Barilla and Microsoft have developed an app for the secure management of common areas and effective organization of services
Barilla has chosen Microsoft technology to digitally support the return to the office plan of Italian employees in full compliance with current safety regulations. Although from March 2020 the smart working is used extensively by Barilla for the maximum protection of its people, the company wanted to give the possibility to a percentage of the population to access the Pedrignano office: thanks to Microsoft Power Apps, the Group was able to implement in a short time an extremely customized app that simplifies the management of company spaces and the monitoring of office attendance.
Barilla has long been partnering with Microsoft for its digital transformation, choosing the Azure cloud and the Microsoft 365 productivity suite for its infrastructure and digital collaboration. At the end of the lockdown, in collaboration with Microsoft, Barilla has developed a solution that allows its employees to simply manage the return to the office, allowing the autonomous booking of spaces with the maximum guarantees of security and social distancing. In just two weeks, the MyBarillaSpace application was born, available for PCs, smartphones and tablets, which leverages Microsoft’s Cloud, real building plans and an extremely intuitive interface to allow users to book in just a few clicks their desk in the open space, the place in the canteen and even the dressing room.
“My Barilla Space”: an app to safely face the return to the office
The new app is part of Barilla’s broader Anti-Covid plan aimed at offering maximum security guarantees to employees who are progressively returning to the headquarters – on the one hand, continuing to support an extended smart working model, and on the other hand, through workstation spacing and the provision of special PPE. The MyBarillaSpace app, implemented thanks to the support of SoftJam partner, integrates perfectly with the other solutions already used in the company, allowing managers to define weekly the people who will have to go to the office, employees to view the list of their shifts and add them directly to the Outlook calendar, and Facility Managers to have a more precise view of the number of people present every day in each building.
Finally, the high modularity and low code approach of Microsoft Power Apps offer the possibility to continue to customize and expand MyBarillaSpace in an extremely simple way. The application created by Barilla and Microsoft to address the return to the workplace is, in fact, an important step towards the digitization of HR processes, which aims to leverage the Cloud and Microsoft’s innovative technologies to simplify the management and offering of services to employees.
“We are very pleased with this new collaboration with Microsoft. During the pandemic, since we were already Azure and Microsoft 365 users, we were able to react promptly to the lockdown, moving our activities digitally and allowing us to continue to bring our food products to the tables of millions of people around the world, at a particularly difficult time. So it came natural for us, with the reopening, to turn to Microsoft to find a solution that would help our HR to effectively manage the return to the office, in full compliance with regulations. After the first weeks of use we can say that we are extremely satisfied with the MyBarillaSpace application, which stands out, in particular, for its incredible ease of use and clear graphical interface, which allowed all our employees to face the return to the office with greater serenity. We were also pleasantly surprised by the low code paradigm of Microsoft Power Apps, which allowed us to develop in a very short time an extremely customized application, able to ensure a quick response to new regulations, for a safe and responsible restart. Our goal now is to extend the use of Power Apps to new needs,” said Josè Ovidio Silva, GD&BT Vice President Barilla Group.
“We are proud to support an Italian excellence like Barilla in its digital transformation path and to help it face a delicate phase such as the return to the office, leveraging innovative solutions to meet regulatory and safety requirements. The health emergency has confirmed the importance of technological innovation to support the continuity and growth of the country’s key sectors. Having overcome the urgency of facing an unexpected event such as the pandemic, the time has come to capitalize on this experience and continue the digitization process. We are convinced that it has never been so important to team up with companies and our vast ecosystem of partners, such as SoftJam, to help the Italian economy grow both in the recovery phase and in the years to come,” commented Annamaria Bottero, Director of the Customer Success Division of Microsoft Italia.
The Barilla Group
Barilla is a family business, not listed on the Stock Exchange, chaired by brothers Guido, Luca and Paolo Barilla. It was founded by great-grandfather Pietro Barilla, who opened a bakery in Parma in 1877. Now, Barilla is famous in Italy and worldwide for the excellence of its food products. With its brands – Barilla, Mulino Bianco, Pan di Stelle, Gran Cereale, Harry’s, Pavesi, Wasa, Filiz, Yemina e Vesta, Misko, Voiello and Cucina Barilla – it promotes a tasty, joyful and healthy diet inspired by the Mediterranean diet and the Italian lifestyle. When Pietro opened his store more than 140 years ago, his main purpose was to make good food. Today that principle has become Barilla’s way of doing business: “Good for You, Good for the Planet”, a slogan that expresses the daily commitment of over 8,000 people working for the company and a supply chain that shares its values and passion for quality. “Good for you” means constantly improving the product offering, encouraging the adoption of healthy lifestyles and promoting access to food. “Good for the planet” means promoting sustainable supply chains and reducing CO2 emissions and water consumption.
Microsoft
Microsoft enables organizations to realize their digital transformation projects with new innovation scenarios, such as Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence. The company’s mission is to support people and organizations around the world to achieve more, through technology and digital.
