Unified Communications Group Team Blog

This month’s customer spotlight focuses on a newspaper company using Exchange Server 2007 to help their reporters quickly and efficiently cover more breaking news. As you may know, Exchange Server is currently the most widely used messaging server and growing, and is the cornerstone of Microsoft’s unified communications solution. What you may not know is how some of these companies are uniquely benefiting from Exchange Server deployments.

That’s where Utusan Group comes in! Utusan Group, a Malaysian publishing company with over 1300 employees, quickly recognized how they could increase productivity by implementing Exchange Server. Providing readers with up-to-the-minute news is paramount for any news reporting agency and reporters are so barraged with numerous potential stories that they often find they do not have the time to cover every topic. Utusan’s journalists were using a free e-mail solution to receive reports of breaking news and file their stories with the editor. Due to the time sensitive nature of news reporting, having an e-mail solution that is reliable is vital to the success of their business. After experiencing reliability issues with their previous solution, Utusan decided to upgrade to an enterprise-level offering. Their choice: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 because of the product’s extensive capabilities and reliability. With Exchange Server 2007, Utusan’s reporters can quickly and securely file their stories via e-mail from the field and move on to cover the next breaking news assignment. The result: More timely news articles for their readers.

To read more about Utusan’s experience with Exchange Server 2007, please see their case study.

Here are a few other links to interesting accounts of customers experiencing benefits with Exchange Server 2007:

·         Indiana University staff enjoys greater flexibility and telecommuting options with “anywhere, anytime” access to their e-mail and voicemail.

·         Employees of Central Technology Services, a subsidiary of Central Bancompany, save 15 minutes a day with Exchange Server.

·         Construction giant Webcor Builders takes advantage of Exchange Server’s integrated e-mail, search and archiving capabilities.

·         QubicaAMF, one of the largest bowling manufacturers and suppliers in the world, uses Exchange Server to help simplify communications and increase productivity.

·         Golden Pyramids Plaza experiences a 30 per cent boost in productivity with Exchange Server.

For additional case studies, you can also visit the Microsoft Case Study site: www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

While Exchange Server 2007 is currently available for purchase, in April Microsoft introduced a beta of the Exchange Server 2010 that builds on all of the great features Exchange Server 2007 currently offers. For those of you interested in testing the latest version of Exchange or would like more information on the product, please check it out at:  http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010.

Today, the Unified Communications Group is pleased to kick off the initial charter of the Microsoft Unified Communications Consultant Program (UCCP), a program designed to provide consultants with the resources needed to enhance their expertise in Microsoft unified communication solutions.

The UCCP offers consultants a rich forum to develop direct and ongoing relationships with Microsoft subject matter experts, consultant program managers, product group teams and executive leadership, while learning firsthand about the benefits customers and partners are experiencing with Microsoft unified communications solutions.  The goal of the UCCP is to help consultants evaluate Microsoft unified communications products and effectively translate their expertise into exciting, new opportunities for their customers.  

The initial charter of the UCCP has engaged a small group of independent telecom consultants who are experienced in delivering strategic assessments, Request for Proposal (RFP) development, and the evaluation process and product selection of unified communications technologies for enterprise clients. 

Energy. We all need it, we all use it, and there’s probably no other industry sector out there that better understands the importance of squeezing the most out of precious resources. So what steps are they taking within their own organizations to be more productive in these tough times? For this month’s customer spotlight, we look at the energy sector and how Microsoft unified communications products are helping businesses in this industry conserve two important internal resources: time and money.

Genesis Energy, a Houston-based energy company, is always looking for innovative technologies to help reduce costs and increase productivity. When the company decided to relocate its headquarters into a different building, they were faced with the question of what to do with their aging PBX. Uprooting their outdated phone system and moving it to the new location was not an option.

Genesis’ IT department investigated their options for replacing their old PBX. After evaluating Microsoft’s offerings and several competitor products, Genesis decided to implement Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Messaging.

The result? Better use of resources:

·         Genesis will save an estimated U.S. $50,000 each year with reduced travel-related and communications-related expenses.

·         With more streamlined communications, employees have an easier time collaborating and communicating with colleagues.

·         Genesis’ IT department is able to more quickly respond to help-desk requests.

