Windows 7 Professional helps to Drive Greater Customer Satisfaction and Efficiency for IT Firm

1. Windows 7
Customer Solution Case Study
OS Seen as Driver of Greater Customer
Satisfaction and Efficiency for IT Firm
Overview “Making money is directly tied to keeping customers
Country or Region: United States
Industry: IT Consulting, Professional
happy. Features like Problem Steps Recorder are
Services amazing tools that will help us capture and solve
Customer Profile
problems faster.”
itSynergy of Phoenix, AZ, delivers Michael Cocanower, president of itSynergy
comprehensive IT products and services to
more than 200 small and mid-size
customers. The firm has 10 employees and
20 computers. itSynergy, Phoenix, Arizona, provides technology solutions to over
200 small and mid-size customers while driving their businesses
Business Situation
Paying attention to customer satisfaction strategically and achieving bottom-line results. The consulting firm
as well as operational efficiencies are the has been invited to be part of the Windows® 7 Professional pre-
two main business challenges for the IT
firm. launch program called Ignite. itSynergy earned this honor because
of a proven commitment to excellence and its past achievements
Solution
Features in Windows 7 are helping drive as a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner. The firm‟s constant attention
increased customer satisfaction and get IT to improving customer satisfaction and operational efficiencies has
consulting work done faster.
helped it take advantage of a number of new features in the
Benefits Windows 7 operating system. For example, engineers are
 Deployment Accelerates By 50 Percent
 Better Battery Management Increases
connecting to networks faster, able to extend the amount of work
Productivity Up to 40 Percent done on laptops, find data and files faster, and are able to more
 Efficient Network Connections Speed
Workflow rapidly solve computer problems.
 Pin-Point Search Results
 Action Center Helps Drive Faster
Solutions

2. Situation features in Windows 7 that are making that
Serving more than 200 businesses, itSynergy kind of positive impact.”
utilizes the latest Microsoft® technology to
build, develop, deploy and support solutions Solution
that efficiently drive bottom-line results for itSynergy has found several features within
small and mid-market clients. As a Microsoft Windows 7 that are helping to increase
Certified Gold Partner and being lead by one customer satisfaction and streamline its own
of just 51 Microsoft Small Business Server® business.
MVP‟s in the world, itSynergy supports
companies who seek a trusted advisor with Snap, Shake, Peek
the highest credentials in the industry. The IT The Windows Aero® Snap feature allows
firm has 10 employees and over 20 windows to be viewed side-by-side by
computers—a powerful combination of dragging windows to borders, left and right.
laptops, desktops and servers. Grab and shake the foremost screen to make
all other screens behind disappear. The Peek
The two key business challenges for itSynergy feature is invoked by clicking on the lower
are customer satisfaction and operational right hand Show Desktop rectangle. The
efficiency. These are not business problems desktop is immediately visible to view
per se, but on-going areas of focus for the gadgets and other desktop icons. Click again
consulting firm. to restore all open windows. These features
are allowing itSynergy engineers to navigate
“Customer satisfaction is the bellwether of through documents and projects more
our success,” noted Michael Cocanower, efficiently, saving valuable time while
president of itSynergy. “Keeping the customer managing costs.
happy means we‟re doing things right in
terms of products, service, cost management, Network Connection Wizard
uptime, etc.  Network Connection Wizard provides easier
desktop connection to wireless, VPN and LAN
“Running our IT consulting business more networks. For itSynergy, this means
efficiently is also one of those perennial engineers can more quickly identify and
objectives. We look for tools and technology connect or disconnect from network
that will speed up workflow and allow us to connection options within a single window.
do more with less.
Location Aware Printing
Because of its outstanding reputation as one As technicians move from one network to
of Microsoft‟s leading small business another, Location Aware Printing
partners, itSynergy has been invited to automatically recognizes each new default
participate in the Windows 7 beta program printer.
known as “Ignite.” A current customer of the
firm and the firm itself are currently using Taskbar Customization
Windows 7.  Jump Lists allow users to see the most recent
files by right-clicking on the taskbar. Also,
“We use what we sell,” said Cocanower. “We right-clicking on an application icon such as
lean heavily on the same technologies we Microsoft Office Word will show the most
recommend to clients to create efficiencies in recent Word documents.
our own business. We are discovering

