One example of a deliverable is the Call Handler’s app, used by the sales team. Previously, when pharmacies or other clients inquired about pharmaceuticals or placed orders for materials, the office staff received the call, looked up the phone number and found the sales representative to send an email, since they did not have a call management system.This process has now been streamlined via the app. Now, the salesperson's name is displayed on the screen based on the facility name when a call is received. The call taker can input and register the relevant materials, then an email is automatically sent to the responsible representative. Additionally, the app allows for tracking response history and managing statuses.This resulted in benefits such as reducing the workload, minimizing errors and improving response speeds of office staff, which in turn enhanced customer satisfaction. Mr. Ishiwa says: “Among the apps we developed, some are expected to reduce manual effort by as much as 20 hours, with the most significant reductions up to 1,200 hours.”

Mr. Ishiwa highlights three key success outcomes of the collaboration with Avanade:

Cultivation of talent necessary to drive citizen development: As participants created and implemented apps, awareness of the tools spread within the company, increasing recognition and awareness among employees that they can address their own business challenges through apps.
Knowledge and proven experience in citizen development: Despite being a short-term initiative, employees were able to create professional-level apps to showcase internally as achievements. This allowed the team to build knowledge and proven experience in operating “The Power Platform Dojo” as part of its DX efforts.
The lead Asahi Kasei Pharma can take to encourage people the use of low-code/no-code tools across the entire Asahi Kasei Group: At the group’s IT showcase, the team shared their achievements, which, according to Mr. Ishiwa, enhanced citizen development practices across the entire group.

“Integrating citizen development into our business requires significant effort, time and cost,” says Mr. Ishiwa. “It would have been difficult without the support of Avanade.”

He adds that by achieving small successes, dedicated citizen developers in each department would be ideal — expressing his ambition for steady progress toward this goal.“For group companies and other enterprises facing challenges in organizational DX, Power Platform would be a tool suitable for improving on-site operations,” he says. “It would be meaningful for operational members to act by first assessing their current processes, then actually creating an app. Once an app is created, data will accumulate, leading to data visualization and subsequent initiatives, including generative AI.”

The partnership with Avanade ended in July 2024. “We have accumulated a sufficient amount of internal knowledge,” says Mr. Ishiwa. “In the next phase, we would like to seek further support when advancing top-down initiatives or when new technologies emerge.”

He expresses his desire for Avanade to continue providing ongoing advice and insights with its deep knowledge and proven experience in Microsoft technology, ensuring the synergistic effects of Microsoft's indispensable tools to keep Asahi Kasei Pharma’s operations running efficiently.

Avanade helps Asahi Kasei Pharma with “Avanade Flexible Support” to transform its operations through citizen development

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