With Microsoft Teams Phone, 3,300+ stores of Migros Türkiye are more connected than ever

Migros Türkiye, a leading supermarket chain in Türkiye, provides unique shopping experiences to customers across Türkiye with its ecosystem of 70,000 employees, 23,500 farmers and suppliers, and over 3,300 supermarkets and online channels. Migros Türkiye provides products and services with a focus on "value-oriented service in every aspect of life" and delivering safe and sustainable food by complying with standards set by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

But managing this complex network comes with its own challenges. “With so many stores, communicating between store employees, administrative departments, and distribution centers was not easy,” recalls Murat Zobu, System and Cloud Infrastructure Group Manager at Migros Türkiye. “It would often be hard to reach the right person.” The situation also hindered Migros Türkiye’s efficiency in training employees, which is required to ensure consistent service. “Due to our rapid growth, delivering training materials in-person or via email became impossible,” adds Zobu.

A move to digital efficiency

Thankfully, Migros Türkiye was ahead of the curve. It started implementing Microsoft Teams and Teams Phone right in time for the COVID-19 pandemic, getting employees ready for remote work. “We entered the pandemic prepared as administrative units, while other companies were caught a little by surprise,” notes Zobu. It started with a pilot in 10 stores to assess the platform’s effectiveness in maintaining quality standards. The pilot was conducted with the help of a committee representing different departments, such as sales, technical, and frontline employees. “Once we saw how the pilot results brought very meaningful change for Migros Türkiye, we moved ahead with full company adoption of Microsoft Teams,” recalls Zobu.

Migros Türkiye introduced Teams to 6,300 users and integrated 4,400 telephony devices. This enabled the retailer to eliminate physical and wireless phones in large areas like warehouses, aiding operations and cost savings.

Over 1,000 physical desk phones were removed from the main administrative offices and deployed in new stores, saving the company money on equipment. “We still have email as a communication channel, but for more urgent queries or issues, frontline staff can quickly call colleagues via Teams,” Zobu explains. Employees can now communicate from anywhere in the store using various devices.

With Teams, Migros Türkiye redesigned human resources processes for greater efficiency, with the ability to communicate and disseminate important updates anytime, anywhere. "Before, whenever we needed live broadcasts for announcements and celebrations, we would hire a company to set everything up. Now, we do everything in Teams ourselves," Zobu explains. “Teams equipped us with a single central platform, making company-wide communication more straightforward and effective.”

More efficiency, security, and visibility

Financially, Migros Türkiye’s move to Teams Phone was a frugal decision. "We saw about 30% cost saving by eliminating the need for on-premises hardware and reducing device maintenance costs," Zobu mentions. “Moreover, Teams directly contributed to frontline employee’s productivity gains, with a reported 15% time saving on routine tasks.” Migros Türkiye’s administrative staff also benefited from this shift through the ability to manage domestic and international calls via Teams. Additionally, Teams' online file editing features streamlined Migros Türkiye’s data management. “We always collect a lot of data from stores. Before, we would do that in spreadsheets, one by one, resulting in errors. Now, everything is collected and reported digitally,” notes Zobu.

To enhance data security, Migros Türkiye aligned its policies and control measures through its use of Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) multi-factor authentication (MFA) with Teams. “Instead of using non-corporate platforms like WhatsApp, where information security policies cannot be applied, we have tighter corporate control and security policies with Teams,” adds Zobu.

This shift to one platform also brought significant improvements in education and role-based standardization. “With the spread of Teams, the training process was redesigned and used effectively through online platforms,” notes Zobu. Migros Türkiye has seen a 20 percent improvement in its education budget since it started deploying training through Teams.

Building towards a smarter retail future

The migration has changed the game for Migros Türkiye’s entire staff, especially store managers. “With the widespread adoption of Teams, store managers now enjoy greater convenience in communication and more efficient process management. By integrating both email and Teams platforms on their phones, they can manage remotely, too,” shares Zobu.

Migros Türkiye executives have also stood out as one of the biggest champions of migration. “Our management is very satisfied,” adds Zobu. Looking ahead, Migros Türkiye continues to innovate. "Microsoft is a very valuable business partner to us, and we have already begun exploring artificial intelligence (AI) applications through Azure," Zobu states. “Now, we are focused on implementing Microsoft 365 Co-pilot. Every Turkish lira we save is invested. Every move we make, even on infrastructure, should create value for our customers.”