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July 01, 2024

AI at the helm: How Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s adoption of Viva and Copilot is shaping its future

Wallenius Wilhelmsen is harnessing the power of AI technology to modernize its workplace and align operations with its objectives. By implementing Copilot for Microsoft 365, and using Microsoft Viva to drive sustainable adoption, the company is streamlining processes, empowering better decision making, and cultivating a culture of innovation and inclusion. This tech-driven transformation is breaking down barriers, promoting learning, and positioning Wallenius Wilhelmsen as a company that’s committed to finding innovative solutions that align with its strategic goals.

Wilh Wilhelmsen ASA

“Viva and Copilot are inspirations for our employees so that we can be really good at not only doing small iterative changes in the technology area but actually taking the big leap.”

Gro Rognstad, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Wallenius Wilhelmsen

Betting on AI tech and culture for success

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Wallenius Wilhelmsen is at a pivotal moment, making decisions with far-reaching impact, and it’s banking on technology and refining its workplace culture to help it reach its goals. As a global leader in six continents in “roll-on/roll-off” shipping and vehicle logistics, the company employs 9,500 people across 28 countries. Known for its forward-thinking approach, one of Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s central tenets is integrating technology into its business strategy to improve efficiency and support sustainability. 

Wallenius Wilhelmsen works with various, often uncommunicative legacy systems across its numerous business units, hindering productivity and data-driven decision making. The company realized that the path forward involved a major tech overhaul, replacing these outdated and unconnected systems with new, cutting-edge solution, ensuring all employees could benefit from this new technology. "Twenty years ago, we made some really good decisions about building new systems, and now we have a similar opportunity with AI and other technologies," says Gro Rognstad, Chief Technology and Information Officer. “We need to make the right decisions again, and we're not focused on the next few years or quarters—we're building for the next generations.”

Trailblazing Copilot adoption with Viva; a people-centered approach

Wallenius Wilhelmsen prioritizes employee wellbeing and safety, recognizing the importance of accessible, modern technology for all staff. "We want to leverage new technologies to streamline our processes, platforms, and data, enabling data-driven decisions," explains Mitty Leong, End User Experience Manager. "We need intelligent systems that work better for our employees."

To unify the company and showcase its commitment to technological advancement, Wallenius Wilhelmsen adopted Microsoft Viva and Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. "Our vision is that employees should be surrounded by technology but not burdened by it," says Leong. "Technology should be a trustworthy, reliable, seamless, and integrated part of every employee's daily job."

The company embraced an innovative approach to rolling out Copilot with the help of Viva. The company began by participating in the Copilot for Microsoft 365 Early Access Program, dedicating a month to rigorous security evaluations and strategizing user recruitment. Recognizing the importance of leadership buy-in, the company issued a portion of its licenses to senior leaders right away, ensuring they could model the benefits of Copilot. The remaining licenses were distributed through an engaging internal campaign and competition, where employees eagerly submitted applications showcasing their vision for using Copilot to streamline workflows and increase productivity. This thoughtful rollout strategy resulted in widespread adoption and excitement for this transformative tool. “We maintained a waitlist for people not initially in the program who showed interest in Copilot,” explains Leong. “If we want to lead with technology, we want our leaders to lead by example.”

“We launched a seven-week communications campaign through Viva Amplify to strengthen the awareness of how to use Copilot. After that campaign, usage picked up to 80%.”

Mitty Leong, End User Experience Manager, Wallenius Wilhelmsen

Using Viva to for a sustainable Copilot rollout

Recognizing that successful technology adoption depends on clear communication, ongoing learning, and responsive support, Wallenius Wilhelmsen took advantage of the multifaceted apps of Viva. These tools have been key in shaping a transparent company strategy and customizing the company's adoption process to maximize employee benefits from technology investments. The company employed Viva campaign tools after the winter holiday break to run a campaign highlighting how Copilot can help declutter work and streamline tasks. “At first, we saw a fantastic adoption rate—80% to 90% active usage—but then it dipped after the winter holiday break. We launched a seven-week communications campaign through Viva Amplify to strengthen the awareness of how to use Copilot,” explains Leong. “After that campaign, usage picked up to 80%.” Employees were then given access to a wealth of Copilot training resources, making it easy to get up to speed and use Copilot confidently in their day-to-day work. Wallenius Wilhelmsen organized training sessions across different time zones to accommodate the global team, with the IT department playing a crucial role in facilitating these sessions and ensuring the tool was enmeshed in daily operations.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen uses Viva Goals to monitor progress and key results aligned with its Copilot objectives in its IT strategy. "Viva Goals helps us achieve transparency about our overall strategy and its implementation across different business units," says Leong. The company also utilizes Copilot Dashboard to manage Copilot usage and gather user feedback. "We've established OKRs [objectives and key results] for Copilot and use Viva Insights to monitor adoption rates, understand user benefits, and refine training and support to meet our workforce's evolving needs," Leong explains. 

