Reinventing Secure Collaboration & Intelligent Communication 

Swiss Communications Company

Challenge

Before the project, external collaboration and internal communication at the company relied on fragmented and largely manual processes. External users and partners were granted access to the SharePoint environment through email requests and manual provisioning, which created delays, increased administrative workload, and made access governance difficult to track. The lack of a structured identity and access management framework also limited visibility into user lifecycle events such as onboarding, role changes, and offboarding.

At the same time, internal and partner communications were inefficient and largely based on mass email distribution. Newsletters required manual preparation and compilation of SharePoint content, while users received the same information regardless of their interests or relevance. This approach reduced engagement and placed an additional operational burden on communication teams.

The goals were the following:

• modernize external collaboration and internal communication within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem,
• create a secure and scalable platform that would automate external user access management while improving governance and transparency,
• transform the communication model by replacing mass email distribution with a personalized, data-driven approach,
• simplify onboarding for partners and external users, reduce administrative workload, and introduce automated communication workflows that would deliver relevant content to users based on their preferences.

Solution

The project team designed and implemented a modern collaboration platform based on SharePoint Online, supported by Power Apps and Power Automate. The first stage focused on building a structured identity and access management framework for external users and partners.

A new model based on Partner Profiles introduced role-based access, automated approval workflows, and a structured lifecycle process covering onboarding, updates, and offboarding. External user invitations were automated, and all access events became traceable within the system.

The second stage addressed internal and partner communications. A personalized newsletter platform was introduced, allowing users to select the topics they were interested in and define how often they wanted to receive updates.

Automation then aggregated relevant content directly from SharePoint and generated newsletters automatically, eliminating the need for manual compilation while ensuring that users received information tailored to their interests.

Results

• The new platform significantly improved both operational efficiency and user experience. Automated access management reduced manual provisioning effort by 65% and accelerated external user onboarding by 50%.

• Communication became more targeted and relevant, while the effort required to prepare newsletters was reduced due to automated content aggregation and distribution.

• The new communication model also improved engagement by replacing generic email broadcasts with personalized newsletters.

• The number of support tickets related to access issues decreased by 70%, while the organization gained full visibility into access lifecycle events.

• Now, the company operates with a secure and scalable collaboration environment built on the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The platform provides automated lifecycle management for external users, reduces operational overhead, and enables personalized digital communication supported by a flexible low-code architecture.