CATRION, a leading catering and hospitality provider, scaled operations without increasing costs.
To meet this need, CATRION adopted Microsoft Power Platform to automate manual processes, streamline core functions, and empower business units to build and manage self-service applications.
The platform has enhanced operational efficiency, fostered a culture of innovation, and enabled teams to take on digital transformation and drive continuous improvement across the organization.
CATRION is a premier catering and hospitality services provider headquartered in Saudi Arabia. With a legacy dating back to 1981, the company first established itself as a leader in aviation catering, later expanding into tourism, healthcare, and large-scale event services. Today, CATRION serves over 115 international airlines and plays a key role in major initiatives such as the United Nations’ Conference of Parties (COP16) and the Dakar Rally. “Our ambition is to become the global provider of choice for catering and hospitality services across both public and private sectors,” says Ashraf Mahmoud Nadeem, Chief Information Officer at CATRION.
To support its strategic shift toward non-aviation markets, CATRION launched a digital transformation strategy in 2020 aimed at rebalancing its revenue streams, targeting a 50/50 split between aviation and non-aviation by 2026. The IT department emerged as a critical enabler of this transformation, leveraging Microsoft Power Platform to build and deploy business applications rapidly and cost-effectively.
By empowering internal teams to create over a dozen apps from HR onboarding solutions to financial tracking tools, CATRION reduced development timelines from weeks to mere hours, accelerating innovation and enabling smarter, faster operations across the organization.
CATRION’s IT division oversees a broad range of functions to support its fast-paced catering operations. One team develops in-house tools like the Universal Catering Automation System, a proprietary tool that helps standardize and simplify critical workflows. Another group ensures the reliability and scalability of CATRION’s data center infrastructure, while dedicated teams oversee day-to-day IT operations and enforce robust governance practices. About two years ago, the IT services and support team began optimizing one of the most manual and sensitive workflows in procurement: food and supplier evaluations by an internal committee.
“We used to run tests with paper and pen, gather feedback in person, and then spend three or four days consolidating everything,” recalls Nadeem. “We saw a quick win and reached out to Microsoft to digitize the food evaluation processes using Power Apps,” he says.
CATRION developed a supplier evaluation app that committee members can access via desktop or tablet. It enables standardized scoring across criteria like pricing, service quality, delivery performance, and compliance. “The user experience has completely changed,” explains Nadeem. "We can have attractive interfaces and include images of the food, so participants can be certain they’re evaluating the correct product.” Instead of taking up to four days to be seen, test results can be consolidated almost immediately, and the shift to digital has also eliminated the need for printed forms, reducing paper use.
Afterward, CATRION saw the possibilities that Power Platform could offer. “Thanks to Microsoft’s amazing support, we saw how we could improve other business processes with Power Platform as well. That’s when our real journey started,” concludes Nadeem.
As part of its forward-looking strategy, CATRION’s finance division set a bold objective: to embed Robotic Process Automation (RPA) into the very fabric of its daily operations. Rather than rely solely on external developers or packaged solutions, the team embraced a self-learning, self-developing approach, enabling finance professionals to design and maintain their own digital workflows using the Microsoft Power Automate low-code platform.
This shift wasn’t just about efficiency; it was about empowerment. By building automation skills internally, the finance team gained the agility to rapidly respond to evolving business needs and eliminate manual tasks.
By adopting automation as a core capability, CATRION’s finance team didn’t just enhance operations, they cultivated a culture of innovation that drives continuous improvement and sets the foundation for future AI-powered transformation.
“Automating our reconciliation and customer communication processes has been a game changer. What once took days of manual effort, gathering data, aligning balances, and following up, is now completed in just a few clicks. This has dramatically improved our responsiveness and strengthened client trust through accurate and timely engagement,” says Abdulrahman Alsamadani, Specialist, Account Receivables at CATRION.
“Automating our reconciliation and customer communication processes has been a game changer. What once took days of manual effort, gathering data, aligning balances, and following up, is now completed in just a few clicks. This has dramatically improved our responsiveness and strengthened client trust through accurate and timely engagement.”
Abdulrahman Alsamadani, Specialist, Account Receivables, CATRION
The finance team also deployed a custom RPA to handle Expected Credit Loss (ECL) calculations. Data from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform and receivables systems are automatically aggregated, matched with internal risk classifications, and converted into reports that support compliance and strategic forecasting. This eliminated error-prone spreadsheet work and introduced a repeatable, auditable workflow completed in minutes. “With the ECL and aging report automations, we’ve turned what used to be complex, time-consuming tasks into fast, reliable outputs, reducing manual efforts and human errors,” shares Mohanad Al-Harbi, Manager of Credit Control at CATRION.
“We targeted processes that were repetitive, high-volume, and prone to delays,” says Abdullatif Bukhari, Digital and Transformation Sr. Manager at CATRION. By automating ECL, aging, and invoice validation, CATRION created fast wins that unlocked capacity and improved accuracy. “We didn’t just adopt a platform, we adopted a mindset. Power Platform has empowered our teams to solve real business problems without waiting on external vendors,” adds Nadeem.
“We didn’t just adopt a platform, we adopted a mindset. Power Platform has empowered our teams to solve real business problems without waiting on external vendors.”
Ashraf Mahmoud Nadeem, Chief Information Officer, CATRION
After automating financial reporting, the team shifted focus to streamlining invoice processing, starting with a targeted subset of trained vendors and invoice formats.
“We developed a background Power Automate process that matches purchase orders with incoming invoices,” explains Bukhari. “It uses Azure AI Vision to extract data from PDFs and scanned images, verify the information, and update our ERP system automatically. If there's a mismatch in the data, it’s flagged for review.”
