Swiss Paraplegic Centre – Working with Microsoft to usher in the digital workplace, with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online

Like so many other clinics, the Swiss Paraplegic Centre had become bogged down in protracted and bureaucratic internal work processes. These processes devoured a lot of time that was then no longer available for patient care. In 2020, the Centre therefore resolved to press ahead in digitalizing the clinic’s workplaces. The result? A year later, the SPC’s IT department collaborated with Microsoft to launch the Modern Workplace project with the aim of accelerating work processes and making them more efficient. To begin with, Microsoft Teams was introduced, Microsoft Exchange mailboxes across the entire Swiss Paraplegic Group were migrated and a new intranet was set up in the cloud based on Microsoft SharePoint Online. Microsoft Power Platform was deployed to optimize, standardize and digitalize a large number of administrative processes. Effective support for day-to-day workflows and the removal of bureaucratic obstacles significantly improved satisfaction levels throughout the workforce.

“We want to advance the modern workplace with the aid of Microsoft and use digital solutions that simplify administrative processes and give us more time to devote to our patients: These are the goals we are pursuing day in, day out.”

Dominik Brand, Business Engineer Microsoft 365, SPC

SPC pioneering the “digital clinic” in Switzerland

Opened in 1990 by Dr. Guido A. Zäch, the SPC today employs more than 1,500 people. The specialist clinic for spinal cord, back and respiratory care is part of the Swiss Paraplegic Group (SPG), which spans an integrated network of holistic rehabilitation care for paraplegics. The network is backed by the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation. Some 1,600 in-patients are treated at the SPC every year. The Centre’s aim is to digitalize work processes and make them more efficient, leaving staff more time and resources to devote to the care of their patients. Implementing solutions from Microsoft has proven to be the digital key that unlocks this objective.

The challenge of the modern workplace

The roughly 2,000 employees of the Swiss Paraplegic Group are supported by the 40-strong SPC Informatics team, the Group’s ICT service provider. A subset of this unit is the three-person Collaboration team, which shares responsibility for implementing the modern workplace. “We are a small but extremely dynamic group,” says Dominik Brand, Business Engineer Microsoft 365 at the SPC. “The Microsoft products are so simple to use that it is easy for us to successfully set up a digital workplace even as a small team.” Brand launched “Apps and Processes” as a greenfield subproject in January 2022. The goal was clearly staked out, and the way to get there was in his hands.

Brand quickly opted for Microsoft as the Centre’s sparring partner: “We value the tools’ ease of use and the connectivity options provided by Microsoft products.” Data security was another area where Microsoft had the optimal solution: Especially in healthcare, it is critical to ensure the absolute safety of sensitive data. Accordingly, all data is stored on Tenants in Zurich and Geneva – i.e. within the borders of Switzerland. The only exception is highly sensitive patient data, which has been kept on site at the SPC’s in-house data center in Nottwil.

The Modern Workplace project was split into three stages:

Replacing Microsoft SharePoint On-Premises with the cloud-based Microsoft SharePoint Online solution, including a complete redesign of the Group-wide intranet.
Rolling out Microsoft Teams across the entire Group and migrating the data from Microsoft SharePoint On-Premises to Microsoft SharePoint Online.
Digitalizing and simplifying administrative processes with Microsoft tools.

“We do all the work of digitalizing processes ourselves,” Brand notes. “We harness the capabilities of the Microsoft Power Platform, use Power Apps to digitalize work processes, and train the staff to use them.” Employees also have remote access to all Microsoft tools via their corporate smartphones.

“We are often asked whether we want digitalization to reduce our headcount. On the contrary: Our aim is to give our people time for more important tasks – especially caring for our patients. Microsoft helps us achieve this goal.”

Dominik Brand, Business Engineer Microsoft 365, SPC

Getting the staff on board

Right from the word go, the IT team engaged closely with SPC employees to determine where work processes can sensibly be digitalized and optimized. There was no shortage of ideas: The catering service wanted a digital solution to replace the hassle of using e-mail for orders, reservations and cancellations. Similarly, the ParaForum visitors’ center found that using e-mail and Outlook to book rooms at the clinic was too cumbersome. The biggest challenge, however, was encountered in HR, whose processes (such as vacation applications, applications for training courses, changes in the assignment of workloads) and everyday reports suffered badly from inefficient workflows that were anything but transparent. Paper documents had to be scanned and then forwarded to the relevant superior, who had to review and sign off on them. It is fair to say that there was plenty of room for improvement in this area.

Revolutionizing HR processes

The solution was to use Power Apps to establish what is known as an online HR Desk – a dashboard to which all staff have access. Together with the HR department, the IT team drafted a roadmap specifying which applications were to be prioritized for digitalization and modeling on the dashboard. So far, 12 HR processes have been digitalized and simplified. While getting applications submitted and approved used to require a long, drawn-out process of coordination, all it takes on the new platform is a mouse-click – at any time and from any place. Employees can scan applications for training courses, sick notes and vacation applications or use a QR code to upload them directly via their corporate smartphone. Each individual is guided step by step through each process, retaining a transparent overview of the status of their application at all times. The time saved is invested in other projects, which is not the only reason why the staff have already developed a deep appreciation of the HR Desk.

Digitalization on every level

Since January 2022, a total of 14 applications have been developed and established in collaboration with the workforce. Ideas are queued in a backlog that the IT team then works through. For the catering service, for example, Microsoft’s Power Apps was used to create a digital shop that is linked directly to the relevant cost centers and via which all services can be processed. At the ParaForum visitors’ center, too, rooms can now be booked via an app, making the use of e-mails and Outlook calendars a thing of the past. The SPC intranet has been migrated to SharePoint Online and given a new structure that now centers around topics rather than organizational parameters. Tests were carried out and surveys conducted in advance with the aid of an external partner, allowing the IT team to find out from the staff what form of navigation works best for the Centre’s employees. People can now find their way through the menu much more intuitively, and new recruits can be onboarded more easily as they can quickly find exactly the topics they are looking for on the intranet.

“Microsoft products are so intuitive to use that we have no trouble involving the workforce in implementing our digitalization strategy.”

Dominik Brand, Business Engineer Microsoft 365, SPC

Setting its sights even higher

“We are pleased that Microsoft will stay with us as a sparring partner in the future and help us continue to develop the modern workplace,” Brand says. By the end of 2023, the SPC will have completed the migration of all employees to Microsoft Teams. “That then lets us use even more tools on the Microsoft platform and gradually get the staff accustomed to them. We also want to continue digitalizing administrative processes, such as those in the Finance department or in Controlling.” For the purposes of internal communication and workshops dealing with “modern work” issues, an external learning partner is supporting the team. The bottom line? The Swiss Paraplegic Group is looking in good shape for the digital future.