"When you replace a 20-year-old phone and voice-mail system with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Exchange Unified Messaging, there’s no comparison." Director of Informational Technology.

1. Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
Texas-Based Manufacturer Cuts Costs, Boosts
Collaboration with Unified Communications
Overview “When you replace a 20-year-old phone and voice-
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Manufacturing
mail system with Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007 and Exchange Unified Messaging,
Customer Profile
Founded in 1951, this family-owned
there’s no comparison.”
manufacturer of power transmission Vice President of Information Technology
products is based in Texas and operates
manufacturing and sales offices in the With an outdated phone system in its head office and numerous
United States, Canada, Mexico, and China.
incompatible phone systems in nearly 30 branch locations, this
Business Situation family-owned business was having trouble communicating
The company wanted to replace an aging
phone system and update its internally and with customers. In 2008, the company installed an
communications systems so employees in IP-PBX phone system and deployed Microsoft® Office
many locations could collaborate better to
deliver superior customer service. Communications Server 2007. This solution made it possible for
the company to significantly reduce communications costs by
Solution
The company deployed Microsoft® Office switching from traditional phone service to a software-based voice
Communications Server 2007 with over IP (VoIP) solution. Using Microsoft Office Communicator 2007,
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, its
client software, to give employees flexible the client software for Office Communications Server 2007,
tools to collaborate through e-mail, voice, employees now have far more flexible tools for communicating with
IM, and Web conferencing.
others by phone, audio, video or Web conferencing, IM, or e-mail.
Benefits With real-time presence information, employees can locate and
 Reduced costs
 Faster communications and increased
collaborate with colleagues faster and ultimately respond more
productivity quickly to customer needs.
 Improved collaboration
 Better customer service and satisfaction

2. Situation specialized engineering software to design
This family-owned manufacturing business in products. Engineers in the head office resolve
Texas designs and manufactures mechanical major design issues and often provide
power transmission products, material- support and guidance to engineers in smaller
handling systems, and industrial hand tools branch offices. “There really wasn’t a good
for a variety of trades. Agriculture, chemical method for providing that support other than
processing, food and beverage, pulp and sending engineers to the site or making long-
paper, construction, mining, and textiles are distance phone calls to walk them through
just a few of the industries this company how to use the software,” says the IT Vice
serves. With operations in the United States, President.
Canada, Mexico, and China, this
manufacturer offers same-day delivery from The company is an avid user of Microsoft®
its diverse locations, conveniently located in Office products, including Microsoft Office
key cities close to customers. “We are a Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration
service-oriented organization. We don’t sell client, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and
products, we sell service,” says the firm’s Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005.
Vice President of Information Technology. Many employees use PCs, but the company
also uses terminal servers, especially in the
To achieve the best service possible, branch offices. Employees who have PCs
however, the company needed to have a enjoy instant messaging (IM) and presence
companywide phone system. The corporate information—the feature that indicates the
office’s outdated phone system needed to be real-time status and availability of other
replaced, and there were at least twenty users. The company wanted to make these
different types of phone systems and phone and other advanced features more widely
services in use in the company’s branch available.
offices. When a location was short-staffed or
closed due to weather-related conditions, On a larger scale, the company trains
customer calls often couldn’t be answered. employees in-house on software programs
Without a single companywide phone system and safety regulations. It is happy with
there was no way to reroute the calls to other Microsoft Live Meeting, a hosted Web-
branch offices. To make matters worse, when conferencing service that makes it possible
customers left messages, the voice-mail for employees in many locations to log in and
system often didn’t deliver messages until participate in classroom-style Web-based
hours or sometimes even days later. “We training. But without a centralized
wanted to incorporate every branch office on companywide phone system, the company
one phone system so that we could transfer limits the use of Live Meeting to keep long-
calls and take advantage of our sales and distance-calling fees down. “We wanted to
support staff wherever they’re located,” says minimize that cost and at the same time
the Vice President of Information Technology. improve overall communications,” says the
Director of Network and Computer
Another area the company wanted to improve Operations. The company’s ultimate goal was
was collaborative communications among its to replace its outdated PBX system and find a
employees, such as its engineers, who use

