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Sonata Software is reporting substantial operational efficiencies and improved forecasting capabilities following its adoption of Microsoft Fabric.
The company has leveraged the platform to build domain-specific AI agents, enabling employees across various departments to access and interpret data more effectively.
This integration has led to a remarkable reduction in manual effort and faster, more informed decision-making.
Key Takeaways
- Sonata Software is saving approximately 200 hours per month on reconciliation activities.
- Domain-specific AI agents built on Microsoft Fabric allow employees to query data in plain language.
- Near real-time visibility into revenue forecasting, pipeline, and project financials has been achieved.
- The adoption has led to more accurate billing and improved customer trust.
Empowering Employees with Data Insights
Sonata Software has successfully implemented domain-specific AI agents for finance, operations, and delivery teams using Microsoft Fabric’s data agents and Copilot.
These agents are trained on their respective domains, allowing project managers, finance leads, and operations managers to ask questions about delivery, billing, or resource allocation in natural language.
The ability to get answers in seconds, without needing an analyst or waiting for reports, has significantly streamlined workflows.
“We built domain-specific data products for finance and operations, instantiated them as Fabric data agents, and connected them through Copilot. Now, every persona in the business can talk directly to their data and get answers in seconds,” explains Srinivasan.
Tangible Business Impact
The implementation has yielded immediate benefits. Previously, project managers might spend days at month-end compiling and cross-checking timesheet entries.
This manual effort has been drastically reduced, with Sonata estimating around 200 hours of manual work saved each month across reconciliation tasks. This allows for immediate action on identified issues, contributing to revenue protection.
Deepa Ramaseshan, Head of Business Finance Operations at Sonata Software, stated, “Today, a project manager can go into Copilot and ask if there are any gaps or missing hours for the week and quickly get an answer. It enables us to take immediate next steps and helps ensure protection of revenue for the organization.”
Faster Decisions and Greater Forecasting Accuracy
At the leadership level, Sonata now benefits from a near real-time view of revenue forecasting, pipeline by geography and business unit, people utilization, and delivery performance.
This timely data enables decisions to be made when needed, rather than after the fact. The platform has also identified areas where sales teams were investing effort in deals with low conversion rates, allowing Sonata to redirect resources towards more promising opportunities and improve its deal-win rate.
The company estimates that the equivalent of one full-time role per month has been freed from reconciliation work and redirected to higher-value activities like forecasting.
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