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: Macawber Beekay, a manufacturing company, started its operations in 1984, as a joint venture with Clyde Bergemann Materials Handling Ltd. They had to address a host of issues while selecting an appropriate tool that would meet their communication demands and requirements. Beekay opted for and capitalised on the surging demand for unified communications solutions, and deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007.

The reason behind opting for the Microsoft suite of solutions was that Microsoft offered them a solution which easily integrated into their existing infrastructure and also there was no need to deploy additional or new infrastructure. Moreover, the ease of use of Microsoft solutions made it possible for users to adapt easily and also brings down the IT administration costs. Deploying Exchange Server 2007 offered Macawber very high mobility, scalability and especially security with Microsoft Forefront.

The primary aim behind this process was to streamline and strengthen their IT infrastructure and improve employee productivity. Macawber Beekay also aimed for smarter, easier and cost-effective means of communication. The deployment would facilitate real-time contact and faster decision-making, and also enhance mobility and increase the modes of communication like video conferences.

All this, they felt, would enable decision-makers and other employees with apt tools to perform actions. The adoption of technologies like OCS would enable them to match steps with their partners and collaborators as well. The company wanted to secure ways to use technologies like instant messaging and VoIP.

After scanning through solutions like Linux, Mac operating system-based and Lotus Notes, they chose to go ahead with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Phase 1 of the implementation was at their offices in Delhi, Noida and Kolkata, which commenced in January 2008 and ended in May this year.

Gautam Gupta, director, Macawber Beekay, says, “Office Communications Server 2007 potentially touches all aspects of IT infrastructure, including network security, telephony solutions, identity management, and client software. New features include improvements to instant messaging and presence information, which indicates the real-time status of employees, based on Office Outlook 2007 calendar information, activity status and user preferences.”

The Exchange Server 2007 delivers emails, faxes and voice mail to one integrated inbox. Users can access information from clients such as Microsoft Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client, or from a telephone using Microsoft Office Outlook Voice Access.

With unified messaging, users don’t have to search for information from different sources and can identify high-priority voice messages without having to listen to every message like in a traditional voice-mail.

Presence is one of the key advantages Beekay has reaped, which shows the current status of employee availability—if they are on calls, in a meeting, or on travel assignments, and connection through the click of a mouse—using instant messaging, phone or video conference. This saves time as well as cost on trying to reach people who are not readily present.

The implementation of Office Communications Server 2007 took place in the company’s New Delhi office, which connects to all branches, and this was done in three calendar months, including the telephony and exchange integration.

Gupta asserts, “With the use of IM, unified messaging, IP telephony, presence functionality of OCS, we have seen considerable reduction in communication and travel costs, especially between Delhi and Kolkata offices. We have been able to reduce travel and communication costs by 10%-15%. We further expect this to come down by 40%-50%.”

He adds, “For us, the benefits also go beyond better collaboration because we had experience with Linux-based messaging solution (and we had considered Linux based-solution before opting for OCS), but still we chose to go for Microsoft simply because it gives us support and the infrastructure is more manageable. That saves us more cost, time, and efforts.”

A look at the significant benefits in depth:

Simplified administration: Microsoft Unified Communications technologies use the Active Directory service in Windows Server to combine names, private branch exchange (PBX) extensions, email IDs and logons, with a single corporate directory. All this leads to lesser administrative problems and a more controlled IT environment.

Reduced costs: Reducing the traveling time for employees between different office locations and also the high cost associated with it was one of the main aims of Beekay. The company achieved this target by furnishing employees with video-conferencing and file-sharing capabilities, shared desktops and VoIP communication. This has given them a significant saving on finance.

Improved information sharing: The Exchange Server 2007 has made for easier and more flexible ways of communications and also access to voice-mail, email and faxes.

Real-time access to people and information through presence awareness and instant messaging has galvanised the process of searching, finding, collaborating and communicating with local and remote users.

Real-time collaboration: With the availability of presence and instant messaging through Office Communications Server 2007, employees can stay in close contact with colleagues while telecommuting from other remote locations. In addition, deployment of Microsoft Exchange Server across the whole company has created a Microsoft unified messaging infrastructure, combining email with voice services.

In next phase, the company is planning to extend the updated services so that at least another 100 people can benefit from the same. This decision was taken after they found remarkable improvements in conducting discussions seamlessly and closing proposals faster. Further, they are planning to leverage on Communicator Web access and Communicator Mobile 2007 on Windows Mobile devices since they already have the infrastructure in place to use it. This will be done in a phased manner so that the roll out is planned, well accepted and utilised by all.

The implementation was handled by Microsoft Consultancy Services and Macawber had their support throughout. The process of integrating OCS with the existing PBX systems is currently in progress with the support of their PBX vendor.