SECO Tools Digital Transformation Success Story

How ACTUM Digital Streamlined Enquiry Management with Microsoft Power Platform

Client

SECO Tools

SECO Tools, headquartered in Sweden, is a global leader in metal cutting solutions and part of the Sandvik Group. With a strong presence across Europe, North America, and Asia, SECO serves manufacturers in industries such as automotive, aerospace, and general engineering. The company is known for its innovation in tooling systems and its commitment to digital transformation in manufacturing and sales operations.

The Challenge

SECO Tools was relying on a legacy Lotus Notes application to manage custom product enquiries – a process that had become increasingly inefficient and difficult to scale. The system lacked automation, transparency, and integration with modern platforms. Salespeople submitted requests through several local processes, but once submitted, they lost visibility and control over the process. The internal teams – design engineers, purchasing, and the Make-or-Buy (MoB) team – handled these inquiries manually or with locally developed IT solution, often leading to delays, misrouting, and inconsistent tracking.

Key challenges included:

No centralized system for tracking enquiry status or history
Manual routing and assignment of enquiries to internal teams
Lack of automation in approvals and communication
Limited reporting and KPI tracking
Legal compliance requirements for 10-year data retention

SECO needed a modern, scalable solution that could automate and streamline the entire inquiry lifecycle – from submission to resolution – while integrating with existing systems like ERP and PLM.

The Solution

TACTUM Digital partnered with SECO to design and implement a comprehensive enquiry management system using the Microsoft Power Platform.
The solution was built around a custom Power App that serves as the central hub for managing all enquiry-related activities.

Power Apps Custom Application

A user-friendly interface for internal teams to manage inquiries, track progress, and access customer and product data. The app includes structured tables for inquiries, accounts, sales units, qualification rules, and more. By guiding users through predefined stages of managing inquiries, Power Apps BPF ensures structured decision-making, reducing errors and increasing productivity.

Channeling Automation

A background process triggered upon inquiry submission from the My Pages portal. It evaluates multiple conditions and assigns the enquiry to the appropriate team or rejects it if criteria are not met.

Routing Automation

For enquiries requiring product configuration, this process determines the correct design engineering team (from about seventeen teams) and routes the enquiry accordingly.

Enquiry Item Queues

Enquiry queuing was designed to enhance workflow management by allowing team managers to oversee and assign tasks efficiently. This process ensures that enquiries are handled by the most suitable team member, optimizing resource allocation and productivity.

Time Log Management

This feature was developed to track the time spent on handling enquiries and identify workload distribution across team members. This functionality enhances transparency, efficiency, and decision-making in resource allocation.

SharePoint Management

The system has been integrated with SharePoint to automatically store enquiry-related attachments in designated folders. Access to these folders is restricted to assigned users in compliance with data privacy regulation, ensuring secure and efficient document management through background automation processes.

Dashboards and Reporting

The system supports KPI tracking and reporting, with options to extend functionality using Power BI for advanced analytics.

Integration Layer

Adapters were developed to integrate the Power App with SECO’s ERP and My Pages portal, ensuring seamless data flow across platforms.

Technology Stack

The solution leverages the full potential of the Microsoft ecosystem, with a strong focus on automation and AI:

Microsoft Power Apps

Core platform for the enquiry management interface.

Power Automate

Drives background processes like channeling and routing.

Azure Services

Hosts background logic and ensures secure, scalable performance.

Microsoft Teams

Embedded for real-time communication and collaboration.

Microsoft Exchange Integration

To communicate with internal team and clarify details about enquiries.

Dataverse

Centralized data storage for structured and secure access to enquiry records.

SharePoint

To store attachments received from My Pages, also to allow power apps users to add files from the system that enhances data accessibility within the application.

Results:

The new enquiry management system has delivered transformative results for SECO:

Streamlined Operations

Automated routing and approvals significantly reduced manual workload and processing time

Improved Visibility

Sales and internal teams now have real-time access to enquiry status and history

Enhanced Collaboration

Integrated Teams communication fosters faster decision-making and better alignment

Compliance and Traceability

All enquiry data is securely stored and retained for 10 years, meeting legal requirements

Scalability

The modular architecture allows for future enhancements, including additional automation, analytics, and global rollout

This project not only replaced a legacy system but also laid the foundation for a smarter, more agile way of handling custom product enquiries – empowering SECO to deliver faster, more accurate responses to its customers worldwide.