A productive day ignites many feelings – accomplishment, pride, motivation and success, to name a few. Don’t we all want our workforces having these kinds of days?

The reality is that in a rapidly shifting global economy, the companies that will continue to grow are those that empower their employees. Productivity is no longer a nice to have; it’s an imperative.

At Avanade, we’re working with our clients on elevating their productivity and employee experience in a variety of ways that remain true to their company cultures and business objectives. One client with whom I’ve had the privilege of examining productivity is Microsoft. It also happens to be one of our parent companies and a technology alliance partner. I use the word “examine” intentionally because Microsoft not only develops tools to enhance productivity that are used by companies around the world but is also deeply invested in making sure that its own employees feel supported and enabled in their own productivity efforts.

For almost a decade, Microsoft has been running a productivity “innovation incubator”, and my team and I have been collaborating with Joe Martin, who leads the Productivity Studio in the Microsoft Employee Experience group, to do some really cool things. Internal clients within Microsoft business groups come to the Productivity Studio with a problem, and they quickly learn that we don’t just “answer the mail” and build them a solution that meets their basic requirements. We help them reshape the problem, consider all the tools available on the Microsoft platform, and use the “art of the possible” around those tools.

Because the Productivity Studio is closely linked to Microsoft’s product development groups, we can use knowledge of where the technology has been, where it is currently and where it’s going. We often have art-of-the-possible discussions with the solution engineers on integrating various tools and putting them to use in creative new ways.

In one recent Microsoft survey, an internal client shared this: “Wonderful engagement resulting in what will be a highly valuable and impactful deliverable. Looking forward to partnering with Productivity Studio again in the future!”

That kind of feedback has driven our Avanade and Microsoft teams to think even bigger. We’ve now developed a knowledge and asset harvesting model to identify studio tools with the most far-reaching value to publish on AppSource, Microsoft’s online store for business apps and services, and GitHub so that other companies can benefit. In addition to sharing these innovative solutions through open-source technology, we’re also ready to share the entire Productivity Studio model with other Avanade and Microsoft clients.

Is your company ready for the type of strategic collaboration around productivity that bolsters your employee experience? Let’s talk about the feasibility of your own productivity studio.

Check out the Microsoft Productivity Studio client story page for more.