And because the company believes that open dialogue is critical to any technology rollout, its plan is to empower employees to share ideas and feedback directly through Viva Engage. This goal of this digital community is to create a space for honest conversation about the Copilot experience, allowing the company to make real-time adjustments and improvements. “We are trying to work less in silos and more together across the company,” says Hvatum. “Coming together in Viva Engage will actually fast-track that process.” By weaving Viva and Copilot together in this way, the company is creating a more human-centric approach to technology adoption, putting employees at the heart of its digital transformation.

Copilot in action: Breaking down silos with integrated digital platforms

The introduction of Viva and Copilot has been pivotal for Martin Hvatum’s treasury group. “Working in Treasury is all about time management and prioritizing the day-to-day running of the treasury tasks,” says Hvatum, Senior Global Cash Manager, whose team supports $5 billion in annual revenue while managing relationships with more than 35 banks. Since 2021, the treasury team has transformed into a cohesive global unit, overcoming geographical divides that previously separated team members in Oslo, the United States, and Seoul, South Korea. This integration was facilitated by adopting a single organizational structure and a unified workspace. “Bringing in Viva and Copilot accelerates the way we can use our workspace and the documents we have on a shared platform,” says Hvatum. These tools support dynamic interaction within shared documents, fostering a learning environment where team members are encouraged to ask questions and engage directly with content. 

“With Copilot Dashboard and Viva Insights, we see that after each week’s communications and sessions about Copilot, usage rises the following week.”

Martin Hvatum, Senior Global Cash Manager, Wallenius Wilhelmsen

Additionally, the team has documented all essential standard operating procedures (SOPs)—totaling about 35—that are managed through Viva, with the use of Copilot. “Prompting questions in Copilot and creating executive summaries of those SOPs is very helpful, says Hvatum. He also uses Copilot in drafting emails and designing PowerPoint presentations to help streamline email and strengthen presentations. “Copilot is helping us be more proactive,” he says. “Being able to send out a meeting summary to my team and project members instantly after a meeting is the most concrete and best enhancement I’ve had from using Copilot.” Hvatum also credits Copilot with strengthening his leadership skills. It provides clear insights into his team and company’s direction, so he can communicate more effectively. “Copilot has helped save us at least 30 minutes per day,” he explains. “But it also changes the way we think and work while keeping us curious and open to embracing opportunities. I think that is the sort of benefit that is not so measurable, but important. So my time management and structured approach to my everyday work life has been enhanced with Copilot and Viva," Hvatum adds.

Copilot not only saves time; it augments the quality of both external and internal communications. “With the help of Copilot Dashboard, we see that the top three most loved and frequently used features are to summarize Microsoft Teams meetings, summarize Outlook emails, and draft Word documents,” says Leong. “Copilot is helping our users to be more focused and efficient in Teams meetings because they don’t need to worry about taking notes anymore.” She also discusses the ongoing efforts to maintain engagement and effectively implement Copilot by keeping users informed and enthusiastic through continuous communication and support. “Viva applications are really valuable to us, helping us break down the silos in the organization,” Leong says.

Full steam ahead: Driving business growth with thoughtful AI adoption

Introducing Viva and Copilot into its workplace serves as a prime example of how Wallenius Wilhelmsen is shaping technology to improve its employees’ wellbeing, boost productivity, and increase job satisfaction. By incorporating Copilot into its processes and using Viva to teach, communicate, collaborate, and measure, Wallenius Wilhelmsen is demonstrating the potential of adopting innovative tech like this. “Copilot is not just a tool for efficiency gain; it’s also an inspiration to showcase to the organization that we can shape the future with technology across all our business areas,” says Leong. “We want to cultivate a growth mindset culture, and the adoption of Copilot in the workplace requires that,” she continues. “You need to embrace the idea of being friends with AI and not being afraid of it.”

“We want to cultivate a growth mindset culture, and the adoption of Copilot in the workplace requires that. You need to embrace the idea of being friends with AI and not being afraid of it.”

Mitty Leong, End User Experience Manager, Wallenius Wilhelmsen

Following the early success of Copilot, plans are underway to present a detailed expansion roadmap to the Wallenius Wilhelmsen executive team to secure further sponsorship and budget. This expansion is supported by the merging of Viva into various functions, including piloting Viva Learning with Workday, rolling out Viva Insights for personal productivity, and implementing advanced analytics for Human Resources. The impact of these tools on business performance, employee satisfaction, and wellbeing will be continuously evaluated to refine and optimize adoption strategies. This strategy aims to use AI and digital solutions further, streamlining business processes, improving data integration, and advancing intelligent, data-driven decision making across the organization. “Viva and Copilot are inspirations for our employees so that we can be really good at not only doing small iterative changes in the technology area but actually taking the big leap,” says Rognstad. “Wallenius Wilhelmsen is a leader in this industry, and we are going to continue being the leader, and to be able to do that, we have to embrace the technology and the possibilities. It’s similar to when the internet came, when smartphones came. You have to step in, embrace it, and use it or else you will become irrelevant,” she concludes.

Discover more about Wallenius Wilhelmsen on FacebookInstagramLinkedInX/Twitter, and YouTube.

“We are trying to work less in silos and more together across the company. Coming together in Viva Engage will actually fast track that process.”

Martin Hvatum, Senior Global Cash Manager, Wallenius Wilhelmsen

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