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Case study

UST helped vendor finance team at telco company improve productivity by 80% through Microsoft power platform implementation

When the vendor finance team at North America wireless company wanted to reduce manual tasks and data errors to accelerate invoice processing, UST created a comprehensive suite of business applications and productivity tools using Microsoft Power Apps and helped them improve productivity by 80%.

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OUR CLIENT

Founded nearly 30 years ago, this telecommunications company has become a leading provider of wireless services in North America. Offering flexible, competitive services, the company generates approximately $80 billion in revenue annually and serves almost 115 million customers.

THE CHALLENGE

Accounting challenges created data errors, processing delays, and high operating costs

The finance team used spreadsheets, emails, and manual processes to manage vendor accounting. Because the team didn't have a centralized, organized document filing system, team members couldn’t easily locate purchase orders and invoices. To compound the situation, vendors often submitted incorrect financial data. All of these issues created forecasting and budgeting issues. The finance team needed help to streamline processes, organize documents, and improve productivity.

THE TRANSFORMATION

Low-code, customized business apps using Microsoft Power Platform addressed issues

The UST project team implemented Microsoft Power Apps, a suite of apps, services, and connectors to build custom business applications rapidly; Microsoft Power Automate, a SaaS platform to automate recurring tasks; and Microsoft Power BI, an interactive data visualization platform. The solution included:

Automated processes-for recurring tasks like processing timesheets, creating invoices, rostering, and order intake.
Productivity tools-with role-based access to applications, shortcut keys, pre-set filters and searches, and a project management communication portal on Microsoft SharePoint.
Notifications-including email alerts, reminders, and delegations.
Reporting-with import/export to Excel, advanced static and interactive data visualization reports, and a financial KPI dashboard.

THE IMPACT

Comprehensive suite of business apps helped finance team improve productivity by 80%

With the Microsoft Power Apps solution in place, the finance team improved productivity by an impressive 80%. And, since vendors can submit invoices and level of effort data directly to the finance team by a standardized, automated process rather than via emails, there are fewer data errors and misplaced invoices. Thanks to the new solution, the team has also overcome its forecasting and budgeting challenges.

RESOURCES

https://www.ust.com/en/industries/tmt-telecom

https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/digital-transformation

https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/strategy-implementation-operations