Santo — Kazakhstan

Santo, a pharmaceutical company and member of Polpharma Group, engaged Awara IT to deliver a fast, pragmatic HR support channel built on Microsoft Power Platform and Copilot Studio. The project—branded Access Me—combined a Power Apps front end, Copilot-driven conversational responses, and SharePoint-driven content to provide first-line HR support for employees in Kazakhstan.
Awara IT focused on measurable outcomes: reduce HR response time, increase first-contact resolution for common queries, standardize personnel assessment workflows, and deliver transparent reporting for managers. The solution was scoped to deliver a working first-line support capability within one month and full assessment and reporting workflows shortly after, leveraging the broader Dynamics 365-compatible Microsoft stack for future integration with HR/Finance systems.
Santo is a Kazakhstan-based pharmaceutical company and a member of Polpharma Group. The project targeted the company's HR function across Kazakhstan operations, serving a mid-sized employee population within a regulated pharma environment in the Middle East region.
HR at Santo faced repeated, high-volume requests from employees about routine processes (leave, performance assessments, career development proposals) that consumed HR specialists’ time and delayed responses to higher-value tasks. Knowledge lived in documents and emails, and managers lacked a simple way to collect structured assessment data or generate transparent reports.
The organization required a fast, secure mechanism to provide first-line answers and to digitize employee assessments and manager questionnaires. Time-to-delivery was critical: Santo asked for a first-line support capability within one month and a production-ready assessment app shortly after. The solution also needed to align with enterprise security, audit, and readiness for future Dynamics 365 integrations.
Santo selected the Microsoft ecosystem—Power Platform plus Copilot Studio—because it provides rapid application development, native connectors to SharePoint and Microsoft 365, and a clear upgrade path to Dynamics 365 modules (HR, Finance) if deeper ERP/HRIS integration is required. Choosing Microsoft technology minimized integration risk with existing identity and collaboration tools (Azure AD, Teams) already in use across the group.
Awara IT recommended the Dynamics 365-aligned approach to ensure data and process models could later map to Dynamics 365 HR or Finance and Operations. This strategy preserved Santo’s ability to scale beyond a point solution while delivering the immediate business objective: a responsive, auditable HR support channel and structured assessment workflows.
The implementation followed Kazakhstan data protection expectations for employee personal data by applying role-based access controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and audit logging. Awara IT worked with Santo’s legal and IT teams to minimize transfer of sensitive personal data and to keep assessment records within agreed storage boundaries. Language and regional formatting (Kazakh/Russian language support, date and number formats) were applied in the Power Apps UI to match local user expectations.
By delivering Access Me, Awara IT enabled Santo to automate high-volume HR interactions quickly and securely. The combined Power Apps and Copilot solution reduced routine response times, increased first-contact resolution, and standardized personnel assessment data capture. Managers gained near-real-time visibility into assessments and development proposals through automated reporting.
Critically, the solution was implemented within the Microsoft/ Dynamics 365-friendly ecosystem, which preserves Santo’s option to integrate assessment data and HR case history with Dynamics 365 HR or Finance modules in a subsequent phase. The result is immediate operational efficiency and a clear technical path for future HRIS consolidation.
Awara IT delivered a focused, secure HR support channel on a tight timeline. Access Me reduced our routine workload and gave managers timely, reliable assessment data. — Aruzhan Nurlybek, HR Director, Santo