L'Oreal is a global company with global reach

Founded in 1909, L’Oréal Paris has long been one of beauty’s biggest names, and with the face of the beauty industry constantly changing, L’Oréal are no strangers to adopting new technologies. “At L’Oréal, we want the best for our employees. The new technology that allows for personality, contributions, and real innovation is Microsoft Teams” says Barbara Lavernos: Chief Technology and Operations Officer.

The brand's recent self-described “aggressive adoption” of Office 365 across over 86,000 employees in just over 12 months was a huge positive change in business practice. L’Oréal has embraced Microsoft 365 and cloud technologies as part of their plan to address customer expectations and to remain a leading beauty company.

The switch to Microsoft Teams was prompted by the people first approach held across all facets of this global brand. “Our momentum is driven by people interacting, putting ideas on the table, and jumping on them through spontaneous discussion,” says Barbara Lavernos. As a company that has always supported teamwork, Teams has been a vital tool in driving collaboration and innovation. Microsoft Teams offers an informal space with more unified communication, allowing for personality to be present and more open and dynamic discussions. This freedom from the traditional email chain saw an increase of ideas and collaboration.

Importantly, improvements in productivity were experienced across many functions, with project timelines being cut across the business from the laboratories to legal teams. In the year after the switch to Office 365, L’Oréal saw up to 50% reductions in time to market. “When our whole brand uses Teams, we can have a faster validation process with management, which can reduce our time to market by at least 50 percent,” says Etienne Blondin, Digital Innovation Manager.

At L’Oréal, the more people can work together, the more closely the company aligns to what Lavernos calls “a culture of orality, where human interaction and discussion adds value to the work we do. As leaders in the company it’s our job to create communities where people can make the most out of technology to realize our vision of becoming the leading beauty tech company. And Microsoft Teams is the right platform for fostering the collaborative and entrepreneurial spirit we need to get there.”

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