application to Microsoft Azure and the protection of physical and virtual workloads through the Azure DR environment. Is very awesome experience” Says Krishnan IT Manager Stallion Group Nigeria.

PROMASIDOR NIGERIA LIMITED

“When we put offers together, we start with the strength of what Microsoft Cloud provides then make sure to add value over and above that. There’s plenty we can do with Microsoft 365 to engage and empower Firstline Workers.”

INDUSTRY: Manufacturing

Promasidor is an African beverage and food-products powerhouse that caters to 850-million people. Motivated, dynamic and progressive, Promasidor is a shining example of exactly how much can be achieved on this great continent.

Empowering the underserved

When designing solutions for companies with Firstline Workers, Velvot gives these critical employees the tools – and respect they need to do their jobs well. “Historically, these workers have been underserviced as far as technology is concerned; they’ve not been an IT or a licensing budget line item,” says Olumide Bello, Head of IT at Promasidor Nigeria Limited. “We want to place the richness of the Microsoft cloud in the hands of Firstline Workers, so they have access to their organizations’ information.” Velvot Nigeria Limited Executive Director Aliyu Garba agrees, adding, “It’s also about empowering Firstline Workers so they’re able to deliver a better service. That’s why Microsoft 365 is so compelling.

Velvot begins by identifying customers’ business problems, then asking what it might be worth to solve those problems. When the issues are tied to Firstline Workers, Velvot makes the case that there is value in accommodating their needs. “Our job is to increase the gap between the cost and the value being provided,” says Aliyu. “When we can amplify that value, the conversation becomes easier. That’s when we see companies re-evaluating their workforces and investing in Microsoft 365 because the Microsoft Firstline Worker SKU is attractive not just to the employees in the field but to office-based employees as well.”

PowerApps make the difference.

BENEFITS

One-way Velvot adds value for their customers is by developing custom SharePoint Process and PowerApps to help them reach their business goals and accomplish everyday tasks. “Our customers inspire the ideas behind the PowerApps we build,” says Aliyu. “When we put offers together, we start with the strength of what Microsoft provides then add value over and above that. There’s plenty we can do with PowerApps to engage and empower Firstline Workers.”

Velvot uses the versatility of the cloud to customize solutions and digitize processes with Sharepoint and PowerApps wherever possible, adding value and strength to packages catering to Firstline Workers. “PowerApps give us that additional channel through which we can securely give Firstline Workers access to their companies’ back-end systems,” explains Aliyu.

According to Olumide Promasidor IT Manager, this is where Velvot makes its most significant impact. “We remind companies that they can purchase these Microsoft Firstline Worker licenses directly online, but they won’t necessarily know how to derive value from them straight out of the box. That’s where we come in as a CSP, introducing Microsoft 365 and its features like PowerApps, SharePoint and Flow that can really round off the technology for successful rollouts. The cloud lets us create, test and deploy very quickly. That’s what makes the PowerApp story such an exciting one.”

“We want to place the richness of the Microsoft cloud in the hands of Firstline Workers, so they have access to their organizations’ information.”

Given the rate of change in Microsoft 365 and across all Microsoft technologies, we need to provide support on an ongoing basis. Since the specialized skill sets of many Firstline Worker teams are not computer-based, training is critical to success.

“Within this segment, the IT literacy is not necessarily at the same level as it is elsewhere in the organization,” says Olumide. “For that reason, more effort needs to be made during the onboarding process to connect with the Firstline Worker audience.”

ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC

Striving to serve as one of Nigeria leading Mortgage Banking.

INDUSTRY: Banking and Finance

Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc is the premier, largest, and most profitable, non-aligned Primary Mortgage Bank in Nigeria. Abbey is one of the seven national Primary Mortgage Banks (PMB) licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). The recent recapitalization exercise saw the downsize from 105 mortgage banks to only 34 now surviving. We not only emerged successfully capitalized but one of the few that also met our National obligation as well as amongst the public liability companies

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

As a growing organization, Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc was experiencing collaboration and productivity challenges and started researching a software solution to streamline project management, improve communication between team members, reduce e-mails, and automate related business processes. Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc struggled to find a solution tailored to its transformative objectives that would place the firm at the forefront of technology, despite the considerable investments into annual software and infrastructure upgrades.

