Sewer and water infrastructure replacement is the main focus of F.C.M. Construction Limited, a family-owned business in the Toronto, Canada area since mid-1970. Because of the nature of the construction business, productivity is of the utmost concern on each project—both for workers in the field and those in the office providing support. Tapping the expertise of Excell IT, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, F.C.M. is digging around in the new Windows 7 Professional operating system to access the potential impact on its business. The results are indeed improving productivity. Features like Federated Search, Aero Interface and Taskbar Customization are helping get work done more efficiently.

Sublime Industries ltd, St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, is a petroleum contractor in gas station and light oil field industry construction. While the team has extensive industry knowledge and individual specialties, most only have a basic knowledge of computers. The challenge is to expose and educated team members giving them more and better tools that will increase office productivity. With the IT expertise of MPECS, the firm’s Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, the contractor is discovering many new Windows® 7 operating system features that are speeding up workflow and safeguarding its business.

The Atlas Corporation, Ontario, Canada, has a 60-year history of excellence. With a staff of approximately 50 employees, it has been delivering quality commercial projects on time and under budget as a matter of course. However, like its counterparts in the industry, Atlas is gradually going digital as it manages large development projects with volumes of plans and instructions. As a result, managing associated paperwork is labor-intensive and not as efficient as it could be. Though Atlas has over 40 computers, their role has been primarily email and document storage. Atlas sees a new role for technology. Using the expertise of its IT partner, Excell IT, the firm is discovering new Windows 7 operating system tools that build a better, more productive operation.

Alberici is a general contractor based in St. Louis, Missouri, that generates U.S.$1.13 billion in revenue a year. Across 11 company divisions, sales staff managed customer and sales information on an individual level by using a combination of spreadsheets and e-mail, and then entering the data into a CRM system. To centralize this information and gain business insight, Alberici teamed with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Quilogy and implemented Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. By enabling sales staff to record customer and associated sales information through the familiar Microsoft Office Outlook® interface, Alberici has driven adoption and more effectively captured and centralized key sales information. With the solution in place, the company has saved around 5,000 hours per year while gaining the insight into sales that it needs to operate competitively across the markets that it serves.

To keep pace with ever-increasing industry demands, Tuppen Construction needed a solution to help employees increase efficiency, boost productivity, and enable remote connection to the company’s network. Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Interprom recommended Windows Vista® Business for its time-saving search and calendar functionalities, flexible Remote Desktop Connection feature, and integrated data protection and safety features.

PCL Constructors wanted to improve its security management and its workstations’ compliance with security policies. It also needed a faster way to deploy new software to workstations at its many locations. The company worked with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Compugen to upgrade 14 of its server computers to the Windows Server® 2008 operating system. Now those computers are providing Network Access Protection for enhanced security and Windows® Deployment Services for faster, more straightforward deployments. PCL also uses leading management and security software, such as Microsoft System Center and Microsoft Forefront™ products, for a more efficient, optimized infrastructure. Overall, the company is making it possible to better safeguard its environment and for IT staff and end users to be more productive.

Calgary-based Candor Engineering and Consulting is a Canadian-owned, electrical and instrumentation engineering firm with 25 employees in the booming Canadian oil and gas industry. As a small business, Candor’s IT consultant recommended Linux servers for email, file and back-up servers, for a cost-effective and customizable solution. Instead, Candor became frustrated with downtime, unreliable email and rising maintenance costs. The company turned to Microsoft Gold Certified partner IT Matters to replace its Linux-based platform with Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003 operating system and Microsoft® Exchange ServerTM 2003. The application was easy to deploy and is scalable to help meet future needs. In addition, with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Candor Engineering helped improve the reliability of its email and collaboration abilities.

Cogan Wire and Metal Products, a Canadian manufacturer, wanted to improve communications with its 6,000 North American dealers and to improve its employees’ productivity. The company was spending thousands of dollars on travel, meal, and hotel expenses to host annual meetings with the dealers. The company also wanted to hold more frequent training sessions and meetings with dealers to expand business opportunities. Cogan used WebEx, but it wanted a less costly Web conferencing solution that provided live chat using voice over IP, rich media presentations, document sharing, and live video. Cogan deployed Microsoft® Office Live Meeting, and now its engineers have trimmed the time it takes to approve projects from days to one hour. Additionally, Cogan now saves U.S.$300,000 in travel and meeting expenses and $100,000 in training costs.