“It’s important for us to provide a service that’s secure, but at the same time is automated. With Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, we can do this.”

Alexis Anagnostopoulos, Group IT Manager, S&B Industrial Minerals

As an international organisation, S&B Industrial Minerals needs efficient, reliable collaboration among its geographically distributed teams. It deployed Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, including Microsoft Exchange Online, to a pilot group of 180 key staff. Enthusiastic take-up encouraged the firm to join the beta programme for the next generation of Microsoft cloud services—Microsoft Office 365.

Business NeedsFounded in 1934, and listed on the Athens Stock Exchange since 1994, S&B Industrial Minerals is an international group of companies. The firm focuses on converting industrial minerals and ores into industrial solutions. This includes operating mines, processing plants, and distribution centres in 20 countries across five continents.

Communication among different branches of the group is vital, but, in the past, multiple factors have hindered collaboration. Its office-based employees are located all over the world and therefore need to collaborate across different time zones. The organisation also has a large mobile workforce, and teams put together for specific projects often consist of both internal and external members who can be working from anywhere.

In addition to the virtualised infrastructure in Greece, IT departments in Germany and the United States (U.S.) provided services for branch offices around the world. As a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement customer, S&B Industrial Minerals was already using Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 to provide email and calendaring, but services were not consistent at all locations. Management was eager to streamline the way people worked

together, both within regional offices and with colleagues in other locations. Alexis Anagnostopoulos, Group IT Manager at S&B Industrial Minerals, says: “Our company operates around the world, but many of our offices are small, so we have a number of locations with just a few people at them. We needed to provide state-of-the-art IT services without the need for large on-site infrastructures.”

Anagnostopoulos and his team were eager to deliver the same environment to all employees. “We wanted to make it easier for people to collaborate by giving Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Microsoft Exchange Server functionality to all our employees, whatever their location,” he says.

SolutionMicrosoft recommended a cloud-based solution using Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, including Microsoft Exchange Online for email, instant messaging, web conferencing, and document sharing.

The company ran a pilot programme with 180 key staff based in Greece, Germany, and the U.S. Following the successful pilot, it replaced Microsoft Office Communicator with Microsoft Lync for instant messaging, voice-over-IP, and videoconferencing for

Customer: S&B Industrial MineralsWebsite: www.sandb.comNumber of Employees: 1,983Country or Region: GreeceIndustry: Retail and distribution—Metal and mineral wholesalers

Customer ProfileS&B Industrial Minerals is an international group of companies that converts natural resources into industrial solutions.

Software and Services Microsoft Online Services− Microsoft Business Productivity

Online Standard Suite− Microsoft Exchange Online

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Microsoft Online ServicesCustomer Solution Case Study

International Group Improves Collaboration and Cuts Telephone Costs by €200,000

another 250 users—making a total of 350 Lync users.

Replacing physical servers with a software-plus-services model will allow S&B Industrial Minerals to cut the servers in most locations, retaining only one data centre in Athens. A key part of the solution is its integration with other Microsoft software.Anagnostopoulos says: “The pilot group involves the company’s managers. They expect a high-quality user experience and don’t want to waste time entering different passwords. It’s important for us to provide a service that’s secure, but at the same time is automated. With Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, we can do this. We now offer the type of collaborative tools that people use at home—for example, Facebook, email, and Skype.”

With Lync—which is also accessible on mobile devices—users can easily see if their contacts are available through email and calendaring systems. This helps improve communication and productivity for staff who spend much of their time out of the office. Collaboration is also enhanced with the ability to share documents—for example, when staff are working on the same document, Microsoft Office notifies all the users.

Following the pilot programme, other employees have requested access to Business Productivity Online Standard Suite. Anagnostopoulos says: “Based on this experience with Microsoft cloud services, we’re going to participate in the next generation of Microsoft cloud solutions—Microsoft Office 365.”

BenefitsThe cloud-based solution using Lync helps S&B Industrial Minerals provide the same service at all its locations worldwide, without the need to deploy and maintain software and hardware on-premises. Now, staff can collaborate easily despite differences in time zones and working hours.

Reduced telephone costs. Use of Lync has lowered telephone costs by 50 per cent. “We’ve already cut our phone bill by around €200,000 (U.S.$280,000),” says

Anagnostopoulos. “So far, that’s been our most significant saving, which will increase when we deploy the solution across the organisation.”

Ease of communication. “It’s much easier to locate individuals now,” says Anagnostopoulos. “For example, when I wanted to talk to my IT person the only way was to call his mobile phone because I didn’t know where he was. It was expensive and he might not have been the best moment for him to answer my question. Now, I use Lync and I can communicate faster, contacting the right people at the right time.”

High availability at any time. “With Microsoft Premier Services, we’ve defined point-of-contact and round-the-clock problem resolution,” says Anagnostopoulos. “This means we’ll have availability 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we don’t need to employ staff to maintain servers.”

Scalable solution. Business Productivity Online Standard Suite supports company growth with a flexible and efficient infrastructure that allows fast integration of worldwide acquisitions. Ease of integration with existing Microsoft systems speeds deployment and is flexible enough so that on-site systems can coexist with those in the cloud.

Fast user adoption. Familiar interface provides fast user take-up. The intuitive look and feel of communications tools mirror the social media features staff use in their leisure time and expect to see at work.

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

Document published June 2011