When He Was Still a Student, Myles Kaye Was Earning Money Building Websites, and in 2009

Microsoft Customer Solution Customer Solution Case Study

Design Studio Outgrows Google, Enhances Collaboration with Switch to Office 365

Overview “Google couldn’t support our growth, but Microsoft Office Country or Region: United Kingdom 365 helps us give customers the right impression—that we Industry: Professional services are business professionals, equipped and ready to meet their Customer Profile Founded in 2009 and based in needs.” Manchester, United Kingdom, Atominx Myles Kaye, Director, Atominx offers a broad range of design services for websites, mobile applications, and graphic media. When Myles Kaye founded Atominx in 2009, he chose the

Business Situation Google Mail cloud-based messaging service to support his Atominx used the Google Mail cloud- company’s email communication. But as Atominx grew and Kaye based messaging service to support email communication, but as the hired more employees, Google could not keep pace with the company grew, its collaboration needs company’s collaboration and business needs, and Atominx had began to strain the business facility of Google Mail. to piece together several browser-based solutions. The company needed to develop a single communication domain and build a Solution In December 2011, Atominx adopted centralized collaboration environment that would be simple to Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions for all deploy, manage, and use. In December 2011, Atominx adopted of its employees and freelance designers. subscriptions to the Microsoft Office 365 messaging and Benefits collaboration service for all its employees. Now Atominx More effective collaboration Professional, competitive identity employees work together more effectively, and the company is Streamlined environment positioned more competitively with an enhanced business focus. Enhanced business focus Situation invitations and attachments. If recipients When he was still a student, Myles Kaye didn’t download attachments before they was earning money building websites, and opened them, the files would open in a in 2009, he founded Atominx, a one-man Google interface, often creating web design shop based in Manchester, miscommunication or delay. To provide United Kingdom. His business began to other collaboration capabilities, Atominx grow almost immediately, and within just a pieced together several solutions, such as couple years, Kaye was the director of a 10- Windows Live Messenger and the Dropbox person studio offering a broad range of document-sharing web service. Kaye design services for websites, mobile worried about the impression Atominx applications, and graphic media. might be creating with customers when it communicated from a disparate mix of free When Kaye started Atominx, he adopted solutions. the basic Google Mail cloud-based messaging service to support email “We worked from too many IDs in too communication. But as Atominx hired more many different places,” says Kaye. “I people, developed new offerings, and realized that we were outgrowing Google served more customers, Google did not and that we also needed to develop a keep pace with the company’s single communication domain and a more collaboration needs and business goals. professional identity.”

“At first, Google Apps was easy, and it was Although Atominx had grown rapidly, it free,” says Kaye. “But once we had four was still a small company, and Kaye served employees and six freelance designers as his own IT team, spending several hours trying to collaborate with just the very basic a week helping employees and freelancers email and chat tools in Google Mail, it troubleshoot Google and other solutions. began to feel restrictive.” Kaye did not want to give up the infrastructure savings and low IT Atominx employees and most of its management offered by cloud technology freelance designers were using Microsoft —computing resources delivered as Office Professional Plus 2010 productivity services over the Internet—but he needed a software, but they could not use the more advanced messaging and Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration environment. He wanted a collaboration client because it was difficult centralized environment that would be to interoperate with Google Mail. “Google simple to deploy, manage, and use, and he had a way to interoperate Google Mail with wanted to avoid high infrastructure costs. Outlook, but it was complicated and difficult to set up,” says Kaye. “And when “I wanted to consolidate all our you’re done, you have the email folders, collaboration and productivity tools in a but still no calendar or contacts.” centralized environment,” says Kaye, “and I wanted everything to work without taking With Google Mail, it was sometimes up all my time.” difficult to send or open meeting

