Unifonic boosts productivity and accelerates customer engagement using Microsoft 365 Copilot

Unifonic builds tools to help businesses talk to their customers. It runs a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that helps its clients manage communication with their customers across text, voice, and web channels. Based in Saudi Arabia, Unifonic supports companies in finance, healthcare, retail, and other sectors, handling over 10 billion annual transactions for millions of recipients across 160 countries. 

“No matter what role we're in, we all have the responsibility to make sure our platform meets customer expectations,” reflects Mohammed Sleeq, Chief Operational Officer at Unifonic. For instance, Unifonic’s information and digital technology team works on improving the company’s technology every day. “Our task is to ask: how can we do better? How can we improve operations, productivity, and the service we offer our customers—which is our end goal,” Sleeq adds. 

Challenges with scattered systems

As the company grew, it became harder for Unifonic to connect its internal systems, manage the digital infrastructure, or pull meaningful insights. “We were relying on five or six different productivity tools. Managing security across all of them also became a hurdle, especially as we were being audited more and regulated by different frameworks across various countries where we operate,” explains Mahomed Manga, Information and Digital Technology Manager at Unifonic. 

The information and digital technology team spent significant time troubleshooting instead of building. Surfacing analytics wasn’t easy either. “If we wanted to prepare a comprehensive report, it took a lot of time. We had to divert resources to prepare the data or bring in someone external to help us. That meant more time, more cost, and sometimes not even the outcome we were expecting,” explains Manga. The experience also took a toll on user engagement as the tools weren’t delivering what the teams needed. “That was the main driver to look for something we could really align with our business,” highlights Manga.

Unifonic’s need for alignment extended beyond internal operations. “Around 90% of our customers use Microsoft products,” reflects Manga. “We’d send presentations to customers, and, because we used different tools to create them, they’d arrive skewed or distorted.” 

A trial to validate the transition

“Microsoft 365 E5 came up as a perfect fit for our needs, and it offered a path to explore artificial intelligence (AI) tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot,” shares Manga. “We are delivering AI-based products to our customers, so it only made sense to explore how we can make the most of AI for our back-office operations.” 

Once Unifonic’s decision was made, the focus shifted to execution. “We wanted to migrate as fast as possible, with zero disruption to the business,” adds Manga. Unifonic chose Microsoft partner Points Information Technology to support its transformation. 

Unifonic started by picking five to six users from different departments for the trial. “We used another productivity platform before and wanted to make sure they saw the benefits of the migration to then spread the word across teams," shares Manga. The trial showed the team how information and data could become more visible and shareable. Plus, documents or presentations didn’t get distorted when they were opened or edited with different tools. “These positive changes gave us confidence that we were on the right path.”

Streamlining audits and cybersecurity tasks

After moving to Microsoft 365 E5, audits became more manageable. “It is easy to show everything within the Microsoft ecosystem—from data protection in Microsoft Purview, to devices policy in Intune, to identity protection in Microsoft Entra ID,” recalls Manga. Switching between systems was no longer required. “The time spent on our previous audits compared to this one was reduced by around 85%.” 

Cybersecurity tasks were also streamlined. Before, the company had to give the platform team temporary access to multiple systems to manage compliance. They had to take screenshots and do a lot of manual work, but that changed. “Now, it’s just the touch of a button in one system. We’re saving around two hours per day on this work,” Manga highlights.

Unlocking AI-powered productivity 

Building on that momentum, Unifonic turned its focus to AI. Many employees showed interest in using AI tools and the team wanted to ensure they’d have a highly secure environment for their business use. “With Microsoft 365 Copilot, we have an AI tool we can use across our business with all of our data compartmentalized and safeguarded,” shares Manga.

Now, whenever Unifonic’s sales representatives meet with customers, they record the meetings and use Copilot to summarize the action points. “A sales representative can email the customer right after, outlining the next steps and keeping the engagement momentum,” explains Manga.

In marketing, teams use Microsoft 365 Copilot to quickly draft a presentation to then finetune. It also helps uncover buried data. Rather than going through terabytes of documents, Copilot suggests long forgotten information in seconds. “With Microsoft 365 Copilot, our sales and marketing teams are saving two to three hours per person per day,” remarks Manga.

Unifonic’s finance team, that previously had to work with an external party to manage their Power BI dashboards, can now handle them internally. “With Copilot, data has become more easily accessible to stakeholders across the business,” explains Manga. They also use Copilot in Excel to help generate expansive formulas, explore other Excel features, and easily share the data into another format like for a presentation or an email. 

Microsoft 365 Copilot also helps the development team stay aligned more easily. “Our developers use the action points from Copilot to link to existing tickets, where the development work is tracked, or to manuals,” shares Manga. That link between meetings and execution keeps work moving. “It gives senior management visibility—they can see what was discussed, what the action points are, and what will be shared in the next update.” 

Copilot has become part of Manga’s daily routine. “At the end of the day, I like to ask Copilot if there’s anything I missed. It makes sure I stay focused on what matters—for me and for the team,” he says. 

Simplicity captured both hearts and habits

The new tools have helped teams across the business work better together. “Being able to collaborate on a file while on a Microsoft Teams call—that wasn’t possible before,” reflects Sleeq. For some, the shift was immense. “Our Vice President of Human Resources was originally skeptical of the move. But the moment he started using Microsoft Teams and Copilot, he was completely sold,” Sleeq recalls. 

As more people got on board, the shift became a habit. “For instance, having one single authentication across every tool made everyone’s lives easier. Once people experienced the benefits, using Microsoft 365 E5 and Copilot became more and more of a habit,” adds Manga.

Saving time, cutting costs, fueling growth

Unifonic’s shift to Microsoft 365 E5 brought about not only an improvement in employee experience but also enhanced value for customers. “When our customers receive documentation from us now—it’s seamless,” says Manga. Conversations are quicker, and it’s easier for a salesperson to create a group chat with a prospect, share information, or have a quick call. That speed shows up in delivery. “For instance, we’re now around 15% faster at spinning up demos for prospective clients than we were before thanks to the ease of communication through Microsoft Teams,” he adds. 

“Just by consolidating the security tools we had before onto Microsoft 365 E5, we’re saving around USD250,000 this year,” Sleeq says. The saved time and cost give the team more time to pursue innovation, research, experiment, and bring more value to the business.

That space to experiment is now fueling new projects. “We plan to use Power Apps in conjunction with AI Agents to deliver better internal applications for the business,” shares Manga. One of Unifonic’s use cases is already underway: onboarding. Once an employee is activated in the human resources (HR) system, their profile is automatically created in Microsoft. The next step will be automating the entire process with Power Automate and Copilot, and integrating it with the HR system, Entra ID, and Intune. 

The team is looking ahead with excitement. For them, always being at the forefront of innovation with AI tools is very important. “It’s also about making sure that anything we do to innovate and automate has a real impact—whether that’s on productivity, efficiency, or revenue. Having a single Microsoft ecosystem that allows us to do that makes everything much clearer,” says Sleeq. “Thanks to Microsoft 365 E5 and Copilot, we have more time to pursue innovation: think outside the box, research, experiment, and bring more value to the business.”

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