How Warner Bros. Discovery turned 30,000 employees into innovators with Microsoft Power Platform and Copilot

Key Takeaways

• Warner Bros. Discovery scaled Microsoft Power Platform to more than 30,000 employees, creating a governed foundation for low-code innovation across its global business.
• Silicon Reef helped WBD establish a Power Platform Centre of Excellence, giving 1,400 makers the structure, support and confidence to build apps, workflows and AI-powered solutions safely.
• The programme paved the way for Microsoft Copilot adoption by bringing Copilot Studio into the same governance model as Power Apps and Power Automate, helping WBD explore AI in a secure and scalable way.
• WBD achieved measurable outcomes, including 100% compliance for newly created applications, key processes completed up to 20x faster and estimated savings of $1.5 million over four years.

But with tens of thousands of Microsoft licences in play, scale also brought complexity.

WBD needed to encourage innovation without losing sight of governance, consistency or security. We worked with WBD and Microsoft to bridge that gap, creating a practical framework that helped innovation grow responsibly.

The Challenges

Across WBD, many everyday processes still relied on spreadsheets, emails and manual handovers. Teams were managing operational workflows across multiple systems, which often made work slower, harder to track and more dependent on repetitive admin. Important information could sit in silos, making it harder for people to get the visibility they needed and make decisions quickly.

At the same time, WBD wanted to make it easier for employees across the organisation to create digital solutions for themselves. The ambition was clear: give people the tools to improve the way they work, without creating new risks around governance, compliance or security. As Power Platform adoption grew, WBD also recognised the opportunity around Microsoft Copilot and AI-powered experiences, which made the need for a clear, scalable governance model even more important.

To realise that vision, WBD needed more than a set of technical controls. It needed a framework that could support citizen developers, encourage good ideas and give the business confidence that thousands of apps, automations and AI solutions could be managed safely across a global organisation.

The Solution

Building a foundation for innovation at scale

WBD chose Silicon Reef to establish a Microsoft Power Platform Centre of Excellence that would help the organisation scale innovation, simplify operations and bring more consistency to how solutions were built and managed globally.

The CoE was never about governance for governance’s sake. It was designed to become a launchpad for better ways of working, bringing together platform management, community engagement, maker enablement and AI governance in one operating model. By keeping people at the centre, we helped WBD create the right conditions for employees to spot opportunities, solve problems and improve their day-to-day work.

We started by understanding how people across WBD worked, what was getting in their way and what support they needed to succeed. That people-first approach helped build confidence around new technology, while creating an engaged community of citizen developers who could turn practical ideas into working solutions.

Governance as an enabler, not a barrier

We installed and configured Microsoft’s CoE Starter Kit, giving WBD a central view of its Power Apps, Power Automate flows, Copilot Studio solutions and platform usage. This visibility was essential, but we also set out to make governance feel helpful rather than restrictive. Makers had clearer guidance on how to build safely, while the organisation had the oversight it needed as adoption grew.

As adoption accelerated, we helped restructure WBD’s Power Platform estate into 153 governed environments across eight global regions. The programme introduced environment strategies, security roles, lifecycle management processes and data loss prevention policies that gave people room to innovate with the right safeguards in place. The team also identified and began remediating 471 orphaned applications, improving accountability and visibility across the platform. As a result, 100% of new applications were created within the governance framework.

Preparing for Microsoft Copilot and AI

Alongside Power Platform adoption, we helped WBD put the right foundations in place for enterprise AI. Microsoft Copilot Studio became part of the Centre of Excellence, governed by the same policies, approval processes and lifecycle standards as other platform assets. That meant AI innovation could grow in a way that was secure, compliant and practical for the business.

Over time, the Centre of Excellence grew into a broader enablement programme, supporting Power Apps, Power Automate, Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio through one joined-up governance model.

Real-world innovation in action

The value of the programme came through clearly in the apps delivered across WBD’s business units, where practical low-code solutions helped teams replace manual processes with faster, more connected ways of working.

• Hair and makeup booking app: WBD manages up to 7,000 appointments each month, previously through spreadsheets and manual coordination. We delivered a Power App, built on Dataverse, that gave teams a simpler way to manage bookings, review previous appointments and coordinate schedules from mobile devices.
• Automated user-access report: We replaced a process that previously took more than 22 hours of manual work with a fully automated report, giving WBD a faster, more reliable way to surface access information and improve visibility for governance and reporting teams.
• Post-wrap production checklist: For HBO, we introduced a checklist app that turned a 200-minute manual process into one that

Results and Impact

While individual applications delivered clear operational improvements, the bigger achievement was the creation of a sustainable innovation ecosystem across WBD. Power Platform adoption moved from isolated initiatives to an enterprise-wide capability, giving employees more confidence to solve problems independently and build solutions that work for their teams. With more than 1,400 registered makers, over 200 employees building solutions each week and strong Microsoft Copilot adoption, WBD now has the foundations to keep innovation moving.

Future Outlook

The long-term impact of the programme goes well beyond platform governance. By bringing together governance, community enablement and AI readiness, WBD has created a foundation for ongoing innovation across its global business.

Microsoft Copilot adoption continues to accelerate, with more than 18,500 monthly active users and a recent rollout of around 30,000 Copilot licences. WBD is now expanding its focus towards Microsoft Fabric, advanced analytics and agent-based AI experiences, building on the foundations established through its Centre of Excellence.

Most importantly, the programme has helped create a culture where employees are encouraged to spot opportunities, improve processes and solve problems with the technology available to them. What started as a governance initiative has become a centre of enablement, helping WBD innovate at enterprise scale while staying secure, compliant and ready for the next generation of AI-powered work.