Gallup

Global Research Firm Boosts Communications and Collaboration and Saves $1.8 Million

Gallup is a world leader in studying human nature and behavior and helping clients use its research to achieve success. Rapid growth and global expansion created a need for new ways for Gallup associates in 27 countries and multiple time zones to communicate, collaborate, and manage information. To address those needs, the firm upgraded to Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 and is implementing Exchange Unified Messaging, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise, and Windows® Rights Management Services. Gallup expects that implementing these products will help the firm increase efficiency, enhance team building, and streamline communications. And by acquiring a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with an Enterprise Client Access License Suite Step-Up, the company saved U.S.$1.8 million in licensing costs and simplified license management.

 

Situation

The Gallup Organization evolved from the American Institute of Public Opinion—founded by George Gallup in 1935—into a world leader in public opinion polling, market research, and management and leadership consulting. Today, Gallup employs many of the world’s leading scientists in management, economics, psychology, and sociology. Its consultants help organizations grow and evolve by using the company’s knowledge measurement tools, coursework, and strategic advisory services. More than 2,000 professionals deliver Gallup services at client organizations, through the Web, at Gallup University’s campuses, and in 40 offices around the world.

We’re a very dynamic, growing organization, and as we bring on new people and grow our business globally, we need to make it easy for people to securely distribute, access, and collaborate on information. Charlie Colón IT Director, The Gallup Organization

As Gallup has grown in numbers and expanded into multiple time zones, it has found it challenging to maintain the high level of collaboration and information sharing that is critical to the organization’s success. “We’re a very dynamic, growing organization, and as we bring on new people and grow our business globally, we need to make it easy for people to securely distribute, access, and collaborate on information,” says Charlie Colón, IT Director for the Gallup Organization. “We may sell a project based out of London but have people in the United States or Asia working on that project. So we need a collaboration solution that allows us to be time-zone independent.”

In 2006, Gallup had implemented an intranet portal based on Red Dot Web content management. However, the solution proved too complicated for many employees to use, and it didn’t integrate with other systems. “Employees would try to use it and then give up and simply call or send e-mail,” says Colón. “In an international organization, phone calls are often not very efficient because of the time differences, so you wind up trading voice mail.”

In early summer 2007, the Gallup Research and Development Group asked the IT department for an internal portal solution that the group could use to collaborate online. Research and Development team members wanted the portal to include a personalized home page for each member of the group that the individuals could set up and maintain for themselves. They also wanted everything in the portal to be searchable by other employees and the solution to be easy to use, manage, and support.

For voice communications, Gallup had a Nortel Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system and used unified communications plug-ins to connect voice mail with Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 e-mail inboxes. The company was looking for tighter integration between the voice and messaging systems to further streamline communication. It also wanted to increase redundancy and improve disaster recovery capabilities for its messaging system.

In addition, Gallup management mandated that a system be installed to prevent confidential e-mail and attachments from being accidentally sent to unauthorized users. “Our executives wanted to be sure that when they sent e-mail with sensitive content, that message would not be forwarded beyond the Gallup employee base,” says Phil Weber, Director of IT Infrastructure for the Gallup Organization.

The Gallup infrastructure is based on the Windows Server® 2003 operating system running on 200 Dell PowerEdge 2950 server computers. About 155 of those servers are in the company’s data center in Omaha, Nebraska, and the rest are at more than 30 sites around the world. The company was running Exchange Server 2003 for messaging and Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 database software on three server clusters and four stand-alone servers. Line-of-business data is stored in an Oracle database. Gallup has approximately 1,500 workstations and 500 laptops running the Windows® XP operating system and Microsoft Office Professional 2003.

For several years, Gallup had been acquiring Microsoft software licenses as needed through a Microsoft Select License agreement. As the organization grew, it became more challenging to manage the volume of licenses and track separate licenses for each product. In addition to adding the new technologies, Gallup wanted to simplify license management and reduce acquisition costs.

Solution

In summer 2007, the first priority for Gallup was to address the request from the Research and Development Group for a knowledge management solution that would make it easier for the group’s geographically dispersed workers to get better acquainted and to collaborate on projects. In response to those needs, the Microsoft account team presented a demo of the knowledge management, Enterprise Search, My Site personalization, and intranet portal capabilities in Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007.

Gallup liked what it saw in the demo, so in July 2007 Microsoft Services went to work to create a proof of concept. The project revolved around a team collaboration site where the staff could upload and share content and search for relevant content from resources on the Internet, the company intranet, and within enterprise applications and file stores.

The proof of concept also took advantage of the My Site templates in Office SharePoint Server 2007 to give employees the ability to post information on their areas of expertise within Gallup as well as personal interests and hobbies so that staff across the globe could become better acquainted professionally and connect with other employees with common interests.

The proof of concept was completed in September 2007 and presented at the Gallup World Conference where it was an immediate hit with Gallup associates and management.

Preparing for Fully Integrated Unified Communications

At about the same time, Gallup decided to implement a unified communications solution using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise, Exchange Unified Messaging, and Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise. The company also decided to deploy Windows Rights Management Services for Windows Server 2003 to safeguard digital information from being inadvertently sent to unauthorized recipients.

A major reason for choosing Microsoft products for all of these solutions was the tight integration among both the server and workstation products. “All of the Microsoft products are very integrated, so we don’t have to spend time making the applications work together,” says Colón. “That makes them much faster to implement and easier to manage going forward.”

