When Top Technology Firms Need Talent, They Turn to Bridgeview IT. Bridgeview IT Is a Staffing

Microsoft Online Services Customer Solution Case Study

Recruiting Firm Chooses Microsoft Cloud Services over Google and Fuels Productivity

Overview “Cash flow is important, and having a monthly bill with Country or Region: United States minimal costs just makes good business sense. Moving to Industry: Professional services Microsoft Online Services has been good for business, any Customer Profile BridgeView IT is a staffing and recruiting way you look at it.” company for the IT industry. Based in Tim Glennie, Managing Partner, BridgeView IT Denver, Colorado, the company also has offices in the New York metro area and San Francisco. BridgeView IT provides recruiting services for technology firms.

Business Situation To provide customers with fast answers, and employees with The company’s diverse communications easy-to-use and reliable communications tools, BridgeView IT tool set required multiple logons, presented potential security risks, and replaced its on-premises email environment and Google worried management with reliability document-sharing and instant-messaging services with concerns and high costs. Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite. The Solution subscription-based suite provides cloud-based email, BridgeView IT jettisoned its in-house email server and signed up for Microsoft collaboration, instant messaging, and web conferencing. With Business Productivity Online Standard the switch, BridgeView IT employees have faster access to Suite, which provides cloud-based email, collaboration, instant messaging, and information for more competitive customer service. By running web conferencing. email in Microsoft data centers, BridgeView IT is free to focus on

Benefits its core business and enjoys higher email reliability. The Improved productivity and company avoided spending U.S.$13,000 on a new messaging competitiveness More focus on core business infrastructure and saves $8,200 annually on server maintenance Enhanced reliability and third-party backup software. Cost avoidance of U.S.$13,000 Savings of $8,200 annually Situation additional server hardware to connect When top technology firms need talent, those devices to the email server. they turn to BridgeView IT. BridgeView IT is a staffing and recruiting firm that helps a The company purchased a Dell PowerEdge national network of customers identify and server running the Windows Small Business hire both contract and full-time employees. Server 2003 operating system, a program BridgeView IT has successfully supported that packaged email, internal websites, the IT marketplace for over five years, with support for mobile devices, Internet a major market presence in Colorado and connectivity, file and printer sharing, and the San Francisco and New York data backup and restore at a price metropolitan areas. BridgeView IT is appropriate for a small business. To enable headquartered in Denver. online document sharing and instant messaging, BridgeView IT started using Reliable communication is key to the Google Docs and Google Talk. company’s business. “We’re either talking with a customer about their staffing needs, BridgeView IT had a cumbersome mix of or we’re talking to applicants about communications technologies that required opportunities,” says Tim Glennie, cofounder multiple logons and presented security and Managing Partner at BridgeView IT. As concerns. “With employees spread across the company grew and opened offices in multiple offices, people had to establish different U.S. cities, it became more critical virtual private network connections to than ever to find information and answers access files, and we were concerned about quickly—including the coworker who may network security,” Glennie says. “We hold them—especially while applicants or needed a stable, secure email platform. customers were on the phone. “Because Plus, if we lost power or an on-premises our customers are in the technology server failed, we were out of luck.” industry, they expect us to be using the latest communications technology to By 2010, BridgeView IT had to face the respond quickly to them,” Glennie says. communications technology issue directly because its Exchange Server 2003 software BridgeView IT launched in 2005 with a mix and the server on which it ran were of hosted business solutions to lower woefully out-of-date. “Our business goal startup costs and speed market entry. It has always been to focus on our core used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for competency rather than on running phone service, hosted Microsoft Exchange servers,” Glennie says. “To renew our server Server for email messaging, and a web- and all the software running on it, we were based recruiting and customer-tracking looking at a [U.S.]$13,000 expense.” application. However, in 2006, as licensing costs and the company grew, BridgeView IT Solution decided to bring email in house. Due to In mid-2010, BridgeView IT hired Elizabeth expanded use of BlackBerry smartphones Duran as its new Operations Manager and by its staff members, BridgeView IT needed gave her the assignment of replacing the messaging server. “We had this half-

26 Google, half-Microsoft infrastructure and Presentation is important to our customers. really needed to go one way or the other,” As we continued our research, we Glennie says. uncovered other potential challenges for our needs. For example, the Google Google Apps—30 Day Trial: Not So applications synched with BlackBerry Seamless devices, but it was not a seamless sync. Duran seriously considered adding Google Gmail also didn’t sync well with Outlook Apps and creating an all-Google calendars. The things that didn’t work quite environment because the price was so right kept piling up. The service was appealing—U.S.$50 per user. She, Glennie, inexpensive but for good reason.” and a third employee volunteered to run a 30-day pilot of the Google suite. However, it soon became apparent that personal Microsoft Online Services: A Night-and- support was not readily available. “There Day Difference was no one to talk to,” Duran says. “We In October 2010, Glennie found out about could only deal with Google over the web. Microsoft Business Productivity Online If we called with a question, they directed Standard Suite during a conversation with us to YouTube to watch a video, or to the Jim West, Vice President of Pariveda web. We could submit an email message, Solutions, a Denver-area Microsoft Gold but we experienced a 72-hour turnaround. Certified Partner. Pariveda had successfully We needed a faster response than 72 migrated another customer to the suite, hours. But still, we pushed ahead, because and Glennie was intrigued. Microsoft it was such a good deal.” Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, part of Microsoft Online Services, is a The pilot group soon hit other obstacles. collection of finished services that includes Synchronizing Gmail by Google with folders Microsoft Exchange Online for messaging, in the Microsoft Office Outlook messaging Microsoft SharePoint Online for and collaboration client was problematic. collaboration, Microsoft Office Live Meeting Gmail truncated folder names so that they for web conferencing, and Microsoft Office were unreadable, and according to Glennie, Communications Online for instant the group found the Gmail interface to be messaging. These “cloud” programs are far “clunkier” than employees were used to hosted by Microsoft and delivered over the with Office Outlook. Internet for a monthly per-user subscription. The final straw came when employees had to manually convert Microsoft Office Pariveda helped BridgeView IT confirm that documents to the Google Docs format, the Microsoft online suite would meet its which was an inconvenience and caused needs, and BridgeView IT decided to sign formatting to be lost. “We have lots of up for a 30-day trial to evaluate specific shared Office documents, but when we features and see how the suite met its uploaded them to Google Docs, we had to needs. Pariveda also confirmed that convert them to the Google format,” Business Productivity Online Standard Suite Glennie says. “This was a deal breaker. worked seamlessly with BlackBerry