Previously, validating each invoice attachment manually took at least three minutes. Now, for trained invoices, the system processes them in less than one minute, cutting review time by two-thirds. “The new automation doesn’t just save time; it gives us control and consistency. We’ve minimized human error and can now trust the accuracy of our invoice workflows,” says Shahzad Bashir, Manager of Accounts Payable at CATRION.
These early results validated CATRION’s approach. “This gives us a solid baseline to continuously improve accuracy as we train the system on more invoice types,” says Bashir. “The insights gained from implementing automation systematically are now guiding the refinement of models and processes, accelerating the roadmap to full-scale automation across broader invoice types and supplier categories,” adds Bukhari.
“The insights gained from implementing automation systematically are now guiding the refinement of models and processes, accelerating the roadmap to full-scale automation across broader invoice types and supplier categories.”
Abdullatif Bukhari, Digital and Transformation Sr. Manager, CATRION
CATRION strategically expanded its use of Microsoft Power Platform into Human Resources to modernize and unify workforce management. “We developed the Talent Hub using SharePoint, Power BI, Power Automate, and Power Apps, creating a centralized digital solution that now supports organizational development, talent acquisition, HR operations, medical services, and government compliance,” says Bukhari.
The Talent Hub, built by the Digital and Transformation team, streamlines the employee lifecycle. It automates critical workflows such as interview scheduling, medical evaluations, permit issuance, and badge provisioning, ensuring consistency and speed across the process. “This transformation highlights how HR and IT can partner to create a lasting impact. It’s a blueprint for how digital solutions can drive people-centric innovation at scale,” shares Saeed Ahmed Al-Mufadali, Vice President, Human Resources at CATRION.
“Building the Talent Hub wasn’t just about digitalizing HR, it was about designing an intelligent, scalable platform that empowers teams to manage the entire employee journey all in one place,” says Bukhari. “It’s now a driving force behind HR transformation across the organization.”
To support smarter decision-making, Power BI dashboards were integrated to deliver real-time insights into recruitment metrics, process bottlenecks, and hiring timelines, enabling proactive planning and continuous optimization. “The goal wasn’t just automation, it was to build a smart, unified system that simplifies the employment lifecycle. It’s incredibly fulfilling to see it creating real impact across CATRION,” explains Manar Zainy, Robotic Process Automation Developer at CATRION.
By embedding automation into HR operations, CATRION has significantly reduced administrative overhead and established a flexible, intelligent framework for talent-driven growth.
CATRION also created Power Platform-based applications for operations, health, safety, and travel. The Travel Order application, used company-wide, integrates with the company’s travel agency to automate travel request approvals, ticket issuance, and per diem processing.
“The Travel Order app transformed how we manage company-wide travel, from request to ticket issuance to per diem processing. By integrating with our travel agency and automating approvals, we’ve removed bottlenecks and created a seamless experience for employees and approvers alike,” says Rafaa Alsahafi, Assistant Manager of Digital and Transformation at CATRION.
CATRION also built a lightweight customer relationship management (CRM) system to track opportunities, contracts, and complaints. “During our business requirement meetings, we discovered that customer complaints came from many channels such as emails, calls, guest experience, and even our on-site reps,” adds Bukhari. “So, we built an app to consolidate complaints and improve visibility. It’s helped us respond faster and show our clients that we take feedback seriously.”
CATRION introduced Standardize PRO, a Power Apps solution that digitizes inspection workflows, from checklist creation to reporting and monitoring. The system provides a unified platform for both auditors and administrators, auto-generates detailed PDF reports, and triggers scheduled daily, weekly, and monthly reminders to ensure timely follow-ups.
“Standardize PRO has been a key enabler in elevating our operational standards. It brought consistency and accountability to our inspections, transforming fragmented efforts into a unified, data-driven approach,” says Sumayyah A. Khawaji, Director of Operations Efficiency and Standardization at CATRION.
The solution does more than digitize; it enables proactive compliance, tracks performance trends, and reduces response time to issues. With centralized dashboards, leadership gains real-time insights into non-compliance hotspots, audit frequency, and resolution rates. It also supports role-based access and standard operating procedures, ensuring a consistent experience across units.
By embedding this platform into daily operations, CATRION has not only reduced paperwork and improved compliance, but also created a scalable foundation for continuous improvement in quality, safety, and performance audits.
CATRION is now advancing into AI-powered automation, leveraging Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Services to build internal AI Bot Agents. These bots handle everyday tasks like answering policy questions and guiding users through workflows directly in Microsoft Teams.
The long-term goal is to deploy intelligent agents that go beyond support, executing actions across finance, HR, and procurement. From auto-initiating travel requests to validating documents, these agents will reduce manual load and accelerate decision making. “We’re building an environment where bots don’t just assist; they act,” says Nadeem.
The team is also piloting Microsoft 365 Copilot to summarize reports, generate insights, and boost productivity across roles. By fusing AI with Power Platform, CATRION is evolving from process automation to autonomous operations, where intelligence drives speed, scale, and smarter growth.
CATRION’s success stems from the combination of powerful technology and strong internal collaboration. “It takes two to tango,” says Nadeem. “We’ve put in the time to develop these solutions, but we’ve also invested in training our business users to fully adopt them seamlessly. As a result, most business units come directly to us instead of sourcing external vendors.”
As more and more teams turn to the IT division for solutions to their needs, CATRION is already exploring new technologies to extend its capabilities even further. The company built a chatbot using Copilot Studio and Azure OpenAI to make policy documents accessible in Teams. “We see strong potential in combining AI Agents with our existing Power Automate workflows,” shares Nadeem.
To keep pace with planned growth, the company’s strategy remains clear.
“IT isn't just a support function; it’s a core enabler of business growth,” concludes Nadeem.
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