The following challenges proved frustrating to Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc:

• Access to e-mails – due to exchange server issues and remote connectivity constraints, staff would not have access to e-mails when on holiday or working from home.
• So Many Manual Process Operation across all their HQ and all Branch Offices.
• Erratic server access – limited access to the file server via VPN forced employees to work late in the office to allow for access to information.
• Security concerns – Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc had no effective way to manage access to information on servers. IT is served as the bottleneck for managing folder-level access with no self-service capability.
• On-site infrastructure – maintenance was increasing in cost and frustration due to the access restriction problems. Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc was due to upgrade legacy software and old infrastructure which would have proven costly.
• Internal e-mail traffic – ad-hoc communication was cluttering mailboxes and causing frustration.
• Solution

When seeking a solution provider, Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc received many proposed solutions to its challenges and future objectives with Velvot Nigeria Limited solution deemed the “best fit” for the firm’s requirements.

The solution proposed was centered around the powerful capabilities of Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 offers a rich set of technologies and applications that enable users across organizations to access information securely and collaborate more efficiently across teams and user groups. These technologies and applications are designed to improve collaboration and increase productivity no matter a users’ location or device preference.

The solution implementation comprised the following stages:

• Training – Microsoft 365 overview with the Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc Executive and Management teams.
• Business Analysis Workshop – meeting with the business decision-makers and department heads to discuss collaboration requirements and challenges.
• Email migration – migration of on-premise Exchange emails Server to Exchange Online.
• Document and File Migration to Microsoft OneDrive
• File migration – installation and setup of third-party migration software and assisting Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc with the migration of active project files to Microsoft Teams.
• Configuration and development – working closely with Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc Microsoft 365 team.
• Handover and enablement – appointment of a champion to configure a modern SharePoint Intranet.
• Leveraging Microsoft SharePoint to automate 110 Internal and External Business process list below some below.
• Leave Request
• Cash advance request
• Procurement process
• Expenses request
• IT Helpdesk
• Employee onboarding Process.
• Documents management Process etc.
• Microsoft Power Platform tools – to date the following solutions have been created:
• Project Request Process
• Tender and Leads Process
• Policies and Procedures
• Deployment and Configuration of Microsoft teams
• Azure Information Protection: Configuring documents controls and protections
• Microsoft Intune: Deployment Microsoft Intune to enroll all users’ devices to manage it.

VALUE AND BENEFIT REALIZED

Following the successful completion of the initial Microsoft 365 implementation phase, Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc realized the following benefits:

Reduction in travel time and cost

With Microsoft 365 Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, which comprises a client-base spread across Namibia, now only sends one employee to a client’s premises, with the rest of the stakeholders collaborating via Teams.

Improved overall productivity

Short periods between meetings or at a coffee shop can now be utilized to attend to e-mails and tasks as employees always have access to information.

Record-keeping

Keeping records of assigned tasks and tracking progress on tasks via Microsoft Planner (outstanding, overdue, completed, etc.)

Streamlined security

Teams has enabled Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc to ensure that only the people that should have access to certain information have access.

Information organization and governance

Collaboration using Teams has increased overall project awareness and reduced the overall flow of internal e-mails with new team members having access to project communication and information history.

Next-level collaboration

With OneNote and Teams the whole team has access to meeting notes and recordings even if they did not attend which has improved project transparency.

Client satisfaction

Microsoft 365 will enable improved collaboration with Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc’s clients, streamlining project management and client satisfaction.

Project Overview Screenshots

• Leave Request
• Cash advance request
• Procurement process
• Expenses request
• IT Helpdesk
• Employee onboarding Process.
• Documents management Process etc.

Tender and Leads Solution 

The solution allows users at Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc to log new leads and tenders using a canvas Power App. All new requests are routed to a dedicated team who follow an approval process built using Power Automate. Embedding the Power App as a tab in Microsoft Teams has helped the team to manage and collaborate on new leads and tenders using a single application.

Project Request Solution

The solution allows users at Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc to submit a new Project Request to the project office using a canvas Power App and Power Automate workflow. The Power App integrates client information from a data source and allows users to register new clients or select existing clients when submitting a new project request.

Future Outlook

“Microsoft and Velvot have made it possible for us at Abbey Mortgage bank Plc to manage the IT infrastructure without being at the mercy of IT companies”.

– Goerge Uwazueake IT Head Abbey’s Mortgage Bank Plc.

Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc ultimate aim is to move all of its information and IT infrastructure to Microsoft 365 and Azure and to continue developing company-specific solutions that will transform its infrastructure and drive continuous innovation and transformation.

Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, AGM- BUSINESS SYSTEMS REVIEW & COMPLIANCE Lolita Ejiofor stated that the digital transformation process for the firm has been painless as the benefits of transforming are obvious to the organization.