CP AXTRA becomes first retailer in Thailand to amplify efficiency and optimize customer service with Copilot for Microsoft 365

For 35 years, CP AXTRA has been the preferred food supplier for more than 4.0 million registered customers—comprising small food retailers, hotels, restaurants, small businesses, caterers, and private individuals. CP AXTRA has been committed to developing its operations, products, and services to meet the changing needs of its customers. The company is undergoing a digital transformation as it pursues its mission to become Asia’s number one business-to-business and business-to-customer (B2B and B2C) retailer.

One of the group’s priorities was to leverage AI to underpin B2B and B2C big data and upskill employees’ digital capabilities to meet the demands of a dynamic market. “In the past, we could only do so much based on a fixed dataset. By utilizing AI, we can look at data across our entire value chain in a multitude of different ways—not only to react and respond quickly but also to try a whole new array of strategies,” says Shaun Wong, Group Chief Transformation Officer at CP AXTRA. “The beauty of AI is that we can test ideas out before implementation, which minimizes the risk.”

Picking the right AI partner

To find the right AI solution, Wong and his team tracked the work preferences of 1,500 staff at the CP AXTRA headquarters. “It was clear that our employees were wasting too much time staring at spreadsheets in Excel, putting together PowerPoint presentations, and wading through emails in Outlook,” he explains.

Finding a way to navigate the change with minimal resistance was a top priority. “When we looked for an AI tool to streamline daily tasks, Copilot for Microsoft 365 was the most logical solution. Everyone was familiar with it and wasn’t scared to try it,” Wong says.

Reflecting the group’s pioneering spirit, CP AXTRA became the first retail company in Thailand to introduce Copilot. In February 2024, 300 employees across marketing, finance, and strategy began using Copilot to assist with their routine work tasks.

Tirayu Songvetkasem, Group Chief Digital Officer of Makro Wholesale Business, highlights that finding the right partner was essential to the implementation’s success. He says, “Microsoft didn’t just deploy Copilot and then leave us to figure out everything on our own. We had multiple rounds of conversations. They took the time to help us develop the best use cases and even customized training so that we could get the most out of the solution.”

Enabling AI champions

The key to accelerating the first phase of implementation was selecting early adopters eager to try Copilot. “Our goal wasn’t just to change behavior but also to reshape mindsets. It was important to find the right change leaders who could successfully lead the charge,” explains Wong. “They also had to be good at creating the right prompts that would give us the answers we needed. It’s not always easy to obtain the responses you expect—it’s a challenge, but we try to make it a fun challenge.”

To train employees to become better prompt engineers, Microsoft set up behavioral-based training and offered practical support. “There are different ways to communicate with AI tools. Inputting a prompt will generate an answer, but it isn’t always the right one. We focused on working with our early adopters to help them become champion prompt engineers,” explains Tirayu. Different teams met regularly to troubleshoot, discuss varied approaches to prompting, and find innovative use cases for Copilot.

Increasing productivity, paving the way for innovation

Right out of the gate, employees saw the benefits of using Copilot. They completed routine tasks such as summarizing meeting points, paraphrasing email chains, and highlighting key action items with a few clicks. The marketing team particularly saved time from going back and forth creating elaborate briefs. Instead, they used AI to zero in on the key message and compose succinct briefs for agencies and audit teams.

Time-consuming tasks such as putting together presentations, generating plans, and analyzing data happen much faster now with more customization. “When conducting interviews, I have a team member who uses AI to make sure he’s covered all the key areas and even generate questions tailored to each customer,” adds Tirayu.

In addition, employees at CP AXTRA are boosting communication efficiency by utilizing Copilot’s translation capabilities. “As a multinational company, not everyone in our staff uses English as their first language. With Copilot, they can obtain quick and accurate translations during various communications, allowing them to work more comfortably in their preferred language,” explains Tirayu.

Building better customer connections

The ultimate goal is for Copilot to become an intrinsic part of each CP AXTRA employee’s day. “It isn’t just about using automation to minimize redundant tasks but changing the way we work and truly transforming how the business operates at its core,” says Tirayu.

At the end of the day, this transformation will help CP AXTRA better adapt to evolving customer needs—enabling the company to continue its focus on its value chain and leverage AI to boost customer lifetime value. Copilot enables a multitude of solutions to improve the quality of customer interactions, whether it’s a custom chatbot that can minimize repetitive answers or upgrading its call center to take a more proactive approach to customer care that’s tailored to specific customer needs.

“By leveraging Copilot alongside other AI tools and functionalities, we can analyze our entire journey from supply to delivery along the intent value chain,” says Wong. “The endpoint for us is to gain a granular understanding of our customers and personalize our interactions with them at a very hyper-scale.”