The Corix Group of Companies specializes in providing products and utility solutions for the water, wastewater and sustainable energy sectors. Corix has grown in part via acquisitions which resulted in a patchwork of disparate IT systems that was proving costly to maintain. The company was looking for an IT solution that would improve the financial and operational efficiency of its business processes and keep pace with rapid growth. To accomplish its technology goals, Corix implemented Microsoft Dynamics® NAV software as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for its management and accounting processes. As a result, Corix has streamlined its financial processes and standardized on a common platform – helping Corix improve IT support and optimize operations. Today, Corix represents the largest Dynamics NAV implementation in Canada.

Established in 1998, ENMAX Power Corporation owns, operates and maintains the electricity distribution and transmission network that supplies power to more than 1 million people in the Calgary, Alberta region. The company also manages metering, load settlement and retailer wholesale billing. ENMAX relied on a desktop application that lacked a graphical interface, making it difficult for those not familiar with the software to collect and analyze data. As well, there was also no easy way for employees outside of the main ENMAX control room to access power grid data. ENMAX needed a better method of managing and sharing important data. The utility turned to Microsoft® partner Survalent to custom build a new Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system using Visual Studio® 2008 and the beta version of Silverlight™ 2.

Based in Calgary, Canada, TransAlta is an international power generator and wholesale marketer of electricity. The company had relied on an outsourcer for its help desk and service management solution, which supported 48 facilities across Canada, the United States, and Australia. The outsourced solution was limiting the IT department’s view into data center operations and slowed resolution of server and network issues. For better insight into its distributed infrastructure, TransAlta deployed an end-to-end service management solution based on Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager 2007 and EMC Smarts. Now, the IT department resolves issues faster, is implementing service-level management, and is laying a solid foundation for deploying new business applications. These enhanced management capabilities enable TransAlta to deliver power more efficiently, with less environmental impact.

Implementing Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™) has increased productivity, reduced training costs, and slashed Great Lakes Power’s IT budget by 57 percent over several disparate financial solutions, including SAP.