“We have enhanced our IT service with Microsoft support, and respond around 40 per cent faster to new requests.”

Yazan Bsool, Service Delivery Infrastructure Manager, Zain

Telecommunications company Zain wanted IT administrators to reduce downtime and manage the IT infrastructure more proactively. As a result, it began working with Microsoft Services, and the IT team embarked on a process of improving its knowledge and standardising processes. Now, employees get a 40 per cent faster response to IT issues and 60 per cent of the IT team’s time is spent in proactive management.

Business NeedsZain is the leading provider of telecommunications services in Jordan. Since launching in 1995, originally under the name Fastlink, the company has grown each year, bringing a series of new services to market, such as multimedia messaging and mobile internet. The organisation plays a key role in the economy—employing more than 1,000 people in Jordan—and promotes the country as a rising business centre in the Middle East.

Many of its employees are long-serving members of the team—not least Yazan Bsool, Service Delivery Infrastructure Manager at Zain, who has worked at the company for six years. Since joining Zain, he’s seen employee numbers rise by around 30 per cent, and the IT team face increasing pressure to maximise availability. He says: “Our priority is to deliver more responsive IT to personnel so they can enhance their productivity and deliver a better service to our customers.”

Over time, Bsool and his colleagues implemented new Microsoft solutions to help employees work more effectively. However, personnel didn’t gain the full benefit of the software. Bsool says: “We needed a greater level of Microsoft expertise in the IT team. We lacked the IT processes to manage the infrastructure proactively. Around 60 per cent of our

time was spent reacting to issues.” In one instance, employees didn’t have access to email services for nearly a day because a member of the IT team hadn’t correctly followed a change management procedure with Microsoft Exchange Server. “This level of downtime wasn’t acceptable,” says Bsool. “The IT team needed some extra guidance.”

SolutionZain talked to Microsoft Services about Premier Support when it became available to customers in the region. Zain adopted the Premier Standard service, which includes round-the-clock support, an extensive range of proactive services, and a dedicated Technical Account Manager (TAM).

Straightaway, Microsoft Services created a plan to enhance the IT team’s expertise and standardise IT processes on internationally recognised guidelines. As a result, IT administrators took part in a series of workshops, whereby Microsoft engineers gave them advanced technical training in a range of solutions to boost their skills. Bsool says: “I attended some of the workshops, including ones on Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. They were excellent and well organised.”

Customer: ZainWebsite: www.jo.zain.comNumber of Employees: 1,000 Country or Region: JordanIndustry: Telecommunications

Customer ProfileZain is a leading telecommunications company based in Jordan. It has a presence in seven countries in the Middle East and Africa, and around 37.6 million customers.

Software and Services Services− Microsoft Services Premier Support

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

Microsoft ServicesCustomer Solution Case Study

Jordan-Based Telecommunications Company Proactively Manages IT with Support Services

In addition to the workshops, Microsoft Services supported the IT team with system health checks. “It helped ensure success when we migrated to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,” says Bsool. “The services team gave us a list of actions to take to maximise availability and user satisfaction—this helped limit the number of incidents that we opened with Microsoft.”As part of the work to standardise processes, the Zain IT team regularly completed self-assessments using an industry-standard tool to measure progress. Each member answered questions on how they would handle issues and manage system updates. “We were able to measure our process and gain insight into our changing level of proactivity,” comments Bsool. By the end of 2010, Zain had made such progress that it was eligible for Premier Ultimate support, which provides dedicated assistance in aligning IT services with business needs. “We now follow a strategic IT roadmap, which we work on with Microsoft. It helps us prepare for the future,” says Bsool.

BenefitsSince working with Microsoft Services, Zain IT spends the majority of its time managing the IT infrastructure proactively. Furthermore, because the IT team has standardised processes, it can fulfil requests around 40 per cent faster and support a demanding service level agreement. Today, employees are more productive due to less service downtime and the IT team has focused more resources on strategic projects instead of fixing infrastructure issues.

Infrastructure management is largely proactive. Before, IT management was 60 per cent reactive, whereas now it is 60 per cent proactive. As a result, the number of incidents opened with Microsoft is significantly lower, and Zain is getting greater value from its IT. “We no longer spend the majority of our time fixing IT issues,” says Bsool.

IT responds to requests 40 per cent faster. Thanks to the new procedures in place, Bsool and his colleagues can deliver a better level of service to Zain employees. “We have enhanced our IT service with Microsoft support, and respond around 40 per cent faster to new requests,” he says.

Employees increase productivity due to less downtime. Because the IT infrastructure is more proactively managed, system availability has improved and the number of service interruptions to employees has gone down. Bsool says: “Personnel are better supported by IT services, so they can be more productive during their working days.”

IT focuses more resources on higher-value tasks. With less reactive management, Zain IT can focus more resources on strategic work. As a result, it has reduced the number of IT people working on system repair. “We’re more strategic now—we can ensure the IT infrastructure meets our changing business needs,” says Bsool.

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

Document published June 2011