25 Solution To help streamline both collaboration and While evaluating several on-premises and routine business administration, Kaye is cloud-based solutions, Kaye discovered using SharePoint Online to set up portals Microsoft Office 365, a subscription-based for sharing documents and libraries for offering from Microsoft cloud services, vacation forms and other HR documents. which includes Microsoft Exchange Online, Employees and designers use Lync Online Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft to connect with each other to share Lync Online, and Microsoft Office Web expertise and resources instantly. “If I want Apps. As a trial, Kaye began using Office to reach somebody, I can check their 365 himself in October 2011. presence on Lync Online,” says Kaye. “If they are available, I can send them an “We were already using Microsoft Office instant message and get what I need right 2010, so we had a lot of trust with now. If they're not, at least I can send them Microsoft, and Office 365 offered all the an email message and then move on to features we needed,” says Kaye. “As soon as something more productive.” I started to use Office 365, I could tell it was a solid, complete solution. Everything Kaye uses the Office 365 administration worked so easily together, on my PC and console to manage accounts, add my mobile devices.” mailboxes, and assign permissions and passwords for users quickly and easily. In December 2011, Atominx adopted Office “Managing Google was very cumbersome, 365 subscriptions for all its employees and with multiple windows and screens within designers. “The Google setup was complex, screens,” says Kaye. “Now, when I get an with many pages, but it was easy to follow automated alert, I go to the appealing, the simple, step-by-step Office 365 setup intuitive, and easy-to-use Office 365 process,” says Kaye. administration console to deal with it, usually in just a few clicks.” With Exchange Online, Atominx employees and designers send and receive email Benefits messages from a single, Atominx domain, When Atominx switched from Google and and they can use all the functionality in began using Office 365 to support its Microsoft Outlook to manage their email, messaging and collaboration environment, calendar, contacts, and tasks. Atominx its employees could work together more employees already used Microsoft Office effectively and better serve customers. The 2010 on their PCs, but company freelancers company has positioned itself more can use Microsoft Office Web Apps to professionally. It has streamlined IT access browser based versions of Office management and enhanced its business programs. “By using Office 365, we are focus. working with a common set of tools, so we can all send, open, and work together on “I could have paid to add more features to documents, presentations, or Google, but then we could have outgrown spreadsheets,” says Kaye. the service again,” says Kaye. “With Microsoft, we got all the features we

35 wanted—and more—in a completely competitive branding,” says Kaye. “Google integrated service from a provider we trust. couldn’t support our growth, but Microsoft It was an easy decision to make the change Office 365 helps us give customers the to Office 365.” right impression—that we are business professionals, equipped and ready to meet More Effective Collaboration their needs.” By using Office 365, Atominx employees and designers can work together—and with Streamlined Environment, Enhanced customers—more effectively than ever Business Focus before. They can easily and correctly send By consolidating its messaging and and open attachments, organize meetings, collaboration environment with Office 365, and manage their calendars. They can share Atominx has enhanced its business documents and presentations in SharePoint effectiveness and reduced its IT sites, or instantly using Lync Online. management burden. Kaye can set up a “It's just so easy to communicate and share new Office 365 user in just minutes or information using Office 365,” says Kaye. configure smartphones and tablet PCs to “With Google we struggled to share run Office 365 by simply clicking an icon documents by email. Now, when I send an and entering a user name and password. instant message asking somebody for a file, And because Atominx employees and they just drag it to their Lync Online designers are familiar with the Microsoft window and I have it instantly.” tools and user interfaces in Office 365, they do not have to rely on Kaye to help them When project teams work together learn to operate the solutions. efficiently, they can streamline review cycles and complete projects faster. “Designers ”I started using Google because I wanted and sales reps can use Office 365 to get an easy ride, but I wound up spending five approvals instantly, instead of waiting up to to ten hours a week helping my team a day for an email response,” says Kaye. change user settings or download attachments,” says Kaye. “Using Office 365, Professional, Competitive Identity I spend less than an hour a week on By communicating and collaborating from maintenance and troubleshooting. It has a central domain, Atominx can minimize freed up my time so I can focus on building email issues and project a single my business.” professional business identity, which positions the company more competitively. For example, instead of asking customers to register for third-party web services such as Dropbox, the company can use SharePoint Online to share large files in an Atominx extranet.

“Collaborating with customers from a single domain is essential for our

45 Microsoft Online Services Microsoft Online Services are business-class communication and collaboration solutions delivered as a subscription service and hosted by Microsoft. With these offerings, customers can cost-effectively access the most up-to-date technologies and immediately benefit from streamlined communications, simplified management, and business-class reliability and security features.

For more information, visit: www.microsoft.com/online