RSM UK ignites innovation with Power Platform to support its people and clients

Changing consumer and client expectations about access to real-time information in our everyday lives has changed people’s expectations across the board. Business-to-business and professional services firms must meet this desire for a higher level of information, analytics, and insights.

Alex Roche, Data Analytics Manager at RSM, explains, “It used to be that clients would expect a six-monthly report with a set of recommendations which they would take away and action. We’d see them again six months later. Today, we’re in a different place. Clients expect information in real time, presented in a dashboard through which they can delve into every aspect of the data. We need to be at the forefront of that trend.” 

Staying current with—and exceeding—rapidly changing client expectations

“The professional services industry is at an exciting point,” emphasises Chris Knowles, Chief Digital Officer at RSM. “Our clients expect compelling, interactive services. To become this type of ‘digital first’ organisation, we’ve identified five digital mindsets that will help us get there.”

These five mindsets are: data driven, interactive, knowledge-centric, human-centric, and future smart. To achieve this transformation, RSM chose to partner with Microsoft, adopting Microsoft Power Platform to enable its ambitions.

Max Everest, Data Analytics Director at RSM, explains, “Power Platform was the right product in the right space and could be leveraged with other elements of our infrastructure really well.” 

The cadence of adoption 

For RSM, Power Platform adoption had three distinct phases. The first early stages were characterised by an experimental adoption of Microsoft Power Platform, largely centred on Power BI. The second stage was driven by the urgent need to respond to the work-from-home conditions created during the COVID-19 pandemic. This accelerated the adoption of many tools, especially Power Apps, for example, to enable remote desk booking.

Today, the business is enjoying a third phase of adoption in which the business is embracing becoming a “digital first” business through extended use of Power Platform to empower its people and clients and to enable citizen developers to automate data flows across multiple parts of the business.  

Chris Knowles says, “In professional services you’ve always got to focus on the client perception of your brand and services. The tools you use speak volumes for the type of service provider that you are. The Microsoft 365 productivity tools are at the heart of how we work as a services business and Power Platform is a key part of our digital vision.”  

An early foray into Power BI 

“We began looking at Power BI as part of our adoption of Microsoft Dynamics CRM,” recalls Max Everest. “It was one of our first forays into a cloud-based application that would deliver value to the business. It was a real eye opener as to the possibilities of what we could do.” 

Initially, Power BI innovation focused on back-office functions, including finance and marketing. “That was probably reflective of our business at the time,” admits Max Everest. “It was a centralised deployment. As a central team, we controlled the licencing, the data pipelines, the deployment.” 

One early success was a Power BI dashboard which the team developed to display KPIs, pipelines and profitability in an easy-to-digest format for senior leaders. It showcased what was happening in Dynamics 365 Sales in a snapshot. By drawing on a very large dataset, it provided information that the business didn’t have access to previously and began to drive engagement and adoption of Power BI dashboards. 

As it was rolled out more widely, Power BI was welcomed by an appreciative group of staff and partners at RSM, with a thirst for real-time information about key aspects of business performance such as staff attrition and pipeline. Alex Roche explains, “Power BI really speaks to our users because accountants are typically analytically focused. People took to Power BI really well.” 

Changes wrought by the pandemic 

RSM’s adoption of Power Platform reached new levels during the pandemic. To meet the extraordinary challenges, the RSM central IT team developed a number of Power Apps very quickly. This included an asset tracker app to enable staff working remotely to access the hardware they needed to work effectively from home. An internal “track and trace” app and a desk booking app were also developed and rolled out quickly and successfully.  

RSM estimates that the workspace booking app alone saved the business more than 20,000 hours of admin time, equating to over £400k of value over 28 months of use.  

“That Power Platform landscape was already there for us,” explains Max Everest, “so we could use the existing low-code platform to deliver something in just a few weeks. It really was just a few days to initial value.” 