3. “The voice features in unified communications solution that of the offices because some of them will
supported voice over IP (VoIP). need upgraded hardware, but we are actively
Office Communications working to deploy the solution in every branch
Server 2007 and the Solution office as soon as possible,” says the Director
Enabling Technologies, a Microsoft Gold of Network and Computer Operations.
integration with our PBX Certified Partner that specializes in Unified
system make it possible Communications, Enterprise Messaging, IM, Benefits
presence, security, and compliance The new unified communications solution has
for us to respond faster applications, helped the company find and helped unite this company by providing tools
to customer questions.” implement a new solution. It began by to encourage and simplify collaboration. “The
replacing the company’s outdated phone strength of this solution is the overall
Director of Network and Computer Operations system with a Cisco IP-PBX solution. It then improvement in the ability to communicate,”
upgraded Microsoft Live Communications says the IT Vice President. “When you replace
Server 2005 to its successor, Microsoft Office a 20-year-old phone and voice-mail system
Communications Server 2007. Employees with Microsoft Office Communications Server
now use Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 Unified
2007, the client software, which gives them Messaging, there’s no comparison.”
access to e-mail, IM, presence, voice mail,
telephony, and Web conferencing features. Reduced Costs
Office Communications Server 2007 includes By switching from traditional phone service to
enhanced support for IP-PBX systems. With VoIP, this manufacturing company was able
this solution the company was able to to cut the number of vendors it deals with in
eliminate the multiple phone companies and branch offices from twenty to just one. The
services used in branch offices and switch solution automatically reduced the complexity
companywide to a software-powered VoIP of telecommunications and reduced costs.
solution. “Enabling Technologies played an “Office Communications Server 2007
important role in deploying this solution. definitely helps reduce our total cost of
Enabling has the expertise we needed to ownership. We’re reducing the number of
switch our phone service to VoIP, handle all phone lines we have in branch offices; we’re
the external connectivity, the certificates, the reducing the outside service cost; and we’re
naming, and so on,” says the VP of reducing the cost for phone calls between
Information Technology. locations. Overall, once the solution is
completely rolled out, we’re projecting a year
Currently, 254 employees in the company’s and a half to two years to payback,” says the
head offices in Arlington, Texas, are using the Director of Network and Computer
new solution, which includes the voice and Operations. In addition, the audio, video, and
conferencing capabilities of Office Web conferencing capabilities built into this
Communications Server 2007 in addition to solution have helped the company cut travel
Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging. In expenses. By opting to hold informal video
the coming months, the solution will gradually calls or Web conferences with colleagues,
be deployed in the branch offices, replacing employees such as engineers can virtually
the twenty or more phone systems currently eliminate traveling to branch offices, thereby
in use. “It will take some time to integrate all