36 smartphones and with the customer remember multiple passwords. We also like tracking software. “Pariveda had already the fact that employees log on through our been through the validation and migration company rather than creating passwords process with another customer, which gave on their own, outside our firewall.” us the assurance that we were making the right decision,” Glennie says. “Plus, working BridgeView IT is working to move all its files with them was like working with Microsoft; from internal file shares and Google Docs they provided prompt response and had to SharePoint Online. With all documents in deep insight into where the service was one place, employees will not have to headed.” waste time tracking down files, nor will they have to worry about different versions of Microsoft product functionality and files in multiple places. “The rich, visual support were other deciding factors. “We interface of SharePoint Online is also were already familiar with Exchange Server, valuable,” Glennie says. “Using wikis and and we got the feeling that Microsoft was other SharePoint features, we can visually fully committed to growing its hosted direct people to information, so it’s easier solutions business,” Glennie says. and more collaborative. Each of our three “Microsoft support was a night-and-day main departments—Sales, Recruiting, and difference from Google. If something didn’t Operations—can share files, calendars, work, Microsoft always provided a distribution lists, and other information workaround; there was never a straight critical to teamwork.” ‘no.’” Employees are also using Office Suite of Communications Tools: Communications Online instead of Google Continuous Access Talk, and Office Live Communications to Mike Burgess, a Pariveda technical conduct web-based video conferences with architect, used Microsoft migration tools to colleagues in different cities and with migrate BridgeView IT mailboxes to customers who also have the tool. Exchange Online, which provides employees with the latest version of Benefits Exchange Server, 25-gigabyte mailboxes, By taking advantage of Microsoft Online easy access to email from any web browser, Services, BridgeView IT employees are and enhanced protection from malicious more productive and the company is more software (also called malware). BridgeView competitive. The company can focus on its IT makes use of Microsoft Forefront Online core business rather than managing email Protection for Exchange, included with servers, its email service is far more reliable, Exchange Online, for safeguarding against and the company avoided spending about spam, viruses, and phishing scams. $13,000 on a new email system.

“One of the most attractive features was Improved Productivity and the single sign on for all the Microsoft Competitiveness Online Services communications tools,” When the company is using SharePoint Glennie says. “Employees don’t have to Online, Office Communications Online, and

46 Office Live Meeting, BridgeView IT present a much more professional face to employees will truly have information at our customers by using Microsoft Online their fingertips to better serve customers. Services.” “With employees spread between multiple offices, the right person is not always BridgeView IT has also been able to put up available,” Glennie says. “Our turnaround a better front against Internet malware. needs to be very fast. Business Productivity When the company moved its office space Online Standard Suite allows us to find in summer 2010, it had to change the IP information immediately rather than address of its on-premises email server, getting back to candidates and customers which inundated the company with spam. an hour or a day later.” Moving to Microsoft Online Services eliminated this danger. More Focus on Core Business, Rather than IT Expertise Cost Avoidance of $13,000, Plus Savings With Microsoft managing email and other of $8,200 Annually communications services, BridgeView IT is BridgeView IT avoided the $13,000 cost of free to focus on what it does best: place IT upgrading an on-premises email talent. It doesn’t have to install email environment, a savings that is critical to the servers all over the country and constantly fast-growing company. “We’ve also been maintain and upgrade them. Nor does it able to eliminate third-party server have to employ specialized technical staff. maintenance fees of about $600 a month, “As a nontechnical person, I can add a user or $7,200 annually, plus the extra hourly very easily using the online console for consulting rates and $1,000 a year for a Business Productivity Online Standard third-party backup program,” Glennie Suite,” Duran says. “Before, we had to have explains. an outside firm do this for us, and it took a day or two to add just one user. We now “Cash flow is important, and having a can be more responsive and help new monthly bill with minimal costs just makes employees be productive sooner. Microsoft good business sense,” Glennie says. Online Services do not require as much “Moving to Microsoft Online Services has technical know-how, so I’m able to manage been good for business, any way you look our email infrastructure as an operations at it.” manager.”

Enhanced Reliability Stable, always-on communications technologies are critical to business for BridgeView IT. “We’re in the business of communications, and our clients want what they want, when they want it,” Glennie says. “Plus, our clients are in technology, and they expect us to use modern, reliable communications technology. We can

56 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 IT staffers, Microsoft Online Services are backed by strong service level agreements and help reduce the burden of performing routine IT management, freeing up time to focus on core business initiatives.

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