Microsoft Office SystemCustomer Solution Case Study

Real Estate Firm Improves Productivity, Cuts Travel and Telephony Costs by 30 Per Cent

OverviewCountry or Region: PortugalIndustry: Professional services—Real estate

Customer ProfileSonae Sierra, a leading real estate company in Portugal, builds and operates shopping malls across Europe and South America.

Business SituationThe company wanted to improve collaboration between its geographically dispersed employees, while reducing expenditure on internal communications and travel between sites for meetings.

SolutionHP deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 throughout the business, integrating it with existing telephony and videoconferencing solutions.

Benefits Productivity improved Travel reduced VoIP replaces long-distance calls

“Due to HP expertise and Microsoft technology, we’re on target to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in travel and communications costs compared to when we started the Supercomm project in 2008.”Leading international shopping mall specialist Sonae Sierra of Portugal wanted a solution to reduce internal travel and speed up communication throughout its geographically dispersed business. Operating in seven different countries in Europe and South America, Sonae Sierra required centralised management of an integrated communications solution. HP updated or replaced its existing videoconferencing and telephony equipment to allow integration with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007. It provided anywhere access and a presence awareness, instant messaging, and audio and videoconferencing solution for 1,000 desktops. The system integrates well with the existing and new video and telephony equipment, ensuring that geographically distributed teams work together efficiently. The company is on course to cut 30 per cent on travel and telecommunications costs.

SituationInternational shopping centre specialist Sonae Sierra owns, develops, and manages real estate across Europe and South America. Owned jointly by Sonae of Portugal and Grosvenor of the United Kingdom (U.K.), the company has 52 shopping centres, two projects under construction, and nine others in different phases of development. It has more than 2 million square metres of gross leasable area under management, with around 8,900 tenants.

With such a multilayered business operating across different countries and time zones, effective communications are the key to success. Sonae Sierra works closely with both international investors and local partners. Miguel Martins, Information Systems Director, Sonae Sierra, says: “Our employees were travelling a great deal between around 50 sites for meetings but were spending far too much time in airports. We were using videoconferencing from Polycom only at main country offices but our staff had limited access to the equipment. In addition, our international telephony costs were high because they were through public networks.”

In 2008, Sonae Sierra embarked on a project—called Supercomm—to reduce internal travel, speed up communication throughout the

company, and support geographically dispersed teams in working more efficiently. The challenges involved providing a presence awareness, instant messaging (IM) and audio, video and web solution for 1,000 desktops, and a videoconferencing reception point for every meeting room in the company.

Martins says: “We required anywhere access, tools for web collaboration—still keeping the videoconferencing solution using Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) access—and virtual rooms to provide live camera capabilities in meetings.”

The Supercomm project scope included allowing multimedia content sharing on high-definition videoconferencing equipment and integration with Alcatel private branch exchange (PBX) and Polycom and Tandberg videoconferencing equipment. The company also wanted centralised management and to federate its communications tools with other companies in the Sonae Group.

SolutionSonae Sierra worked with HP to deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 throughout the business. Office Communications Server is a unified communications server that delivers enterprise IM, audio, web, and videoconferencing, and

25

“We required anywhere access, tools for web collaboration—still keeping the videoconferencing solution using Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) access—and virtual rooms to provide live camera capabilities in meetings.”

Miguel Martins, Information Systems Director, Sonae

Sierra

enhanced voice over IP (VoIP). Office Communicator 2007 is a unified client that delivers a familiar interface to users.

The solution integrates with the existing virtualisation and disaster recovery infrastructure at Sonae Sierra, which runs on HP blade servers to provide 99 per cent uptime. The architecture provides remote access to the Tandberg firewall feature, which creates a secure path through the safety barrier, extending the use of videoconferencing to every information worker and the outside world.

João Miranda, Network Systems Security—Unified Communications, HP Portugal, says: “Sonae Sierra was confident from the outset that it had the right solution with Office Communications Server 2007, but the deployment and implementation partner was critical for such a widely dispersed company.”

Having completed a successful pilot programme, HP started implementation at more than 50 sites early in the second quarter of 2009, and completed the work in just five months. This involved deploying Office Communicator 2007 to 1,000 users. Through this tool they were integrated with Tandberg videoconferencing as well as with IM and the other communications features of Office Communications Server 2007,

including Live Meeting and presence awareness.