3. Hibernate, Sleep “Obviously, Microsoft streamlined the whole
Windows 7 starts up, shuts down, resumes process with fewer prompts and moving
from standby and responds faster. For questions up front rather than asking for
itSynergy users, this means technicians can information throughout the install. In other
quickly get back to work as they move from words, you don‟t have to babysit any longer,”
one client or project to another. continued MacLachlan.
Federated Search Faster Resume and Boot Times Make
While searching within Windows 7, itSynergy Engineers More Efficient
users have enhanced features that deepen “The Hibernate/Sleep features help us to
search capabilities, essentially making resume working much faster,” said
Windows 7 a giant search engine that scours MacLachlan. “It‟s stable and brings us back
local PCs, HomeGroup, network, external up and running and still connected to the
drives, and the Internet. network. This is something we couldn‟t count
on with Vista.”
Problem Steps Recorder
Problem Steps Recorder enables itSynergy Efficient Network Connections Speed
users to capture the keystrokes and Workflow
associated screen for any computer problem “The Network Connection Wizard speeds up
for a faster, precise diagnosis. Training my workflow by rapidly connecting to any type
tutorials can also be created quickly. of network I need, whether Wi-Fi, Mobile
Broadband, dial-up or corporate VPN,” said
Power Management Robert Vasquez, systems engineer, itSynergy.
Laptop batteries last longer with power- “In addition, the user interface is intuitive and
saving features like Battery Power easy to use. It even works with wireless
Management. networks that don‟t broadcast an SSID.
Advanced Backup “The Network Connection Wizard is
Advanced Backup easily backs up any file, particularly helpful to less technically oriented
including all local files, or an entire business customers,” noted MacLachlan. “It reduces IT
network. costs for the customer and adds incremental
value to the overall service we provide.”
Action Center
Action Center consolidates alerts from 10 Easy How-To Tutorials
Windows features that deal with security and “Problem Steps Recorder helps our
maintenance. customers precisely capture computer
problems; it‟s a power „How-To‟ recording
Benefits device for customer training purposes,” said
Deployment Accelerates By 50 Percent John Leschorn, senior systems engineer,
“The Windows 7 installation process is the itSynergy.
best we‟ve seen in years,” noted Mark D.
MacLachlan, infrastructure team manager, Revenue Increases Anticipated
itSynergy.”We initially did a 32-bit and a 64- “Making money is directly tied to keeping
bit install that took about 45 minutes, about customers happy,” said Cocanower.
half the time of XP. “Features like Problem Steps Recorder are
amazing tools that will help us capture and
solve problems faster.”

4. “Searching with Windows 7 and IE 8 has
“In minutes, the Problem Steps Recorder also been significantly enhanced,” noted
helps us quickly create customer tutorials Leschorn. “Federated Search is deeper and
that otherwise would take a half hour or more more powerful. It goes beyond key words to
to develop. scour at the control panel and command
levels. And, within IE 8, Accelerators and Web
“The buzz associated with Windows 7 has Slices make finding and updating web
been very well received by our customers,” information extremely easy.
said Cocanowner. “Many of them skipped
Windows Vista, but are planning to upgrade “In addition, the auto-suggestion feature
to Windows 7 as soon as it‟s available.” within IE 8 speeds searches by identifying the
most common search phrases, reducing
Better Battery Management Increases search time while increasing relevancy and in
Productivity Up to 40 Percent turn increasing productivity.”
“We‟re seeing a 30 to 40 percent increase in
laptop battery life with the new Power Solid Reliability, Faster Fixes
Management feature,” said Vasquez. “And “The 64-bit version of Windows 7 is very solid
more battery life translates into more and reliable,” said MacLachlan. “By contrast,
productivity. Boot time is 2-3 times faster Windows Vista locked up on me 2-3 times a
than Windows Vista. That means we‟re day. When I did have an issue with an anti-
productive that much quicker as well.” virus program, Windows 7 identified a DLL
error giving me the information I needed to fix
Annoyance Down, Navigation Up it.
“The annoyance factor is gone,” noted Robert
Vasquez, systems engineer, itSynergy. “Though Windows Vista would identify some
“Features like Peek and un-pinned Gadgets errors, only Windows 7, with its enhanced
make navigating the desktop faster and more reporting system, solved the problems that
functional. have been haunting me and my computer for
over a year.
“The User Account Control feature in
Windows 7 allows us technicians to fine-tune “Windows 7 has better reporting for installing
the level of security interruptions that new hardware drivers. A video card driver
matches our style of work. Customers also previously running under Windows Vista
like the ability to dial up or down the security turned out to be flaky. Windows 7
level,” continued Vasquez. automatically went out to the Internet and
found the right replacement. Very
Pin-Point Search Results impressive.”
“Windows 7 Federated Search integrated
with IE 8 delivers more search power than Automatic “Didn’t Remember” Backups
ever before,” noted Leschorn. “Deep “Advanced Backup is a feature that will
searches across the network and Internet benefit a lot of our clients because they don‟t
produce more pinpointed results. Slices and remember to do it, don‟t know how or both,”
Accelerator features within IE8 make finding said Vasquez. “This Windows 7 feature
and tracking information even easier and makes it simple to set up and automatic to
more convenient. run.”

5. For More Information Action Center Helps Drive Faster Windows 7
For more information about Microsoft Solutions Faster and more reliable: Windows 7 will help
products and services, call the Microsoft “Action Center is very helpful as a single your organization use information technology
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- place to go to solve problems. It found a to gain a competitive advantage in today‟s
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft couple of driver issues when I first installed new world of work. Your people will be able to
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- Windows 7,” said MacLachlan. “But the best be more productive anyway. You will be able
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of- part was that it actively searched the Internet to support your mobile work force with better
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone for a solution.” access to shared data and collaboration
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in tools. And your IT staff will have better tools
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in and technologies to enhance corporate IT
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and security, data protection, and more efficient
Canada, please contact your local deployment and management.
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to: For more information about Windows 7, go to:
www.microsoft.com www.microsoft.com/windows/business
For more information about itSynergy
products and services, call 602-297-
2400or visit the Web site at:
www.itsynergy.com
Software and Services Hardware
 Products  Lenovo
− Microsoft Windows 7 Professional  HP
− Microsoft Windows Vista Professional
− Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
− Windows Small Business Server 2008
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published July 2009