AI in Action: SATCoL's Discovery Journey with Microsoft 365 Copilot

The Customer

Salvation Army Trading Co. Ltd (SATCoL) is the largest charity-owned textiles collector in the UK. Through managing over 200 charity shops and numerous clothing donation banks, SATCoL facilitates substantial fundraising for the Salvation Army's charitable programs and plays a critical role in reducing the organisation’s carbon footprint. Their innovative reuse and recycling schemes significantly curb the impact of overflowing landfills, extending the life of donated items and diminishing waste. With a proactive approach to commerce and charity, SATCoL is committed to combatting climate change and supporting community welfare. This commitment has prompted them to investigate how AI technologies like Microsoft 365 Copilot could further enhance operational efficiency and amplify their positive impact on society and the environment.

Using AI technologies such as Microsoft 365 Copilot is a strategic step for SATCoL, aligning with our mission to innovate responsibly while improving our operational efficiencies.

Nick Harris

CIO, Salvation Army Trading Co. Ltd

The challenge: the never-ending race to keep up

In recent years, the charity retail sector has navigated changing consumer habits that increasingly favour online interactions and environmentally conscious purchasing decisions. This shift is heightened by global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased the need for organisations to adapt their technological practices. The sector also grapples with a shortage of tech skills and stringent demands for cost efficiencies, intensifying the push for modernisation.

As the largest charity-owned textile collector in the UK, SATCoL strives to reconcile its robust operational model – which primarily relies on physical charity shops and donation banks – with the rising need for digital solutions that cater to a technologically-savvy donor base. Matching the rapid digital transformation seen in commercial retail is a daunting task for a charitable organisation, where resources are often more constrained, and the primary focus is on maximising donations rather than investing heavily in new technologies.

For SATCoL, a significant challenge was to manage extensive inventories without sophisticated digital tools and leveraging data analytics for better donor engagement and operational efficiencies. The push for more sustainable operations also demands finding ways to better manage and report on environmental impacts – tasks for which their current technological infrastructure was ill-equipped.

The requirement

As the digital transformation partner for SATCoL, Claranet was best placed to assist them in developing comprehensive AI governance policies. This strategic initiative aimed to prevent their staff's unchecked use of readily available AI tools, such as ChatGPT, thereby ensuring responsible adoption aligned with SATCoL’s mission and operational strategies.

The project was led by Workplace Practice Lead Holly Rae and Delivery Architect Polly Spooner, who led workshops showcasing the transformative capabilities of Microsoft 365 Copilot within the framework of SATCoL's operational environment and strategic goals. A crucial aspect of this exploration was understanding the specific security and governance challenges that must be addressed before deploying such a sophisticated AI tool. 

Not hosting their data primarily in Microsoft 365 posed a substantial obstacle to effective organisational collaboration. This realisation underscored the necessity for SATCoL to reassess its data hosting strategies if they wanted to make best use of the collaborative and integrative capabilities in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The workshops demonstrated how AI-driven solutions are becoming essential for organisations to stay competitive by enabling employees to seize new opportunities presented by evolving technologies. Additionally, significant time was devoted to discussing Responsible AI. These sessions highlighted Microsoft's dedication to ethical AI use, providing a framework for how SATCoL could integrate AI thoughtfully and responsibly. This provided the crucial insights needed to develop policies that govern and guide the use of AI in their operations.

The engagement was designed to ensure that SATCoL's exploration into AI was not only aligned with their immediate operational needs but also embedded within a broader narrative of sustainable and responsible business practices.

The solution

Our Microsoft 365 Copilot workshops highlighted the capabilities of AI and underscored the preliminary assessments and readiness required for effective implementation. These sessions outlined a clear, realistic vision of AI integration tailored to SATCoL's operational context, considering both their current technological infrastructure and future needs.

Readiness assessment

First, Claranet conducted a readiness assessment using Microsoft's readiness calculator. This helped identify areas where SATCoL needed to adapt or overhaul existing processes and procedures to leverage Copilot effectively. The assessment highlighted that SATCoL was not primarily using Microsoft 365 for document storage and management, which is essential for maximising the benefits of Copilot. This revealed a critical need for SATCoL to enhance its digital infrastructure and workflows to be AI-ready.