You can read more about Genesis’ experience with Microsoft’s unified communications solutions in their case study: Energy Company Cuts Costs, Boosts Productivity with Unified Communications

To see how other energy companies are saving resources with Microsoft UC, check out these case studies:

Schlumberger video case study: Oil and Gas Industry Leader Enhances Software with Unified Communications Solution

Royal Dutch Shell: Royal Dutch Shell Envisions Improved Working Environment with Unified Communications  

·         You can also find additional details about Royal Dutch Shell’s implementation of Microsoft unified communications solutions in this IDC white paper: Unified Communications in Manufacturing: Accelerating Decisions While Lowering Costs

All Microsoft case studies can be found here: www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

Each month, we look at different organizations across various industries to see how unified communications is transforming their businesses. This month we highlight academic institutions, from school districts to colleges and universities, and how these educational establishments are using Microsoft’s UC software to change the ways they communicate and collaborate.

The University of Kentucky

With over 44,000 faculty and students, the University of Kentucky (UK) is the state’s primary public institute of higher education. UK offers over 200 degree programs to students at its main campus in Lexington, and through distance learning programs.

Like any bustling business with thousands of employees in hundreds of departments working from dozens of locations, the University needed a solution to facilitate easier, real-time communication for its staff and students.

The UK implemented Office Communications Server 2007 to meet the challenge. With presence, instant messaging, and audio, video, and Web conferencing integrated into its core administrative, IT and educational applications, the university streamlined communications across the learning community. Just a few of the results include:

·         Improved productivity and an estimated 15 minutes saved per day per user

·         Reduced travel costs associated with meetings throughout the university system

For additional details on the University of Kentucky’s use of Office Communications Server 2007, see this Microsoft case study: University Adopts Unified Communications to Improve Education, Streamline Operations.

Gartner Research also recently completed a case study that reveals how the University of Kentucky benefits from Microsoft’s unified communications solutions. Read more here:  Case Study: University of Kentucky Uses Unified Communications to Enhance Communication and Cut Costs. (Gartner Inc., Jay Lassman, March, 2009)

Other educational organizations across the globe are choosing Microsoft Unified Communications too. Check out these Microsoft Case Studies for more details: 

A collection of case studies can be found at the Microsoft Case Study website: www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

The beta for Exchange Server 2010, the cornerstone of our UC technology, is here and available for download today at www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010 .  This release is, without question, the best Exchange yet.  And, it all centers around our customers.  With Exchange 2010, we demonstrate our relentless pursuit of addressing customers’ needs – both IT professionals and end users.  If I could sum up Exchange 2010 in one phrase it would be: Accomplish More.  At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about – getting more done while lowering costs.  Exchange 2010 delivers on this promise in so many ways – let’s dig into just a few.

With Exchange 2010, customers can:

·         Get the rich inbox experience across the PC, phone and browser.  Exchange, with Outlook, Outlook Mobile and Outlook Web Access, offers consistent and full featured universal inbox (that means email, voicemail with text previews, SMS, IM all in one place) experience regardless of where you’re accessing your email.  Based on the new inbox productivity tools and anywhere access, my team is literally getting 30-60 minutes back a day in productivity time saved.

·         Never send that mistaken email again.  With MailTips, you are warned before you hit send about sending to a very large distribution group, sending to recipients outside of the company and the annoyance of sending email to someone out of the office only to get their OOF message and having to send it again to someone else.  It’s like having x-ray vision into your email system. 

·         End the .PST forever.   IT admins will soon be able to say “what’s a .PST?” because the new archive feature provides the option to eliminate .PST files (personal, locally stored e-mail repositories) while not disrupting the end user experience or having to learn new IT management tools.  The Exchange 2010 integrated archive lowers e-discovery costs and brings this business critical functionality within reach for all customers.

·         Lower support costs through reduced help desk calls. Non-deliverable e-mails and message delivery tracking are top drivers of email support costs. With Exchange 2010’s new end user self-service capabilities and inbox features, these calls are dramatically reduced.

·         Replace legacy voice mail systems. That’s right. Customers can eliminate costly maintenance fees, get more from IT resources, and boost productivity with Exchange 2010 voice mail with unified messaging  - especially with the enhancements we’ve made to this version, such as the new voice mail text preview, so you can quickly triage voice mails without ever listening to the message).

