{"id":99186,"date":"2021-07-15T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-14T19:30:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T02:30:51","slug":"supporting-our-customers-and-partners-as-they-return-to-the-workplace-one-year-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/2021\/07\/15\/supporting-our-customers-and-partners-as-they-return-to-the-workplace-one-year-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting our customers and partners as they return to the workplace\u2014one year later"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year ago, as we were holding our first all-digital event for our partner community, we introduced the Microsoft Power Platform Return to the Workplace solution template<\/a> to help our customers safely prepare and manage the return to physical workspaces as they supported their employees whilst navigating the challenging, changing, and unique circumstances brought on by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\"Return<\/p>\n

From helping essential personnel be on site safely, to a hybrid work approach, and to fully reopening where it is safe to do so, we have seen continued momentum and evolution of the Return to the Workplace solution template. As some regions start to lift COVID-related restrictions, we are continuing to see significant growth in usage, with now more than 1,200 customers across more than 50 countries using the solution template regularly.<\/p>\n

Also, since the solution template is built using Microsoft Power Platform, customers can easily modify it to ensure they\u2019re following all local regulations, adapting to their organizational policies, and tailoring the solution template to provide a unique experience for their employees, partners, and customers.<\/p>\n

We have seen organizations of all sizes and from all industries leverage the solution template either independently or collectively. A consortium<\/a> of Canada\u2019s largest organizations, including Air Canada and Loblaw Companies Limited, led by Microsoft partner Creative Destruction Labs, offered an agile, scalable, and secure solution template that helps Canadian organizations get back to work safely. They customized the solution template to also offer rapid COVID-19 screening in the workplace. The LA Unified School District<\/a>, which provides education services to more than half a million students across 1,400 schools with 75,000 employees, has used Microsoft Power Platform to plan for their reopening, providing real-time access to data and analytics to make informed decisions.<\/p>\n

More than 100 Microsoft partners<\/a> have extended the solution template with their own unique expertise, with many of them adding industry-specific capabilities. As a result, our customers have seen the benefit of a capable and broad partner ecosystem with tailored IP offerings and services to help them adapt and scale quickly. For example, BuildingMinds<\/a> offers a connector that allows customers to leverage their platform to create a 3D digital twin of their facility, bringing in occupancy data from IoT sensors for streamlined intelligent data-driven building management. And Teknikos Inc<\/a> extended the solution template to offer customers a self-serve kiosk that scans QR codes to validate daily passes and uses built-in thermal cameras to check an individual\u2019s temperature, providing a touch-free office entry that is highly configurable.<\/p>\n

This low-code approach not only makes it easy for customers and partners to customize and extend the solution template, but also allows us to adopt an agile approach to build new Return to Workplace features quickly based on feedback. We continued to learn and adapt, and in the last year have shipped five product releases for the Return to the Workplace solution template with the enhancements needed as the pandemic evolved.<\/p>\n

Recently, as global vaccination campaigns have ramped up, many organizations have wanted to capture the vaccination status of their employees and guests to reopen safely. As part of the next product update, we will be adding enhancements that allow customers to capture vaccination attestation of their employees, including the opportunity to include vaccination dates, vaccination types, and upload copies of proof of vaccination.<\/p>\n

Lastly, we would like to thank our customers and partners for the support, feedback, and engagement over the past year as we have continuously refined and improved the Return to the Workplace solution template. We recognize that many of our customers and partners continue to face difficulties as the pandemic progresses and Microsoft is committed to continuing to innovate and support our customers as these unique needs evolve.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the Microsoft Return to the Workplace solution template and related content<\/h2>\n