HP also installed 80 endpoints to provide and receive Tandberg videoconferencing in meeting rooms and eight for Polycom. The deployment involved integration with the Sonae Sierra Alcatel PBX systems and HP virtual rooms—a feature of the Tandberg multipoint video control units appliance—for interactive meetings and ring groups, which are a set of extensions that the PBX rings in the order determined by the administrator’s rules.

Miranda says: “HP used contractors for the deployment. There were technical challenges to overcome and the different networks at the various satellites of the company added complexity. We ensured that the entire infrastructure is stable and resilient, and supported with disaster recovery.”

BenefitsIntegrated communications is helping Sonae Sierra drive business flexibility, improve collaboration between geographically dispersed teams, and reduce travel and communications costs. In a dynamic business with operations in seven countries, centralised management of communications in the working environment is already paying dividends through lower costs. Martins says: “Due to HP expertise and Microsoft technology,

35

“By using videoconferencing, we’ve been able to organise two board-of-directors meetings involving multiple sites in a single day instead of one previously, thereby making

we’re on target to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in travel and telecommunications costs compared to when we started the Supercomm project in 2008.”

Productivity Improves Throughout the BusinessThe Supercomm project is increasing individual and team productivity throughout the business. Feedback from employees has been positive, with Sonae Sierra using Office Communications Server 2007 more than any other member of the parent group. Due to a decision by the Sonae Group to standardise on Office Communications Server 2007, HP extended the Office Communications Server 2007 service to other Sonae subsidiaries.

“HP has succeeded in delivering secure and compliant communications tools that are easy to use to support an internationally distributed workforce,” says Martins. “For example, by using videoconferencing, we’ve been able to organise two board-of-directors meetings involving multiple sites in a single day instead of one previously, thereby making more efficient use of senior managers’ time.”

Integrated Communications Cut Need for Travel The company is using Live Meeting and videoconferencing to reduce the need for one-to-one meetings or

training sessions. This, in turn, helps to shrink the carbon footprint of the company. HP virtual rooms provide more online collaboration space, bringing together hardware and software around Office Communications Server 2007.

Martins says: “As a result of the reduced need to travel, we are spending less time in airports or on the road. Coupled with the impact of the economic downturn, our travel and telecommunications costs are as much as 50 per cent lower for some months compared to 2008.”

Long-Distance and Audio Call Charges Fall with VoIP TelephonyThe integration of the Alcatel PBX and Office Communications Server 2007 is resulting in a high level of communications convergence at Sonae Sierra. Employees can “click to communicate” both within the Microsoft Office system and in other applications.

Martins adds: “By ensuring real-time communication across multiple locations, we are not only improving collaboration but reducing telephony costs. The close integration between Office Communications Server 2007 and our PBX system means we can communicate through VoIP—either at no cost or at the cost of a local call. For example, a telephone call from Portugal to Spain no longer goes through ISDN, but is routed

45

“By using videoconferencing, we’ve been able to organise two board-of-directors meetings involving multiple sites in a single day instead of one previously, thereby making

“By ensuring real-time communication

from our Portugal PBX to Spain and then dialled as a local call. The Alcatel solution by itself allows IP communication between Sierra sites.”

Enterprise Agreement Encourages Adoption of Integrated CommunicationsThe Sonae Group Microsoft Enterprise Agreement for low-cost volume licensing is a powerful incentive for Sonae Sierra to make full use of its Office Communications Server 2007 functionality.

Martins says: “Around 440 of our 1,000 users have audio, web, and videoconferencing on their client devices. In April 2010, we had 710 users who used Office Communications Server 2007 at least once. In the same month, 400 people used Live Meeting.”

Videoconferencing Engages up to 3,000 People in One MonthOther figures for videoconferencing in April 2010 show a total of 550 video sessions lasting around 1,200 hours and involving 3,000 participants. Martins says: “The adoption of integrated communications technology is changing the face of our business and over time it will improve the speed of decision making.”

Microsoft Office SystemThe Microsoft Office system is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office system, go to: www.microsoft.com/office

55

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 who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 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 HP products and services, visit the Web site at: www.hp.com

For more information about Sonae Sierra products and services, visit the Web site at: www.sonaesierra.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published August 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Office

− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007

− Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007

“By ensuring real-time communication