·         Dramatically lower storage costs and deliver larger mailbox quotas.  The incredible advances around Exchange 2010 storage management and IOPs reduction enable organizations to choose low-cost storage options while still ensuring high availability.  This means offering end users larger mailboxes while not increasing costs is possible -- this is truly where you can deliver more for less. 

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. For more on the benefits Exchange 2010 can bring to you and your organization, check out the video Q&A with Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president of Exchange, and visit the Office 2010 and related products virtual press room for more.

With that, go download the beta, take it for a spin and let us know what you think!

The Register recently published an article on the messaging landscape entitled “The Messaging is the Medium:  Survey results are in”.   In an online research study looking at what messaging platform companies were running and how committed they were to them, The Register gathered over 1100 responses across different organization sizes: corporate (over 5,000 employees); mid-market (250-5,000 employees) and SMB (up to 249 employees).  In the end, the findings weren’t surprising to most, finding the Exchange has over 80% of the market in the corporate segment and 57% of the SMB segment.  These numbers are pretty in line with other analysts findings as well, such as Ferris who found Exchange had about 65% share across all organizational sizes.  Studies like these keep coming out showing the continued growth Exchange is having in the messaging marketplace.   With 11+ million Lotus Notes switchers over the past 3 years, an Exchange Online offering that’s off to a tremendous start, a Live@EDU offering taking the academic market by storm, and continued investment in Exchange both as on premises server and as a service as a part of Microsoft’s Software + Services vision, the future looks very bright competing against IBM and others to win many more amazing customers.  In fact, I couldn’t have said it better than The Register does, so I’ll leave you with a couple of great quotes from the article:

     Among corporates, the story is pretty clear; Microsoft is the platform of choice for over eighty percent of respondents while a large proportion of Lotus Notes/Domino customers regard their own choice as a legacy system.

And….

     Despite attempts to refresh the Lotus brand with a combination of new Notes and Domino releases as well as a plethora of related products such as Sametime, Quickr, Connections and Symphony, it looks as if the ‘legacy’ tag is still hanging round IBM’s neck like a millstone

Brandon Hoff

Sr. Technical Product Manager

Exchange Product Marketing

We just wrapped up VoiceCon Orlando 2009. It was another exciting year at the event – we participated in numerous customer panels and sessions, several partner announcements, and Gurdeep Singh Pall delivered a keynote that highlighted customers and partner successes with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.

As part of the keynote, Gurdeep talked about a big customer win for our Unified Communications Group. Recently, Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) looked for a UC solution to replace its aging PBX system. With a whopping 40% of its current workforce entering retirement over the next few years, BNSF needed a modern communications platform that could help attract and retain a younger workforce.  BNSF tested solutions from Microsoft competitors, including Cisco and IBM, but chose Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for its software-powered platform. You can find out more about the BNSF solution in an article posted by Ina Fried/CNET, Microsoft's telephony software gains railroad ties.

Sprint and Swisscom also joined Gurdeep on stage.  Sprint is dramatically reducing costs and greenhouse gas emissions by replacing their network of PBX systems with a centralized Office Communications Server deployment, and Swisscom responds to sales opportunities twenty percent more quickly because of the employee efficiency promoted by Microsoft UC.

These customer examples were the highlight of Gurdeep’s keynote for me, and in fact, the highlight of Voicecon.  Architectures and features are fine, but business results really talk.

Want more information about Microsoft VoiceCon activities? See a replay of Gurdeep’s keynote at www.voicecon.com/orlando, and check out our partner announcements with Polycom and Aspect.

BJ Haberkorn
UC Senior Product Manager

The Microsoft Unified Communications Group has a busy week ahead at VoiceCon Orlando. On the heels of our Office Communications Server 2007 R2 launch, momentum keeps building as our partners continue to benefit from Microsoft’s open partner ecosystem. 

From sunny Florida, here’s some of what you’ll hear from Microsoft partners at the event:

·         On March 30, Microsoft and Polycom will announce Polycom as the worldwide reseller of Microsoft RoundTable, renamed the Polycom CX5000 Unified Conferencing Station.

·         Also on March 30, Microsoft and Aspect will provide a progress update to coincide with the one year anniversary of the Microsoft and Aspect global strategic alliance and equity investment.