“It was a great example for me of where Power Platform and Power Apps in particular is brilliant,” he continues. “Asset tracking used to be done in a spreadsheet. With a Power App, we could centralise information coming from all 31 offices. It was consistent, high-quality, and user-friendly, tailored around our questions. We went on to develop it further to add health and safety questions around the use of equipment. We went from quite small audiences to 1,500 people using it. That was possible because we could host the database in Microsoft Azure and have all of Microsoft’s security and scalability. We had the capability in real time to ramp up the capacity and deliver. That’s the sweet spot.” 

Entering a new world of work 

When RSM emerged from the challenges of the pandemic, the central IT teams had gained valuable experience in scaling up the use of Power Platform and users across the business had been exposed to a wider range of digital technologies. 

Max Everest reflects, “When I think of how our use of these technologies has evolved, it was really good for our developers to build these apps to support our team members. We learnt a lot of lessons about how to build. And people could see that the apps would support them, so they felt safe and secure in a period of change.” 

The team’s peace of mind was further strengthened by the tight integration across RSM’s Microsoft platforms. “The fact that Power Platform is integrated with our Azure Data Lake and Azure Active Directory made our journey easier. We could ensure our policies and control quickly in a way that made it a true low-code and low-cost solution.”

Driving towards full-scale adoption 

In 2021, RSM established a centre of excellence for its Power Platform programmes. Headed by Alex Roche, this team lends support to business users, promotes best practice, and supports with capacity building. Individual service lines are supported through their adoption of Power Platform, although different service lines are at different maturities on their journey.  

RSM supports different approaches to Power App development. Every app comes through the central team initially for sense checking and review. More complex requirements, requiring additional security or data connectivity, for example, can be developed by the central team.  

“One of the larger projects we’re working on at the moment is our Gifts and Hospitality App, which tracks spend on client and supplier entertaining,” reports Alex Roche. “This spend used to be tracked by individuals locally, then reported on in retrospect. The new app will enable us to track this closer to real time. This will strengthen our auditory and regulatory position. It brings information needed to approve or decline entertainment requests into one place. At the same time, people in the business will be able to track their spend and the compliance team has a general overview.” 

“Its development has been really fast for an app that’s going to be used across the business,” he adds. “From initial inception to a minimum viable product plus (MVP+) it’s been a couple of months. We can now turn things out very quickly and Power Platform has enabled that.” 

Delivering value throughout the business 

Still other innovations are developed by Power Platform experts within the different service lines.  

“Our Tax team has used Power Apps and Power Automate to fulfil a business requirement to improve client communications,” reports Max Everest. “A third-party app wasn’t meeting the business requirements. They wanted to go beyond the boilerplate emails it offered. They wanted to provide premium, focused, and contextual information to clients in their personalised updates. They had previously experimented with mail merge but it didn’t give the premium feel and delivery the business wanted.” 

“The team identified the data they needed and developed the Private Client Services Automation Wizard Power App, drawing on Power Automate, to deliver that data-rich communication for clients. We could advise on information availability, governance, information security, data latency—but the team defined the requirements and built the app.” 

RSM estimates the PCS App has already saved the business around 2,000 hours. 

Growing expertise throughout the business 

“The Tax team are, perhaps, one of our most digitally ambitious teams,” says Max Everest. “They are a great example of how developing an internal process has driven improvement and revenue. They’ve not shied away from the journey and applying it to grow their digital capabilities and ambitions.” 

This success and enthusiasm is building throughout the business. Chris Knowles says, “We have now deployed dozens of Power Apps throughout the organisation and they are significantly enhancing internal productivity.” 

Interestingly, even where the business does not continue to use a developed Power App, the learning along the way is invaluable for making subsequent technology decisions, says Max Everest: “When we looked for a commercial workspace booking app, we had a sanity check on the commercial discussions and a very clear understanding of our requirements thanks to the app we had developed through COVID. We had effectively been through an 18-month feedback and response session. There was no time pressure to make a decision. We knew how our App stacked up.” 

Ensuring a consistent branded experience for clients 

One groundbreaking innovation spearheaded by the RSM digital team was the articulation of clear brand guidelines for all RSM Power Platform output. 

