In November 2000, Cable & Wireless Optus were looking for a medium sized enterprise to conduct Australian trials of a new method of delivering Microsoft Office applications to users.  The product, known as Cable & Wireless Optus (Optus) a-Services, gives an organisation access to fully serviced, remotely hosted applications using thin client technology delivered via an Application Service Provider (ASP).

 

Trial customer Europacific Logistics Solutions was founded in 1998 and is now the largest provider of IT solutions to the shipping logistics industry in Oceania. Europacific is based in Sydney and has 11 staff, but they are part of a worldwide conglomerate developing software specifically for the shipping industry. They have two principal products, ShipNet and PlanMaster, but the organisation pursues a range of consultancy opportunities as they arise. Major clients include Adsteam, P&O and the Owens Group.

Meeting customer needs
Europacific had ambitious growth plans, but was keen to ensure that the focus remained on core business and not on an increasing IT infrastructure. The issue was exacerbated when a disk failure occurred on their mail server, and customer service went on hold whilst management concentrated on rectifying the problem and restoring the data.

 

The Optus a-Services solution is designed to reduce the risks, costs and operational responsibilities associated with the development and maintenance of a comparable in-house IT infrastructure.

 

Peter Wright, the General Manager of Optus a-Services, says of Europacific, "They were doing self-maintenance of their internal software and hardware with the assistance of a part-time consultant. Recent company growth, and a focus on core business, led to a realisation that outsourcing to an expert would overcome the issue of a lack of resources to support the network internally".

 

Customising the service
As a software solution provider to the shipping industry, Europacific had a high use of technology and their own Web site, but were not big enough to justify a full-time computer management resource.  "They were looking around for something different as a solution to these problems, and that's exactly what Optus a-Services does", Wright said.

 

Optus a-Services is an end-to-end solution bringing together the collective strengths of Cable & Wireless Optus, Microsoft and Compaq.  Such a strategic alliance gives the client a fast, reliable network, access to industry-leading software products, high levels of security, and personal computers designed specifically for remote access applications.

 

Most importantly, Cable & Wireless Optus acts as the single point of contact and responsibility for all components of the service and delivers services to a customer portal. Applications hosted in the Cable & Wireless Optus high capacity data centre are running on Microsoft® Windows 2000® and include collaboration, mail and diary solutions using Outlook® 2000 as well as desktop productivity solutions using Word 2000, Excel 2000 and PowerPoint®  2000.

 

All software upgrades are included in the monthly service fee; ensuring users always have the benefits of the latest applications in a hassle-free IT environment. Optus a-Services also include support and training to minimise migration time and a help desk is maintained to ensure prompt resolution of difficulties. Where necessary, the problem can be escalated to Microsoft or Compaq due to the close relationship between the partners.

 

"Using their Internet Explorer browser, users gain access to a virtual desktop where they can launch applications and operate in full collaboration mode, sharing documents, contacts and schedules between colleagues, anywhere, at any time," says Wright. The service is covered by a comprehensive Service Level Agreement that guarantees high levels of network performance and efficient help desk response times - leaving the organisation free to focus resources on core business activities rather than associated IT issues. "The objective is to offer the most powerful and widely used products, hence the decision to use the Microsoft Office 2000 suite," Wright adds.

 

Redeveloping infrastructure
Europacific has a long association with Microsoft products, believing that they have offered a consistent platform for growth since the inception of the company. From here on, the company is intending to grow without any additional IT overhead. Nick Brundin, Sales and Marketing Manager explains "We want the cost to be minimal and controlled, ensuring that we all have access to the same data, and that's where the ASP solution comes in. With an ASP, it doesn't matter if you are sitting in our office in Dubai, Singapore, Sydney or Auckland, you're accessing the same repository of information in real time".

Best of breed
Cable & Wireless Optus is focused on delivery of IT solutions for Business. According to Wright, "We looked at all possible ways of delivering the Optus a-Services concept and decided on Microsoft as it was the best option to deliver business-grade services at the right price to our customers. We saw that it was important to deliver industry-standard applications and we were confident that, with Microsoft products, Optus a-Services would provide a high level of stability to meet the day-to-day needs of our clients".

 

Manageability
Trialing the Optus a-Services product with Europacific has proven to be a challenge as Cable & Wireless Optus were looking for a client that would test the product in all of its functionality and Europacific were willing to do that. "We specifically selected Europacific because we wanted to be satisfied that Optus a-Services could meet complex business demands," said Wright.

Transforming the Business
The company has been on fast track since day one. They have very aggressive growth plans in the foreseeable future with projections of 400 percent over the next three years. "When you are growing, it stretches resources by definition. Our people need to be effective at responding to customers, but also need to have time to be proactive with them. The functionality of Outlook Exchange is extremely useful for assisting communication and getting data across to the clients," Brundin says.

 

Scale up and scale out
"For us, lifting the productivity in real terms means having more communication with clients in a given time frame," he adds.  Internally, Europacific relies heavily on Microsoft Office, creating information that can be distributed quickly to clients using Word documents, Web pages and so on.

 

The growth prospects of Europacific are a key issue in the company's future, and Brundin feels that information management must be watched carefully.  "It is important for us to be able to grow in a controlled method, that the information flows don't just disappear. With companies that are growing quickly, it is common to see information falling into black holes. We are expanding internationally so we need to be sure that when we are travelling, information flows back and forth so that the sales staff are not isolated and can leverage the rest of the company." The company believes that Microsoft products are a hedge against this situation, citing breadth of solution, high usage in the marketplace and the ability to move data seamlessly across applications as reasons. In the next 12 months, they plan to open two more offices and believe that the multilingual features of Microsoft Office will allow their operations and products to cross multicultural barriers.

 

Individual empowerment
The integration of the Optus a-Services Microsoft Office 2000 suite, combined with the acceptance and knowledge of Microsoft products in the market, allows Europacific staff to get on with the job of presenting their product professionally. "It does help sharing data seamlessly: we can produce better-looking information. For example it's very easy to grab numerical information and manipulate it with Excel," Brundin explains.

 

Collaboration
At Europacific, results are often achieved by a team using the collaborative features of delivered via Optus a-Services anywhere in the world.  "We do a lot of joint document preparation that is delivered via Optus a-Services.  It's a very good tool for tracking changes and sharing documents within the organisation" says Brundin.

Optus a-Services is based on the following technology:

 

- Hosted Microsoft Windows 2000 desktop with Internet Explorer 5.0

- Internet access with content filtering

- Microsoft Office 2000, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel

- Microsoft Exchange 2000 with Outlook 2000 

- Optional Compaq iPaq legacy-free Internet PC with 17" monitor