Talksure’s procurement office saves over 18 hours a week with Autopilot for Microsoft Teams

Based in Umhlanga, South Africa, Talksure delivers high-quality business process outsourcing solutions for leading corporations. As a licensed financial services provider, Talksure offers tailored broker and intermediary solutions for various insurers, covering personal, short-term, long-term, and medical gap insurance products.

An inflexible ERP system creates procurement headaches

After implementing a new ERP system, Talksure encountered several issues with its procurement module. The existing workflow did not accommodate the necessary approval steps, leading to frequent manual interventions and rework. This resulted in delays, inefficiencies, and user frustration. Additionally, the procurement form was not user-friendly for non-finance personnel, contributing to frequent errors. The system also required costly licenses for users who only needed to request or approve purchases.

Talksure reached out to long-time Microsoft partner Autopilot Workflow Solutions. Upon assessment, the Autopilot team realized Greenlight Solutions would be the ideal partner to handle the project. Greenlight has vast experience with financial systems integration as well as Autopilot and the Microsoft ecosystem, including Microsoft Teams, Power Automate, and SharePoint.

Streamlining procurement processes with Autopilot and Microsoft Teams

Autopilot identified Talksure’s requirements and desired outcomes, then deployed Autopilot Workflows. Available in Microsoft AppSource, Autopilot Workflows works directly in Teams with automation that support business productivity and drive collaboration.

"We primarily communicate through Teams, so being able to interact with the system there has significantly improved our convenience," said Kathryn Schuster, Head of Finance at Talksure.

Talksure appreciated Autopilot’s flexibility and the customization options that aligned with the procurement department's preferred workflow. One notable feature allows users to send approvals at any point in the process without needing to cancel the transaction. Previously, employees had to communicate requested changes via email or phone and manually adjust forms, often resulting in delays. Autopilot also integrates directly with Talksure’s ERP system, utilizing Microsoft Power Automate to automatically generate approved purchase orders and send them as PDFs to requesters.

"The Autopilot solution not only met but exceeded our expectations," Schuster stated. "What was once a rigid and time-consuming process is now streamlined and efficient. The implementation was impressively smooth, and users have adapted quickly, thanks to Autopilot’s user-friendly design and integration with Microsoft Teams.”

Saving more than 18 hours of work a week with Autopilot

Autopilot has provided Talksure with increased flexibility, higher user satisfaction, improved reporting, and significant time savings. "The more user-friendly tool, flexible enough to align with our business needs, has led to considerable time savings for our team," Schuster noted.

After implementing Autopilot, Talksure achieved significant time savings in its procurement process. The redesigned workflow in Microsoft Teams has streamlined several key areas:

• Capture process: By simplifying the procurement form and integrating it directly into Teams, Talksure saved an average of three minutes per request. This eliminated the need for users to log in to a separate system, making the process more efficient.

• Approval process: The integration also facilitated approvals, with users saving five minutes per approval. Since approvals can now be processed directly in Teams and via mobile devices, the added flexibility further enhances productivity. With an average of three approvals required per request, this results in 15 minutes saved per request during the approval stage alone.

• Overall procurement efficiency: In addition to capture and approval time savings, the streamlined workflow reduced rework and manual follow-ups, adding another three minutes saved per request.

By combining these efficiencies, Talksure estimates savings of 21 minutes per request. With an average of 53 requests per week during the initial implementation period, this equates to an impressive approximately 18.5 hours saved weekly.

The ease of implementing Autopilot and the immediate benefits it provides have made Talksure eager to expand its use of Autopilot to other processes across the organization.

"It was a fantastic experience," Schuster said. "It was very simple. They communicated well and delivered exactly what they said they would when they said they were going to deliver. I can't ask for better than that."