Chris Knowles explains, “We recognised that the leading media brands have nailed data visualisation. They have very recognisable charting styles and data visualisation outputs that really support their brand strategy. To support our people to do the same, we built a data visualisation style guide in Power BI.” 

“It’s a terrific way of using Power Platform—not just to build the chart outputs but to include all the guidance notes and educate our people on how to use it,” he continues. “You can click through all the different bookmarks to see how the different charts tell different stories in a brand-consistent way. It’s a game changer in terms of the quality of our data outputs.” 

Nurturing digital talent is crucial  

“One of the real benefits of choosing Microsoft Power Platform as our low-code platform is the range of training materials out there. There is a real benefit to having the industry standard; the best,” states Max Everest.  

This is another key element of RSM’s digital first strategy, as Chris Knowles explains: “As well as recognising what our clients want, we also need our people to flourish in their careers. This means augmenting traditional skillsets with more explicit digital skills and data literacy. Our fifth mindset is focused on embedding digital learning in our business and digital skills in our people.” 

“This is the way our industry is headed and leading helps us not only to win new business but also to attract the best talent.” 

Leaning into Microsoft resources 

As well as leaning into Microsoft training and certification resources, RSM has embraced the support available through its Unified Support contract with Microsoft and Customer Success Account Manager. 

“Working closely with Microsoft and having access to the kinds of resources we have access to through our Unified Support contract is another benefit,” adds Max Everest. “We have the same high-quality level of support whenever we need something, whatever our question—from low-level licencing or technical questions, through ideas about how we can use Power BI to add value to clients, to the seismic piece around AI. It’s been a collaborative approach—there’s never been a ‘no’ or silence. We can listen to the business, take that to Microsoft and they will offer a technology perspective.” 

This approach to horizon scanning and business-led innovation also offers opportunities for clients. Max Everest continues, “We have clients who have similar questions. We know how these tools work. They want to be involved in it.” 

AI is the new frontier of innovation 

RSM is keen to widen its digitalisation initiatives to explore new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and connecting to large language models (LLMs), especially those it is exploring in conjunction with Microsoft, such as Microsoft Copilot and ML.net. 

RSM recognises that getting the data architecture right is a necessary first step. Chris Knowles advises, “AI will be hugely important to our industry. That’s why we’re putting the building blocks in place now to become a data-driven business, address data silos and understand our datasets. Microsoft has been a very important partner in these efforts. If you don’t have well curated data, you will struggle with AI.” 

Already, RSM is reaping early rewards. “Across professional services, people are reaching for the advantage of AI and LLMs,” says Max Everest. “We’re already benefitting from Microsoft AI tools for code generation. It’s good for suggesting ideas and we can iterate from there. I can also see how the AI-powered user-interface suggestions in Power Apps will be something that aids its wider business adoption.” 

A developing business culture 

“It’s great that we are no longer driving adoption. People are coming to us,” states Alex Roche. “We have a digital mindset; RSM is a ‘digital first’ organisation. Everyone is contributing to and reinforcing that progress.” 

“We’re already seeing the benefits of our transformation coming through,” agrees Chris Knowles. “We must be able to demonstrate these skills to win business these days. Plus, they enable us to create extra added value for our clients. For example, in a recent bid for a VAT project, we were able to explain how our cloud Azure Data Lake could be used to analyse the client’s transactional data in order to identify opportunities to refine their business structure. That kind of analysis isn’t possible without the right data management and analytics tools.” 

Max Everest agrees, “As a data team, we’re always looking for opportunities to deliver better insights quickly and now this culture is beginning to build across the business. We’ve turbocharged our digital community and digital adoption at RSM. That has meant engaging teams across the business. It’s been like taking a lid off a fizzy bottle and watching it explode.” 

“The adoption of Power Apps might not have felt as natural to our users as Power BI felt to them,” adds Alex Roche. “They had a natural affinity for data. But once you have taken them through the looking glass and shown them the art of the possible, the sky is the limit.”