Microsoft’s VP  Gurdeep Singh Pall will be giving a VoiceCon keynote address on Wednesday April 1^st at 9 a.m. EST, “Smart Decisions for Tough Times.” He’ll talk about the strong emergence of unified communications solutions to help companies weather the economic storm, while increasing productivity, collaboration and efficiency. View a replay of Gurdeep’s keynote at: www.voicecon.com/orlando; or find additional information about the Microsoft VoiceCon announcements in the Unified Communications Group Virtual Press Room at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/uc/default.mspx.

Microsoft spokespeople will also be hosting numerous customer panels and sessions throughout the event.  Find complete schedule and event details at www.voicecon.com/orlando.

BJ Haberkorn, 
UC Senior Product Manager

In the last few months, we have highlighted case studies showing how different industries, including telecom and manufacturing, benefit from Microsoft unified communications solutions. This month, we take a look at the government sector.

The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention was looking for a way to build on its existing infrastructure for improved operational efficiency and collaboration amongst its employees. The company deployed Office Communications Server 2007 to provide its staff with an integrated e-mail, conferencing, instant messaging and voice solution.

The result? The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention is experiencing increased productivity, improved mobility options and reduced costs for travel and IT administration. Find out more about their solution here:  Swiss Safety Council Expects 220 Percent Return on Communications Investment

Check out these other case studies to see how local, national and international government organizations are saving time and money with Microsoft Office Communications Server.

·         Tayside Fire and Rescue: Rescue Workers Expand Communications Options to Improve Operations and Reduce Costs

·         Alaska Legislative Affairs Agency: Alaska Legislative Affairs Agency Supports Far Flung Operations With Unified Communication and Collaboration Solutions from Microsoft

·         Salford City Council: Council Increases Productivity by 35 Per Cent with Unified Communications Solution

·         Municipality of Heumen: Dutch Municipality Modernizes IT Environment with New Desktop Software

A complete list of Microsoft case studies can be found at www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

You can also find additional information on what government organizations are doing with unified communications here: http://www.microsoft.com/uc/industrysolutions/government.mspx

Today, we are launching Microsoft Online Services in 19 countries worldwide. People in these countries can now try Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Office Communications Online, and next month, these services will be available for purchase.

As part of this news, we’re also announcing that GlaxoSmithKline has chosen Microsoft Online Services as their messaging and collaboration platform.  GSK is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, and back in 2001, when GlaxoWelcome merged with SmithKline Beecham, the company standardized on Lotus Notes and Sametime.  Now, they will be moving more than 100,000 employees to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online, and Office Live Meeting, and in their recent quarterly call, they estimated that this move help them reduce costs by 30%.

You can read more about the decision process GlaxoSmithKline used in this guest blog by their VP of IT, Ingo Elfering.  Ingo offers some great perspective on what businesses should consider when evaluating vendors and thinking about a move to the cloud.

If you are looking to move to Microsoft Online Services, visit www.microsoft.com/online to learn how.

Clint Patterson
Director
Analyst Relations / Public Relations

Today, many companies are facing the same challenges: how to improve communications and increase productivity, while reducing operational costs, and they are increasingly looking at unified communications software to help meet and solve these challenges. Last month, we highlighted telecom customers that are implementing Office Communications Server 2007. This month, we are taking a look at how manufacturing businesses are benefiting from implementing Microsoft’s unified communications software.

Take BMW for example. BMW implemented the recently launched Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to take advantage of the improved desktop sharing and enhanced audio/video capabilities.  The company expects to have up to 17,000 employees using Office Communications Server 2007 R2 in 2009.  In particular, the desktop sharing helps extensively with training, allows engineers to share design specifications and to keep project completion times on schedule, and lets external vendors to participate when needed using Office Communicator Web Access. For more info on BMW’s unified communications solution, check out the full case study here: BMW: Leading Automaker Takes Employee Collaboration to New Heights with Communication Software.

For other ways manufacturing companies—from auto-makers to consumer goods manufacturers—are using Office Communications Server to solve their business needs, take a look at these case studies:

• Lion Nathan: Australasian Beverage Maker Further Utilizes Conferencing and Collaboration Solution
• Bavarian Auto Group: Auto Company Saves $400,000, Enhances Employee Communications with New Solution
• Power Transmission Products Manufacturer: Texas-Based Manufacturer Cuts Costs, Boosts Collaboration with Unified Communications
• Rockford Corporation: Mobile Audio Manufacturer Connects Remote Workforce with Unified Communications Makeover
• Marico Limited: Consumer Goods Company Cuts Costs, Boosts Efficiency with Unified Communications
• Intel -Intel Expects Twenty Percent Reduction in Audio Conferencing Costs with Unified Communications
• Shell – Royal Dutch Shell Envisions Improved Working Environment with Unified Communications
• Dassault –Web Conferencing Is Expected to Deliver Savings at French Aircraft Manufacturer
• Volvo – Volvo Expects Conferencing Costs to Fall up to 50 Percent with Collaboration Solution

