Ingka Investments

The organisation

Ingka Investments is one of the three core businesses of Ingka Group, the largest franchisee operator of IKEA Retail, investing in financial markets, renewable energy and circular assets to secure the long-term resilience of the IKEA business. Headquartered in the Netherlands with operations spanning multiple European markets, Ingka Investments manages a diverse portfolio spanning sustainability, financial markets and retail-adjacent operations, working towards Ingka Group's ambition of a climate-positive, circular business by 2030.

The challenge

Ingka Investments needed specialist technology capability that generalist staffing could not provide. Its sustainability programme required a Power Platform architect who understood ESG data collection and supplier-facing portal design across a network of over 10,000 external suppliers. Its Data & Analytics function needed a senior architect with hands-on Microsoft Purview experience, a profile rarely available on the open market, plus a data engineer able to bridge infrastructure and finance reporting. Several European divisions also needed a legacy, limited CRM replaced with a scalable, modern platform.

The solution

The delivery team engaged directly with Ingka Investments, with no intermediary or subcontracting layer, becoming its exclusive Romanian supplier for Power Platform, Data & Analytics, and Enterprise Architecture under a resident-team outsourcing model. Rather than cycling short-term contractors, the team embedded four named specialists, a Power Platform architect, a Power Platform developer, a data & analytics engineer and a senior data architect, chosen for domain fit as well as technical depth, into the client's own teams. Over more than two years, the resident team designed and built a Power Pages supplier portal and Dataverse-based internal review platform for ESG data collection, contributed hands-on Microsoft Purview expertise to the internal data team's Data Catalogue rollout, and delivered a new Dataverse-based CRM now live across multiple European divisions. Specialists attended stand-ups, shaped architecture decisions and carried forward institutional knowledge that short-term contractors could not replicate. The partnership has continued to deepen, with the team now expanding its remit into SAP, CRM and Cybersecurity workstreams alongside the original three initiatives.

How we ran it

1. 01

   Direct exclusive engagement

   The team became Ingka Investments' exclusive Romanian supplier for Power Platform, Data & Analytics and Enterprise Architecture, with no intermediary layer.

2. 02

   Embed named specialists for the long term

   Four specialists, selected for domain fit, were embedded directly into client teams rather than rotated as short-term contractors.

3. 03

   Build the sustainability data platform

   Delivered a Power Pages supplier portal, Dataverse review workflows, Power Automate orchestration and Power BI reporting for ESG compliance.

4. 04

   Extend into governance and CRM

   Supported the Microsoft Purview Data Catalogue rollout and delivered a new Dataverse-based CRM live across multiple European divisions.

The result

Within a two-year resident partnership, the team helped onboard over 10,000 external suppliers onto a governed ESG data collection platform, replacing Excel files and email chains entirely and achieving full compliance reporting. A rare Microsoft Purview specialist accelerated the Data Catalogue rollout for the internal data team, and a modern Dataverse-based CRM went live across several European divisions. The team remains the organisation's exclusive Romanian supplier for Power Platform, Data & Analytics and Enterprise Architecture, with the relationship now expanding into new service areas.