Winning at the Curve: Navien drives AI-powered process excellence on Microsoft Azure

Navien faced fragmented data and inconsistent across its global business serving 47 countries, limiting visibility and slowing decisions. It needed a unified foundation to drive data and AI-powered operations at global scale.

Navien built a unified data, automation, and AI foundation on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Fabric, and Microsoft Power Platform, connecting fragmented systems to drive consistent, intelligent decision-making across its worldwide operations.

With AI agents and automation, Navien saved 28,000 hours annually, and 32.4% of staff use self-service analytics on Microsoft Fabric. The company expects to achieve over KRW 2.1 billion in TCO savings over 5 years by migrating to Microsoft Azure.

In a market where speed, data, and intelligence are reshaping how companies compete, manufacturers are under pressure to move faster while operating across increasingly complex, global environments. As businesses expand across regions and functions, data is spread across systems, processes vary by team, and too much work depends on coordination and manual effort.

At the same time, AI is beginning to change how decisions are made, compressing timelines and raising expectations for how quickly companies can respond. For many organizations, those conditions are difficult to reconcile. Fragmented data and inconsistent processes make it hard to move quickly and even harder to apply data and AI in a consistent, scalable way.

For Navien, a South Korea–based manufacturer of boilers, water heaters, and other living environment solutions, that challenge was playing out across a global business spanning 47 countries. Built on decades of engineering expertise and manufacturing scale, it had grown into a leader in high-efficiency condensing boilers and water heaters and a top exporter in its category. But as the business expanded, so did the complexity behind it, limiting visibility into operations and slowing decision-making.

Navien set out to rethink how it operates, focusing on connecting data, standardizing processes, and building a foundation that could support data- and AI-driven decision-making at scale.

Navien products

From process review to platform strategy

The company began by consolidating its systems onto a more unified platform. As it evaluated its options, the priority was not adding new tools, but creating an environment where data, processes, and AI could work together across the business. “When we reviewed our processes end-to-end, it became clear how much time we were spending on coordination and verification rather than value-creating work,” says JW Kang, Executive Vice President of Corporate Innovation at Navien. Chairman YH Sohn at Navien adds, “We concluded that AI-driven management innovation was the answer to closing this gap. And we selected Microsoft as the most suitable partner to bring this innovation to life.”

That process-mapping became the starting point for how the company approached adoption across the business. Rather than introducing new technology in isolation, Navien standardized hundreds of processes across functions, creating a shared baseline for how work should be done before layering in new systems.

“We concluded that AI-driven management innovation was the answer to closing this gap. And we selected Microsoft as the most suitable partner to bring this innovation to life.”

YH Sohn, Chairman, Navien

A unified foundation for global operations

The first step was building that foundation in the cloud. By moving key systems to Microsoft Azure, the company created a scalable environment to support its global operations while reducing the complexity of managing separate environments. That foundation also set the stage for how data and AI could be applied more broadly across the business. “We grew rapidly, but manufacturing competitiveness alone was no longer enough to sustain leadership,” says the Chairman. “Without a digital foundation aligned with our global ambitions, we could not move to the next stage. We saw the GenAI era as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close that gap.”

With its core systems in place, managing access across a growing global workforce became a priority. Navien uses Microsoft Entra ID to standardize how identity and access are managed across applications and systems, applying consistent policies globally while supporting security and compliance.

Attention then turned to data. Bringing together information from procurement, manufacturing, quality, and customer service into a usable structure became essential for day-to-day operations. Using Microsoft Fabric, Navien connects data across previously separate systems and organizes it into a consistent model that can be shared by teams.

At the same time, the company established a self-service business intelligence approach, referred to internally as “SelfBI,” giving business users more direct ownership of how data is accessed and used across functions. Through Microsoft Power BI, employees can build and explore dashboards themselves, shifting day-to-day reporting closer to the business and reducing reliance on centralized requests.

On top of that data layer, automation began to take shape across routine processes. With Microsoft Power Platform, business teams streamline workflows that previously required multiple handoffs, allowing processes to move more directly between teams and reducing delays across functions.

“Everything—our data platform, our AI platform, our automation—is built on Microsoft. That foundation is what makes it possible to reach the operation level we are aiming for.”

JW Kang, Executive VP of Corporate Innovation, Navien

AI put to work across the business

With data and processes more connected, AI is applied in functions where it delivers immediate value. Using Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft Copilot Studio, Navien is developing AI-driven capabilities tailored to specific roles and workflows. It’s also expanding the use of Microsoft 365 Copilot to support individual productivity across the business. In procurement, AI models analyze historical purchasing data, supplier performance, and market signals to identify cost reduction opportunities. That same ability to surface relevant information quickly extends to R&D and manufacturing, where teams search material, design, and production data using natural language to locate specifications or troubleshoot issues on the floor. Quality teams benefit similarly, surfacing historical issues and resolutions to improve response times and prevent repeat problems. Customer service has seen perhaps the most visible shift, with AI-powered systems handling a growing share of inquiries and freeing agents to focus on more complex interactions.

To support adoption at scale, Navien established a governance model that includes a data and AI Center of Excellence and a network of business-led champions. This structure helps standardize how data is defined and used across the organization while supporting teams as they adopt new tools and processes in their day-to-day work. “Everything—our data platform, our AI platform, our automation—is built on Microsoft, “Kang explains. “That foundation is what makes it possible to reach the operation level we are aiming for.”

From process redesign to business impact

Navien’s work is already translating into measurable business impact. Through an enterprise-wide redesign of 648 processes, the company identified 65 strategic initiatives tied to its operating priorities. Across procurement, manufacturing, quality, and customer service, it’s expanding AI agents, automation, and system modernization. “This is not simply about efficiency,” Kang says. “It’s about operating with the speed and consistency required at a global level.”

Process automation is already saving 12,760 hours annually, freeing employees to focus on higher-value work. Through Power BI, 538 of 1,659 employees (32.4%) are making data-driven decisions without IT support. Cloud migration is also well underway, with 38 of 40 systems now on Azure, including the successful migration of SAP. The remaining transition is on track for completion by 2026, reducing complexity and laying the infrastructure backbone for expanding AI and data operations at global scale. Over five years, that migration is expected to deliver approximately KRW 2.1 billion in total cost of ownership savings.

Looking ahead, Navien is targeting 280,000 hours of productivity gains over three years, equivalent to approximately 144 digital employees. AI-powered customer service is also expected to handle 10% of inquiries and deliver approximately 20% in labor cost savings.

AI expansion across the enterprise

AI adoption is also accelerating. Beyond its current deployment of AI agents across core business functions, Navien is advancing both enterprise AI capabilities and personal productivity tools. This effort is supported by a Data and AI Center of Excellence and a network of 28 business-led AI champions, who are driving education, adoption, and standardization across the organization.

At the same time, the company is extending AI into smart operations and predictive maintenance by leveraging IoT data from production lines. “Our goal is to establish a Cognitive AI foundation by 2027 and, based on that, build an enterprise AI operating model,” says Kang. “Beginning in 2028, we plan to introduce Physical AI, evolving toward an environment where AI’s decision-making capabilities are directly integrated into execution in the field.”

With that roadmap in place, Navien is not just expanding its use of data and AI. It is redefining how the business operates at scale, with a more connected, consistent model that links decision-making directly to execution across every part of the organization.

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