Justin Fenton, Senior Product Manager for UC

Last week, in more pre-Lotusphere PR, IBM announced their intent to acquire Outblaze’s email technology and make it part of Bluehouse, IBM’s cloud-based social computing and collaboration offering, which is now in beta. 

This is a fascinating acquisition.  Why acquire Outblaze when Lotus Notes is the #2 business email solution in the market?  What will happen to the hosted Notes messaging solution IBM announced last fall?  Why not scale Lotus Notes to a deliver a multi-tenant or Web-accessible offering?  Why make customers choose between Notes for on-premises email or Outblaze/LotusLive Notes for cloud-based email?  Couldn’t IBM convince enough users to get on hosted notes so they had to buy some consumer grade users to test scalability? 

When I talk to customers, they tell me they do not want a technology ultimatum – a hard choice between a roadmap in the cloud or on-premises.  Customers require the flexibility to use both and move between both modes of delivery, and that’s why our approach with Exchange Server and Exchange Online is catching on.  Will IBM’s new email strategy give customers that flexibility?  Only time will tell.

As in the days of Workplace, IBM’s email strategy seems once again murky.

Brandon Hoff

Exchange Technical Product Manager

Last Wednesday, IBM kicked off their pre-Lotusphere PR barrage by claiming momentum for Lotus Notes.  Throwing out a half-dozen stats, IBM seemingly mounted an unassailable argument for the resurgence of the once-thought-dead Notes, except for one thing – most of it was false.

Case in point, early versions of the IBM release quote Gartner stats about market share, but by Friday, IBM had doctored the release to remove the Gartner stats.  Maybe this article in Computerworld (Au contraire: Exchange's lead over Notes is actually 'getting bigger and bigger,' says Gartner <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic

&articleId=9126118&intsrc=news_ts_head> ) had something to do with it?

After being on the market for a year now, we continue to see widespread customer adoption of Microsoft’s unified communications platform.  To highlight these customers, every month the Unified Communications blog will spotlight a specific industry and show how they are benefiting from Microsoft’s software-based approach to unified communications.

This month, we are looking at the telecom industry. Top telecom companies across the globe are experiencing cost savings, time savings and improved productivity with customers, or their own employees, since implementing Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Check out some of the case studies below for more details on what each of these telecom companies is doing and how they are benefiting from unified communications.  Highlights include:

• Portugal Telecom employees saved over 15 hours a month in productivity gains after deploying Office Communications Server.
• Irish telecom, eircom estimates time savings of 30 minutes per day per employee using presence technology equates to 1.48 million dollar savings for organization.
• By conducting meetings with Microsoft’s unified communications products, webcall GmbH saw a 20% reduction in business travel for meetings.
• Global Crossing has seen “immediate and dramatic savings in long distance and audio conferencing costs” since implementing Office Communications Server 2007.

Plan to check back regularly to see what business problems other industries are solving with software-powered unified communications. Enjoy!

Case Studies

• The Portugal Telecom Group: “Global Service Provider Employees Save 15 Hours a Month with Seamless Communication”
• eircom Telecom Company Calls on Integrated Collaboration Solution to Optimize Productivity
• France Telecom:“France Telecom Strengthens Its Unified Communications with Integrated Solution”
• Global Crossing: “Global Crossing Cuts Costs, Unifies Communications with Integrated Solution”
• MTS Allstream: “Software Developer Uses Solution to Simplify Communications and Cut Travel Costs”
• webcall GmbH: “IP Telephony Company Staff Each Save 30 Minutes a Day with Unified Communications”
• Geomant “Implementation of Unified Communications Powered by Microsoft at Geomant”
• Avtex: “Company Expects Web Conferencing Solution to Save Nearly $70,000 Annually”
• Bell Canada: “Communications Provider Expects to Improve Productivity, Reduce Costs with VoIP Solution”

To check out additional case studies, please visit www.microsoft.com/casestudies