\u201cI have worked at COFCO for\u00a012\u00a0years, always in an\u00a0office. But\u00a0I have spent the last 63 days working from home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus Seelbach, Chief HR Officer at global agribusiness\u00a0COFCO\u00a0International, is talking from his home via video call about the transition\u00a0he and\u00a0all his colleagues have\u00a0undergone since COVID-19 led to the\u00a0closure of\u00a0the company\u2019s\u00a0offices worldwide.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut thanks to\u00a0the preparation and work of our\u00a0IT\u00a0guys,\u00a0we’ve made a very, very rapid switch\u00a0from a company totally unused to working from home,\u00a0to a company where everybody\u00a0does,\u201d he adds. \u201cAll without having any loss of efficiency\u00a0or security.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have spent the last 63 days really\u00a0working\u00a0from home,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0Andre Davico Schneiter, COFCO\u00a0International\u2019s\u00a0Group\u00a0CIO,\u00a0who has been one of the key people\u00a0in making that transition as smooth as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0technologies\u00a0we needed to start working remotely\u00a0were already\u00a0in place, so we\u00a0could\u00a0hit the ground running\u00a0with no effort at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is an impressive achievement, and one that was made possible by the company\u2019s decision to\u00a0continually\u00a0upgrade their\u00a0cloud-based\u00a0IT infrastructure\u00a0over the preceding years.<\/p>\n
COFCO\u00a0International is one of the world\u2019s largest agribusinesses, responsibly\u00a0supplying\u00a0agriculture products around the world through\u00a0its\u00a0globally integrated supply chain.\u00a0Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company employs\u00a0around 10,500 people\u00a0across\u00a036 countries.<\/p>\n
The company\u00a0has existed in its current form since 2017,\u00a0when it brought\u00a0together a number of different\u00a0operations\u00a0under one umbrella. A crucial\u00a0strategic\u00a0focus\u00a0of\u00a0the newly formed company\u00a0has been to implement an IT strategy that consolidates\u00a0COFCO\u00a0International\u2019s diverse operations from a fragmented IT setup into a centralized\u00a0platform.<\/p>\n
The three key pillars of that\u00a0IT\u00a0strategy\u00a0have focused on\u00a0operational efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and security.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we implemented our cloud-first approach in 2016,\u201d says\u00a0Schneiter.\u00a0\u201cMoving to the cloud, we can achieve each of those things.\u00a0When we migrated to Azure in 2016,\u00a0we saw immediate savings of more than $4 million a year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then\u00a0there is the security aspect,\u201d adds Schneiter.\u00a0\u201cMicrosoft is far better positioned\u00a0to provide security for cloud-operations than we could do ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving to the cloud\u00a0in 2016\u00a0was a no-brainer for us\u00a0with the IT strategy we had,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0Uri Brown, COFCO International\u2019s Microsoft and Cloud CTO, who has worked closely with Schneiter to implement the company\u2019s cloud strategy. \u201cUpgrading to Microsoft 365-E5\u00a0in\u00a02019\u00a0was based on us wanting to\u00a0add to that. We wanted to\u00a0bolster our security posture and improve our collaborative capacity by integrating our telephony system with our other cloud-based collaboration tools,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Microsoft 365-E5\u00a0is an enterprise-specific\u00a0platform\u00a0designed with companies like COFCO\u00a0International\u00a0in mind. It includes\u00a0security and collaborative features\u00a0designed\u00a0to keep large organisations connected\u00a0and\u00a0secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle did we know when we\u00a0upgraded,\u201d says\u00a0Brown,\u00a0\u201cthat we were setting ourselves up with the ultimate platform to continue to collaborate and do business during the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd to do so securely,\u201d\u00a0adds Brown, alluding to the\u00a0unfortunate phenomenon\u00a0of\u00a0companies across the globe\u00a0struggling with\u00a0an increase in security threats\u00a0since the COVID-19 outbreak<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, we’ve been operating for 63\u00a0days with no major security incident,\u201d adds Schneiter.\u00a0\u201cAnd that\u2019s mainly because\u00a0with Microsoft 365-E5 we can respond\u00a0very\u00a0quickly and efficiently\u00a0to any potential threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond security, one\u00a0key aspect of COFCO\u00a0International\u2019s shift to remote working has been the use of Microsoft 365\u2019s collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, which have\u00a0mitigated the cultural disruption\u00a0of the\u00a0company\u2019s\u00a0transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cCOFCO\u00a0was\u00a0not a company that\u00a0did\u00a0remote working,\u201d says Seelbach. \u201cWe\u00a0were\u00a0used to working\u00a0in offices\u00a0and\u00a0collaborating by tapping each other on the shoulder,\u00a0by having a conversation in the coffee room.<\/p>\n
