Microsoft Office 365Customer Solution Case Study

IT services firm takes meetings and product demonstrations to the cloud

OverviewCountry or Region: KoreaIndustry: IT Service

Customer ProfileLocated in Busan, South Korea, Total SoftBank is a global enterprise known for its international business, with more than 90% of its sales coming from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and other countries.

Business SituationThe company’s video conferencing solution was not full-featured enough to support the organization’s online business meetings and product demonstrations.

SolutionMicrosoft Office 365 Lync Online not only enabled better online conferencing, it also allowed for data sharing and improved collaboration.

Benefits Reduction in travel Rapid ROI Improved collaboration

“In order to demonstrate a solution, traveling with a notebook

computer was necessary. Now we have no need for travel,

because Lync Online screen sharing features allow for

demonstrations and data sharing.”Go Jae Hyung, Coordinator, Total SoftBank IT Team

Total SoftBank, located in Busan, South Korea, is a global enterprise famous more for its international rather than domestic business, with more than 90% of sales coming from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and other countries. Total SoftBank’s business network is spread across several continents. Currently the company has six international branches, located in France, Hong Kong, Egypt, the United States, China, and Vietnam.When the company’s existing video conferencing tool proved to be limited, Total SoftBank sought a solution that would enable it to more efficiently conduct online meetings and product demonstrations. It found the solution in Microsoft Office 365.

SituationTotal Softbank’s overseas sales is nearly 90%, almost enough to have a completely export-oriented business structure. To do that, top management views communication as a big part in the list of challenges.

Internally, Total Softbank employees who work abroad often met with the head office via videoconference. Job, interviews for overseas positions were also conducted in this manner. Sales representatives also used video conferencing to hold customer meetings and product demos.

The company initially chose Skype for video conferencing, as it did not require any dedicated tools or software that would be difficult to implement.

Skype was not ideal, however, as it was lacking in features that were important to Total Softbank. Go Jae Hyung, Coordinator of the IT Infrastructure Team at Total SoftBank, says, “When a large number of our staff attended a conference, the notebook with Skype installed had to be connected to a beam projector so that everyone could participate. That made it difficult for the person on the other end to identify individuals who were speaking.”

There were more issues as well. “Often, network delays caused the audio to not be in sync with the video,” says Mr. Go. “This was very distracting, and made it difficult to efficiently conduct conversations.” For these reasons, Total SoftBank sought an alternative to Skype, and soon learned about Microsoft Lync Online.

SolutionTotal Softbank had used Skype for video conferencing and online product demonstrations until 2011, when it was introduced to Microsoft Office 365, an online service which unites familiar Microsoft Office applications with email, calendaring, collaboration, and communication solutions.

Lync Online, included in Office 365, soon proved to be a better choice for Total Softbank than Skype. Mr. Go and his team found that Lync Online allowed for immediate implementation of many features that were lacking in Skype, but did not require additional management or administration. “We sought video, audio, data sharing, and necessary features for conferencing and collaboration in one package, and Office 365 Lync Online was able to provide that,” says Mr. Go.

Korean Microsoft Partner 1A IT worked with Total Softbank to implement the Office 365 solution. Working with the Total SoftBank IT team, Ria began deployment of Office 365 in December of 2011. Initially, Total Softbank made Lync Online available to employees traveling overseas, or those who had frequent conferences with customers, and support services were specifically tailored for each group, depending on its needs. Plus CAL for Lync Server) if using Plan E4.

Benefits

Reduction in travelThe most noticeable difference between Skype and Lync Online is the reduction in travel. Lync Online provides more than simply a face-to-face conversation; it also

23

allows the ability to share documents and collaborate.

Says Mr. Go, “In order to demonstrate a solution, traveling with a notebook computer was necessary. Now we have no need for travel, because Lync Online screen sharing features allow for demonstrations and data sharing.” Today, Total SoftBank’s travel related to product demonstrations has been almost completely eliminated.

Customers are happy with the change also, says Mr. Go. “There are still customers that want to meet in person for a conference, but when they experience Lync Online for the first time, they come around,” he says.

Rapid ROIAlthough Lync Online has not been able to replace overseas business travel 100%, Mr. Go says that the travel savings it’s creating is paying off. “If we can reduce travel by 3 percent using Lync Online, we will easily be able to recover our initial Office 365 investment within one year,” he remarks.

TCO and Lync Online have made a difference. Go Jae Hyung Coordinator explains, “If we went with the originally postulated plans, the difference between TCO and cloud server implemented directly, would be two-fold.”

Improved CollaborationBecause Lync Online enables employees to check each other’s available and communicate instantly while working using click to communicate, collaboration has improved significantly. “Being able to ask questions and receive answers from co-workers instantly has really made a difference in the way we work together,

and the amount we can accomplish,” says Mr. Go.

As the company prepares to move into a new facility in 2012, Mr. Go says Lync Online will play a big role in the new unified communications strategy, and in the overall productivity of the organization moving forward.Microsoft Office 365For more information about the Microsoft Office 365, go to:www.office365.com

33

Software and Services− Microsoft® Office 365

- Lync Online-

.

Document published 12/04/27

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. 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 TSB’s products and services, call 82-51-603-3000 or visit the website at: http://www. tsb.co.kr /