Software Company Uses Cloud-Based File Sharing and Conferencing for Global Support

Microsoft Office 365 Customer Solution Case Study

Overview Office 365 gives us an environment we can use around the Country or Region: Germany world. Now we can connect every time, at every place, to Industry: IT/Healthcare check emails, have online meetings, and reach our Customer Profile ifa systems AG is an industry leader in SharePoint files. developing software that helps Heiko Zeumer, CIO, ifa systems AG ophthalmologists and their staffs maintain electronic medical records and Ophthalmologists turn to ifa systems to capture diagnostic other practice management activities. information from specialty equipment and create more

Business Situation complete records, so they can focus instead on protecting their To support installation teams that travel patients’ vision. However, ifa itself struggled to maintain secure, to customers around the world, ifa systems needed easy, secure access to remote access to email and important documents for its own email and files from any place, at any employees. Facing the limits of a small IT staff, the software time. company realized it needed to move infrastructure and Solution administration to the cloud in order to support its remote With one simple login, Microsoft Office 365 brings Outlook email, Lync Online installation teams. conferencing and chat, and SharePoint file sharing to installation teams in any country or time zone. Using a single login, ifa employees can now access Office 365 from a variety of mobile devices for Outlook email, calendars, Benefits Email and virtual conferencing and contacts. In addition, ifa employees, of which about 80% Easy document sharing work remotely, can easily collaborate with desktop sharing and Minimal IT support IM through Lync Online. ifa’s IT team no longer works weekends to maintain on-premise hardware, and administration is as simple as sending an invitation. Situation the company expanded with a new office in Like the doctors it serves, ifa systems AG the U.S., maintenance became even more excels in one specialty: developing software complicated. Zeumer says ifa wanted to for ophthalmologists. ifa systems is trusted reduce the company’s reliance on its by more than 10,000 professionals around headquarters by outsourcing some of its IT the world for its industry-leading software infrastructure to the cloud. “We don’t want for electronic medical records and practice to support the ongoing maintenance and management. upgrades associated with running our own servers if there are better alternatives,” he Headquartered in Frechen, Germany, the says. company has grown to about 150 employees since its launch in 1984. The Solution group’s specially trained teams travel In 2012, ifa systems transitioned all 150 throughout Europe, the U.S., China, and employees to Microsoft Office 365, an Australia to complete on-site software online service which unites familiar installations at clinics and practices of every Microsoft Office applications with email, size. Although roughly 80% of its calendaring, collaboration, and employees work remotely at times, ifa communication solutions. ifa learned about systems struggled to provide email and file Office 365 from its IT partner Utilitas, and sharing that could be accessed securely the decision was easy. According to from any country. “We needed a stable Zeumer, ifa wasn’t interested in other platform and access to our email and cloud-based solutions. “The best provider documents at every time and place we for the product was Microsoft,” he says. were,” says Heiko Zeumer, CIO of ifa systems. Because Office 365 includes Exchange Online, ifa’s installation teams can log into Once the installation teams reach a their Outlook email, calendar, and contacts customer’s clinic, they need to stay in touch no matter where they are, as long as they with colleagues back at headquarters to have an Internet connection. Field share information about the project’s employees can also log in from a wide status, get help troubleshooting, and view array of smartphones and tablets, including instructions or other documentation. Windows Phones, Android phones and However, ifa’s technicians ran into tablets, iPhones, or iPads. problems using international phone services and getting to email. Trying to To better facilitate the step-by-step process coordinate among multiple staff and ifa’s technicians follow, the company disparate documentation became a time- worked with Utilitas to implement a project consuming challenge. management application for SharePoint Online, another component of Office 365. To compound the problem, ifa’s three- Now, members of the installation teams person IT department simply did not have can simply check off the status of tasks that enough time to maintain secure, remote need to be performed at each site, and access to its on-premise Microsoft anyone contacted to assist has an accurate Exchange and SharePoint systems. When picture of their status without launching a

24 flurry of emails . The application has helped Global Collaboration minimize problems during installation, As ifa sells software to more and more shortening the time required and reducing ophthalmological practices around the the cost. world, Lync Online makes it easier than ever to share information and support. “We can With Lync Online, colleagues can quickly now tap into our knowledge base reach each other through virtual worldwide,” says Zeumer. “Before, our conferencing, desktop sharing, and IM. conference solution allowed only eight “Previously, we had no screen sharing, and users. Now, we all have headsets and can it was difficult to initiate meetings,” says use Lync to talk to each other whenever we Zeumer. “Now, I can see that my colleague need to.” is online and we can do a screen share and chat. It’s much easier.” Less Demand on IT Maintaining on-premise systems used to The company’s three-person IT team, which strain ifa’s IT resources. “With the opening started the migration to Office 365 on a of an office in the U.S., we worked a lot on Saturday, was pleased to find that the weekends for routine maintenance,” employers were up and running by Monday says Zeumer. “We no longer have to work morning. Today, new workers receive an after hours to manage our email and invitation and basic instructions about how collaboration tools.” Also, with to log into Office 365, and they’re ready to infrastructure and security managed in the go. cloud, Zeumer says he no longer has to search for product keys, scramble to Benefits purchase new licenses, or train users on Office 365 gives ifa one place to reach all new features. “We set up a new user with the information and tools employees need. basic credentials, and all the licensing It has also freed up the company’s IT group administration is done, along with to focus projects the business values highly. provisioning Lync, SharePoint and “We are exploring applications to automate Exchange with a few simple clicks. We’ve other processes currently managed on even set up departmental administrators to paper with applications on SharePoint take care of the routine requests.” Online, like vacation tracking and contract management,” explains Zeumer. As ifa continues to expand into other markets, Zeumer says he’s looking forward Connect Any Time, Any Place to less administration and more support for Zeumer says that today, all a technician his end-users. “Office 365 is easier to needs for a successful installation is an administer, it’s easier for our employees to Internet connection. “Office 365 gives us an use, and we don’t need to plan for environment we can use around the world,” maintenance. It’s just easier for everyone.” he says. “Now we can connect every time, at every place, to check emails, have online meetings, and reach our SharePoint applications and files.”

34 Microsoft Office 365 Microsoft Office 365 brings together cloud versions of our most trusted communications and collaboration products—Microsoft SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, and Lync Online—with the latest version of our Office desktop suite and companion web applications for businesses of all sizes.

Office 365 helps save time and money, and it frees up valued resources. Simple to use and easy to administer, it is financially backed by a service level agreement guaranteeing 99 percent reliability. Office 365 features robust security, IT-level phone support, geo-redundancy, disaster recovery, and the business-class privacy controls and standards that you expect from a world-class service provider.

For more information about Microsoft Office 365, go to: www.office365.com