Meliá reinforces internal collaboration with Microsoft Viva Connections and Teams

Meliá Hotels International, a hotel chain with a presence on four continents and more than 400 properties, has incorporated Microsoft Viva Connections and Teams to enhance internal collaboration and productivity in a secure way around the world.

Christian Palomino, global vice president of IT at Meliá Hotels International, underlines "Our spirit is manifested in everything we do, including the constant search for new ways to satisfy our customers." Attention to the experience of its professionals is developed in the same line and, therefore, the company has made the strategic decision to bet on Microsoft solutions to boost the connection and commitment of employees.

"We use Microsoft Teams to help our frontline employees gather information and provide more personalized responses," says Mar Fuster, Organization Project Leader at Meliá Hotels International. About this communication solution, the company has incorporated Microsoft Viva to bring the tools that reinforce the commitment of employees to Teams, a platform that they already use in their work.

Microsoft Viva makes internal documents and resources available to employees in an effective and secure way, simplifying access to essential corporate information at all times. The combination with Microsoft Teams, which simplifies the interaction between all employees, no matter where they are, gives rise to a digital ecosystem that strengthens communication, collaboration and security of the hotel chain.

Microsoft cloud innovation to overcome challenges

Before the arrival of the platform, Meliá employees used a wide variety of tools such as WhatsApp and Telegram to communicate on the go. The incorporation of Teams has provided the staff with an official communication channel that reinforces the security of the organization. “The ability to protect business data is lost when people start collaborating outside of a controlled environment, which is why we chose Teams,” highlights Palomino. On the other hand, the adoption of Teams has also meant that Meliá has a modern workspace that makes daily work and decision-making easier for its employees.

As a large company distributed throughout the world, Meliá also saw the need to find a solution that would allow it to promote the same internal culture and procedures in all its hotels. This goal was even more necessary at a time when many professionals began working from home. “Before, each Meliá hotel did things a little differently. We have changed that and improved the procedures. Now, everyone has access to Teams for calls, chat and the ability to work on documents from anywhere, which increases productivity”, says Tomeu Fiol, Global Hotel Technologies Director of Meliá Hotels International.

For example, when they shared information, such as a manual or a procedure, they often used email and ended up facing the challenge of version control and an overflowing mailbox. “Now it is easier to share presentations and other messages through Teams, always making sure we work with the latest version,” confirms Fuster.

Now that Meliá has fully deployed Teams among its entire staff, including frontline workers, the company will continue to innovate with solutions such as the Microsoft Power Platform, which allows the development of business applications to analyze data, automate processes or easily create virtual agents, minimizing the use of code. Says Fiol: "We look forward to adding more and more apps and resources to Teams. We anticipate that adding tools like the Microsoft Power Platform to Teams will dramatically change the way we work."

Connect employees to improve day to day

Through Viva Connections, where the MeliáHome intranet is set up, Meliá has reinvented the way its employees receive information about the business and helps them locate manuals, human resources information and other company resources. "We anchored Viva Connections in Teams, simplifying the way people access knowledge," says Fuster, who continues, "With Viva Connections, every department has the ability to share information without involving IT for publication. Thus In this way, we have managed to bring to the fore a huge amount of knowledge never before seen within the company.

Along with access to Viva Connections from within Teams, Meliá has anchored a proprietary travel solution to make it easy for professionals across the company to connect and plan upcoming trips. "This capability of the platform makes Teams special and much more than just a chat tool," says Palomino.

Viva Engage, another component of Microsoft Viva, has gained its own momentum as a powerful cultural building tool at Meliá. "We don't push the use of Viva Engage from the top down. Some employees at the time found that Yammer, now integrated into Viva Engage, was a great and natural way to share best practices, which ultimately improves customer experiences." customers," says Fuster.

Those grassroots communities, including one dedicated to hotel receptionists, are now accessible through Viva Connections. Meliá has also created a Viva Engage community for new members. So it's become a place where people at the same stage of their career can connect and share their experiences.

All these applications have found a common platform in Teams, which has supported the construction of the culture at Meliá since the business implemented the tool. "Teams is now the backbone of communication in our organization," concludes Fiol.