\u201cMicrosoft Teams\u00a0has enabled us to keep that culture\u00a0of informal\u00a0communication\u00a0going,\u201d\u00a0he says. \u201cIt’s what\u00a0has\u00a0kept the company together\u00a0during this time,\u00a0enabling\u00a0people to continue to collaborate\u00a0in an everyday way, despite the change in working environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just the video conferencing and file\u00a0sharing\u00a0capabilities of Microsoft Teams that the company has been benefiting\u00a0from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have found SharePoint invaluable,\u201d says Allan Virtanen, Communications Director at COFCO\u00a0International. \u201cWithin minutes, I can get\u00a0the\u00a0latest safety information or instructions from the company or\u00a0the\u00a0government\u00a0to all our employees. I managed to get a special\u00a0dedicated portal for COVID-19\u00a0up and running\u00a0within hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Social networking is also being\u00a0used\u00a0to\u00a0keep\u00a0COFCO\u00a0International\u2019s\u00a0employees\u00a0connected, with the use of\u00a0business social networking tool Yammer\u00a0having\u00a0increased fourfold across the company since April 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like a\u00a0social media\u00a0platform,\u00a0so\u00a0people felt quite comfortable to start posting photos and videos\u00a0and sharing stuff,\u201d says Seelbach, who has used the platform to launch\u00a0COFCO International\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Stay safe, stay connected\u2019 campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great way to keep people engaged in a more light-hearted way,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd that is something we are really encouraging:\u00a0that people\u00a0share\u00a0pictures of their workstations or their pets or recipes, like one big family \u2013 because that\u2019s what we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a platform that the whole company has embraced.\u00a0\u201c99% of our employees read the messages shared on Yammer,\u201d says Virtanen proudly.<\/p>\n
To achieve such incredible engagement statistics, the company had to making sure\u00a0that everyone\u00a0across its network\u00a0felt comfortable using the\u00a0collaboration tools\u00a0at their disposal \u2013 no easy task when you are trying to communicate with employees in 36 countries who speak a wide range of languages.<\/p>\n
To do this,\u00a0the IT team\u00a0worked fast to\u00a0establish\u00a0an educational programme\u00a0that would ensure everyone across the company\u00a0could\u00a0continue to collaborate, share and communicate during the unprecedented transition to remote working COFCO International was undergoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call them\u00a0\u2018roadshows\u2019,\u201d explains\u00a0Brown.\u00a0\u201cThey’re online sessions\u00a0that help keep everyone together and make sure we\u2019re all able to use the tech we have access to.\u00a0We invite the whole company\u00a0and\u00a0get people\u00a0from\u00a0all across\u00a0our network\u00a0joining each session.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another proactive step the company has taken to enhance collaboration and communication is the appointment of\u00a0regional champions, who help\u00a0ensure that everyone at\u00a0COFCO\u00a0International\u00a0gets access to the\u00a0learning resources\u00a0they need, regardless of language.<\/p>\n
It has\u00a0all contributed to the almost total engagement of the company\u2019s 10,500 employees with the\u00a0various\u00a0tools\u00a0COFCO International is using to keep everyone together.<\/p>\n
Looking to the future,\u00a0COFCO International\u00a0has taken many learnings away from this recent period.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0use of collaboration tools\u00a0like\u00a0Yammer, Office 365,\u00a0Teams and some of the\u00a0other\u00a0productivity tools will\u00a0definitely\u00a0be embedded in our day-to-day activities\u00a0when we go back to the office,\u201d\u00a0says Seelbach.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams will be a feature irrespective of working from home,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt will have an impact on the way people\u00a0in\u00a0the company travel for sure. We will start to assess much more closely whether travel for meetings is really necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
And for\u00a0COFCO\u00a0International\u2019s\u00a0tech leaders, the\u00a0decision to\u00a0pursue a cloud-first IT strategy and\u00a0continue to\u00a0update\u00a0that infrastructure\u00a0has fully paid off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am just so glad that all our preparation has paid off during this difficult\u00a0time,\u201d say Brown. \u201cAnd that we didn\u2019t have to scramble to put all these collaboration tools and security features in place when we suddenly needed\u00a0them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very proud of what we have done,\u201d says Schneiter.\u00a0\u201cWe are one of the most advanced companies in\u00a0the world in terms of\u00a0moving\u00a0to\u00a0the cloud.\u00a0And we are just at the beginning of our journey.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI have worked at COFCO for\u00a012\u00a0years, always in an\u00a0office. But\u00a0I have spent the last 63 days working from home.\u201d Marcus Seelbach, Chief HR Officer at global agribusiness\u00a0COFCO\u00a0International, is talking from his home via video call about the transition\u00a0he and\u00a0all his colleagues have\u00a0undergone since COVID-19 led to the\u00a0closure of\u00a0the company\u2019s\u00a0offices worldwide. \u201cBut thanks to\u00a0the preparation and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":665,"featured_media":358629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1804],"class_list":["post-352697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-stories-en","specials-work-productivity-en","verticalIndustries-manufacturing-en","stories-how-can-i-work-anywhere-and-everywhere","stories-working-from-everywhere-en","businessPriorities-modern-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352697"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368252,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352697\/revisions\/368252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}