Malaysian propulsion maintenance, repair, and overhaul company builds data culture with Dynamics 365

Malaysian company Global Turbine Asia (GTA) has a diverse, committed team with wide-ranging and varied competencies. GTA’s mission is to become the preferred maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) partner in the ASEAN region. “‘Powering excellence’ is our motto,” says Eduardo Jimenez, Chief Executive Officer of GTA. “Over the last 10 years, we’ve grown in the helicopter business under our strategic partnership with Safran, the French aircraft propulsion manufacturer, and now expanding towards military airplane engines.”

Data culture as a strategic initiative

In order to reach its goals, GTA knew it needed to cultivate a data culture and enable staff to make informed strategic decisions. The company needed to move towards an accessible data management system that allows for real-time forecasting, process automation, rapid reporting, and smart data analytics. To address these gaps, GTA decided to deploy an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution and cloud-based collaboration tools.

The company first thought of Microsoft when planning its digitalization. “Everyone in the office uses Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel,” explains Koh Teng Ngiab, Chief Financial Officer of GTA. “It was easy to get people to use more tools such as Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Planner on top of Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word.” With a high degree of familiarity around Microsoft solutions, the move to Microsoft Dynamics 365 seemed natural. “We knew we needed more mobility and greater access to data,” he adds. “That’s when we decided on Dynamics 365.”

Coping with change

Making the most out of Dynamics 365 was possible with a reliable, experienced partner like Agile Dynamics Solutions (ADS). The ADS team walked GTA through Dynamics 365, from implementation to technical support. “They were really patient with the Dynamics 365 project roll-out,” Koh shares. “They trained us and gave us opportunities to learn. They helped us get familiar with the tools and advised us on the next steps.”

Training was part of GTA’s change management plan. After six months, multiple training sessions, and a few customizations, employees who were initially hesitant began to come around. “Everyone started uploading all our data and documents to OneDrive and SharePoint,” Jimenez recounts. Having a central database became the catalyst for greater collaboration. “Before our ERP system was in place, different departments worked in silos,” Jimenez adds. “With the new system, sharing and collaboration became the norm.”

This seamless collaboration and interdepartmental coordination are best seen when performing repairs or maintenance on engines. “We start from a customer request and cover the full process until final invoicing and payment,” explains Olivier Toffoli, Customer Service Manager. “Logistics looks into parts availability and prepares purchase forecasts, ensuring tight control through the entire process. Technical prepares the mission, walks on the engine – it really is everything.” With the new system in place, gaps were lessened and response times shortened. “We have better performance, reactivity, and flexibility,” shares Toffoli.

Better customer experience

Customers also reap the benefits of GTA’s new system. “Our ERP helps us manage customer requests,” says Shahida Affandy, Customer Service Representative. “There used to be a lot of back and forth with approval forms. Now the entire process takes 10 seconds.”

The shortened approval times translate to faster responses to customers. “The commercial team’s time to process customer requests has significantly dropped,” Jimenez affirms. “We now only need 20 percent to 30 percent of the time we used to need before using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365.”

Connectivity in employees’ hands

Digitalization enabled GTA’s staff access to data from anywhere. “No matter where we are, we can access information, we can touch base with co-workers, we can schedule appointments on our mobile phones,” shares Aida Fakhrul, Personal Assistant and Corporate Communication Representative, “It’s all literally in our hands. All of us who need accurate data can get the data. Microsoft 365 tools have also enhanced our internal and external communication.”

This remote work capability became an asset during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the Malaysian government announced an imminent lockdown, GTA was prepared. The day before the movement control order was enacted, management met with and prepared staff members to work from home. “We only realized later how useful the solutions are,” admits Jimenez. “The digital transformation we undertook made the transition to working from home painless and has reduced our internal process time by 25 percent.“

In the long term, telecommuting has inevitably led to cost savings. “Now, since we can’t travel, we use Microsoft Teams and Microsoft SharePoint to engage with our customers,” says Koh. “As a result, we’ve noticeably reduced our overhead costs.”

More data, more productivity

Work in GTA has also become more efficient. “The finance functional team used to do manual reporting, forecasting, and budgeting using Excel. With Dynamics 365, we’ve automated financial processes from sales order to collections, from purchase order to payment,” Jimenez points out. ”We’ve also automated approval workflows and made them more visible. Business Central allows us to schedule and customize our reports. Accounting is faster. Reporting is easier, more defined, and more compliant.” 

GTA continues to undertake system tweaks to make sure the different departments’ needs are met. “We recently rolled out the jet report, which is our Dynamics 365-based tool for ad hoc analysis and customized reporting,” Koh shares. “This year, we’re doing an internal review to beef up collaboration among the departments. These small customizations help us increase productivity.” 

“Ultimately, we want to be more productive and data-driven,” Jimenez adds. “We’re thinking about maximizing the existing tools and bringing business intelligence tools such as data visualization into our daily operations. We want to make the most of the data we collect. All of this will help us improve our processes and help us serve our customers better.”