4. increasing their productivity and controlling contact a person, because people have
costs at the same time. multiple ways to do it now—and get an
answer quickly,” says the Network and
Faster Communications and Increased Computer Operations Director. “As we roll the
Productivity solution out to more of our locations, it will be
“The enhanced voice capabilities of Office even easier to get quick answers. We have a
Communications Server 2007 are probably lot of interaction between our remote
the most important new features of the locations and our central office, especially for
product,” says the Director of Network and quoting because we do a lot of special-order
Computer Operations. Because Office products. That whole communication process
Communications Server 2007 is fully will be a lot quicker and easier because we’ll
integrated with Microsoft Office Outlook and have multiple ways to communicate, and we
Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging, have the added benefit of presence
employees can now choose their preferred information.”
mode of communication, whether by instant
“Office Communications message, e-mail, or phone—in one-on-one or Improved Collaboration
Server 2007 definitely group voice calls, with or without video. Access to presence information, which
indicates real-time status and availability of
helps reduce our total Incoming calls appear on every connected users, is a key component in helping
cost of ownership…. device or client, such as the user’s traditional employees collaborate effectively. With Office
PBX phone, cell phone, Office Communicator Communicator 2007, users can instantly see
Overall, once the client, or Outlook Inbox, and can be answered whether someone is on the phone, available
solution is completely however the user chooses. Users can retrieve to talk or meet, does not want to be
voice-mail messages immediately instead of disturbed, or is out of the office. The value of
rolled out, we’re hours or days later as before. Similarly, presence information is often not fully
projecting a year and a employees now have far more options for appreciated until employees actually have
placing calls besides the traditional PBX the feature available to them. It is estimated
half to two years to phone. They can call from their PC simply by that presence information saves users at
payback.” clicking a contact in Office Outlook 2007 or least 30 minutes per week by eliminating
Office Communicator 2007. And when they phone and e-mail tag. “Before, presence
Vice President of Information Technology are away from the office, employees can have information wasn’t integrated with the phone
all of their calls routed to their cell phones or system, so you couldn’t tell when someone
use their PCs like a phone to place and was on the phone, in the shop, or in a
receive calls, e-mail, and voice-mail meeting. We wanted employees to be able to
messages. All of these features give see who was available and when,” says the
employees more flexibility and help them to Director of Network and Computer
communicate with coworkers and customers Operations.
more quickly than before. As a result, they
are able to complete tasks more quickly, With ready access to presence information,
resolve issues within minutes rather than employees are now using IM and other
days, and respond to customer needs and collaboration features differently. For
requests more efficiently. “We have definitely example, employees might start an IM
seen a reduction in the time it takes to conversation with someone, then transition to

5. a voice call simply by clicking the Call button the Vice President of IT. “It would definitely be
in the Conversation window in Office a product that would take advantage of our
Communicator 2007. If other people need to existing infrastructure.”
be consulted, they can easily be added to a
voice conversation—with or without video.
And with a click of the mouse, an employee
can transition an informal conference to a
Web conference and invite as many people
as necessary to attend.
Better Customer Service and
Satisfaction
The company prides itself on providing
human contact when its customers call, and
the new solution will help it continue to do
that. “We don’t want a customer to call in and
get an automated attendant unless it’s after
hours,” says the Director of Network and
Computer Operations. “The voice features in
Office Communications Server 2007 and the
integration with our IP-PBX system make it
possible for us to respond faster to customer
questions. Before, every incoming call had to
go through an operator. Now, an employee
can transfer a call to anybody in any location
without having to put down the phone and
redial. Calls will go through more directly now.
Customers will have easier access to
employees, and they will see quicker quote
response time. We expect to be more
effective in everything we do. Overall, we are
very pleased with the new features of Office
Communications Server 2007. It all works the
way we expected it to.”
For the immediate future, full rollout is the
company’s primary task. Afterward, the
company hopes to experiment more with
Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007
and evaluate the benefits of integrating it into
its existing solution. “For our accounting
department, we are also interested in
Microsoft Business Solutions—Axapta®,” says

6. For More Information Microsoft Office System
For more information about Microsoft The Microsoft Office system is the business
products and services, call the Microsoft world’s chosen environment for information
Sales Information Center at (800) work, providing the programs, servers, and
426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft services that help you succeed by
Canada Information Centre at (877) transforming information into impact.
568-2495. Customers who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text For more information about the Microsoft
telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) Office system, go to:
892-5234 in the United States or (905) www.microsoft.com/office
568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50
United States and Canada, please contact
your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide Web, go
to: www.microsoft.com
For more information about Enabling
Technologies Corp. products and services,
call (800) 923-4310 or visit the Web site
at:
www.enablingtechcorp.com
Software and Services Hardware
 Microsoft Exchange Server 2007  Dell servers
 Microsoft Office
− Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007
− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published July 2008