Tüpraş transforms workforce efficiency with Microsoft 365 Copilot, saving over an hour daily per employee

Tüpraş, is the largest industrial company by revenue in Türkiye according to Istanbul Chamber of Industry. With more than 60 years of experience, the company aims to further strengthen its leadership as a carbon neutral energy company in 2050. Guided by its Strategic Transformation Plan, Tüpraş is taking bold steps to digitally transform for a sustainable future. "We can’t change the way energy is produced. Therefore, technologies like Microsoft 365 Copilot have become our focus to empower our teams and improve efficiency," explains Yigit Yeldan, Digital Transformation Manager at Tüpraş.

Integrated technology for seamless adoption

Once Microsoft started integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into tools like Outlook, Excel, Teams, Word, and PowerPoint, Tüpraş began exploring how these enhancements could help speed up its daily workflow. 

Data governance played a significant role in the decision-making process. “There are lots of AI engines, but with Microsoft, we have the security of knowing that our data is safe and is handled in ways that comply with government regulations, as well as our internal policies and procedures,” Yeldan explains. “Having already used Microsoft solutions, we were confident in the platform’s data compliance.”

Tüpraş also wanted something that could be implemented quickly and smoothly. Microsoft 365 Copilot works with the tools that employees already use daily, enabling a smoother deployment and adoption process. “Implementing AI technologies may take up to six months to integrate with our tools. With Copilot’s easy integration, it only took one week to get everyone set up,” Yeldan adds. 

To ensure a smooth transition to using AI, Tüpraş approached Copilot adoption with a unique perspective, ensuring that AI tools were made available to all employees from the very beginning, rather than limiting the initial rollout to leadership. The company recognized that widespread usage at the operational level would drive the most significant impact. ‘We believed that empowering employees across all levels with Copilot from day one would maximize efficiency gains and accelerate adoption,’ shares Yeldan. This inclusive approach set Tüpraş apart, as few companies implement AI solutions with full-scale deployment from the outset.

The company also conducted training for over 1,000 employees to familiarize them with Copilot and introduce potential use cases. Transformation teams were established in each department to identify how they could use Copilot, drive adoption, and promote success stories.

Inspiring meaningful change across departments

Soon, departments across the organization started to address their own unique challenges, using Copilot to increase efficiency. “Our finance team uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to generate detailed reports in minutes, a task that used to take significant time to compile in our weekly bulletin,” Yeldan remarks. In addition, the team also uses the AI tool to identify potential compliance issues and assign them automatically to relevant stakeholders for resolution.

Meanwhile, the budget planning team uses Copilot to create forecasts and get suggestions on action plans based on historical data and market trends.

Tüpraş’ human resources (HR) team uses Copilot to summarize interviews, helping recruiters recall key points about candidates’ suitability to specific roles. “We also use it to streamline onboarding for new hires by creating plans tailored to different roles. For example, the needs of a technology professional would be different from a finance employee, and Microsoft 365 Copilot would be able to identify that using our internal data,” shares Büşra Saburlu Sütcü, Head of HR Technologies and Analytics. New hires can also go to Copilot as their resource for frequently asked questions, giving them easy access to company policies, processes, and projects. “Shift to Microsoft 365 Copilot has not only empowered employees but also freed HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives by reducing routine inquiries,” Sütcü adds.

Besides internal improvements, Tüpraş has also seen better relationships with its contractors and customers. Yeldan explains, “Our procurement team uses Copilot to draft and review documents, generate legal requirements based on similar previous contracts, and even compose necessary emails to suppliers.” Moreover, the sales and marketing team can craft quicker and more precise answers to customer queries using AI. “Previously, when they received many requests from commercial customers, they had to follow lengthy procedures: talking to managers, who then talked to other managers. With Copilot, sales teams get an accurate response in minutes,” says Yeldan.

Results that impact the bottom line

With the adoption of Copilot, Tüpraş’ has seen measurable efficiencies across its operations, starting with significant time savings. “Employees who used to spend hours on manual tasks can now complete them in minutes with Microsoft 365 Copilot. This provides efficiency gains, which we estimate translates to 5,000 hours saved monthly across our workforce,” explains Yeldan.

Copilot also saves the company on IT expenses through better resource utilization.  Collaboration improved with meeting summaries and action items automatically generated by Copilot, helping teams keep track of work discussed during meetings. 

The company also sees higher quality strategic planning by leveraging the use of AI. “Because AI can search the web and help us analyze what other companies are doing, we use it to generate ideas and insights to inspire our strategies,” Yeldan notes. “It also speeds up complex tasks like scenario modeling and communications, aside from generating presentations, to pitch these new ideas to the executive team.”

Expanding AI’s role in transformation

Looking ahead, Tüpraş plans to deepen its integration of AI, focusing on predictive analytics and real-time decision-making. “Copilot currently analyzes data and provides insights, but we believe it can do more,” Yeldan explains. “We plan to extend Copilot and integrate it with our existing systems, including Microsoft solutions, in-house applications, and other relevant software. We are particularly looking forward to Copilot integration with our internet of things (IoT) network and other third-party operational systems for faster responses in production.” 

Upskilling employees and fostering innovation will also remain key priorities. Reflecting on AI’s potential, Yeldan concludes, “This is just the beginning. Right now, we are only scratching the surface of AI’s potential. As AI technology develops further, people will find even more areas to apply it, and our employees will be sufficiently experienced to take on this next stage of our transformation.”

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