Gaining Extra Value with Enterprise Agreement

When it came time to discuss software licensing, a Microsoft licensing specialist presented Gallup with comparisons of licensing costs for acquiring all of the designated products through a Microsoft Select License, as Gallup had done in the past, or through various configurations of a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. After evaluating the options, Gallup decided to acquire the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with an Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) Suite Step-Up.

Through the three-year Enterprise Agreement, Gallup gains:

• A fixed, annual volume price per desktop for enterprise products based on the number of desktops enrolled.
• Rights to the latest versions of Microsoft client and server software products covered under the agreement.
• Software Assurance upgrade, support, and training benefits.

All of the Microsoft products are very integrated, so we don’t have to spend time making the applications work together. That makes them much faster to implement and easier to manage going forward. Charlie Colón IT Director, The Gallup Organization

With the Enterprise CAL Suite Step-Up, Gallup acquired the Microsoft Core CAL that includes Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server Standard, Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard, and a configuration management license for System Center Configuration—and CALs for seven more server products, all under one license at a significant savings.

“We knew that we were going to be upgrading to Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise and implementing Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise, Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise, and Windows Rights Management Services, which are included in the Enterprise CAL Suite,” says Colón. “When we compared the cost of the Enterprise CAL Suite to the cost of acquiring the separate CALs, it was a ‘no brainer’ in terms of dollars and cents. Plus, Software Assurance entitles us to a host of upgrades and other benefits over the next three years.”

In addition, to the upgrade rights, Gallup gains several other benefits from Software Assurance, such as Microsoft E-Learning for end-user training, vouchers for IT training, around-the-clock problem-resolution support, and the Employee Purchase Program. “It’s a huge feather in the cap of the IT department to be able to send out an e-mail telling employees that they can get U.S.$300 or $400 worth of Microsoft software through the Software Assurance Employee Purchase Program at a significant discount from the retail price. They feel like we’ve really gone to bat for them.”

Gallup signed the Enterprise Agreement in January 2008, at which time the company started migrating from Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007. “Exchange Server 2007 provides a good foundation for expanding our unified communications capabilities, and it has a lot more fluid disaster recovery functionality,” says Weber. “With the enhanced replication capabilities in Exchange Server 2007, we can have servers at our disaster recovery site ready to restore functionality within two hours, if necessary.”

It took Gallup approximately 60 days to migrate all of its users (except for those in China) to Exchange Server 2007, which it completed in March 2008. Gallup plans to start implementing Exchange Unified Messaging, which is also included with the Enterprise CAL Suite, later in 2008 so that users can access all voice mail and e-mail directly from their Microsoft Outlook® inboxes. Exchange Unified Messaging integrates directly with the company’s Nortel PBX system without requiring any plug-ins. The China operations will continue to run on Exchange Server 2003 until the third quarter of 2008.

Turning a Proof of Concept into Proven Value

In mid-February 2008, after the Exchange Server 2007 migration was well under way, Gallup started deploying Office SharePoint Server 2007 with assistance from Microsoft Services. The first phase provides each of the firm’s primary business practices with a SharePoint portal that includes all of the data and documents migrated from the previous knowledge management solution. Gallup trainers provided one-on-one training for practice managers on how to upload and access documents. Then those practice managers send links to their sites to all of the relevant people in their business units. Those end users access training online.

In the next phase of deployment, the project team will set up specific client team sites and roll out My Site pages, based on the proof of concept developed for the Research and Development Group. Employees from all over the world will use these team sites to collaborate on projects and share information in real time.

Starting in June 2008, the firm plans to deploy Rights Management Services to prevent e-mail messages and attachments from being forwarded to unauthorized recipients. Following those projects, Gallup plans to deploy the VoIP, presence, instant messaging (IM), and audio and Web conferencing capabilities in Office Communications Server 2007 across the enterprise and install Microsoft Office Professional 2007 and the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client on the company’s 1,500 workstations and 500 laptops.

Benefits

Gallup expects its new unified communications and collaboration solution to help its employees work together more efficiently to provide higher quality services across the globe. By signing a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement with the Enterprise CAL Suite Step-Up, Gallup will be able to provide the technology tools to achieve these benefits with more predictable and affordable licensing costs.

Increased Worker Efficiency

“Using the Enterprise Search capability in Office SharePoint Server 2007, our associates are moving from having to navigate through hundreds of network shares to find information, to searching all of the potential knowledge resources in a single step,” says Weber. “Enterprise Search not only expedites searches, it helps provide more relevant results.”

By using the workflow features in Office SharePoint Server 2007 to automate business processes, Gallup expects to further increase efficiency. “We have multiple teams and consultants that touch, analyze, and deliver the data,” says Weber. “The workflow and collaboration features in Office SharePoint Server integrate tightly with Microsoft Office desktop applications to help make that process more seamless and our associates more productive.”

Gallup is expecting to further increase the quality and efficiency of collaboration among geographically dispersed team members with the deployment of Office Communications Server 2007. “The seamless integration between the Office applications and the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client is a big advantage,” says Weber. “You can right-click on e-mail and send instant messages or make a VoIP call all from the same interface, which makes it very efficient to use.”

Enhanced Team Building

As Gallup continues to grow rapidly and assembles teams with members from all over the world, it is committed to helping those team members get acquainted quickly. “Office SharePoint Server 2007 gives us a new knowledge management platform, which is critical to business continuity and will play a major role in helping us maintain our leadership in the industry,” says Colón. “Also because we have a very trusting, transparent, and dynamic people-based culture, the My Site capability creates a setting for our associates to get to know each other better so they can work together more effectively,” says Colón. “With 40 city centers around the globe that is a huge win. And the ability for each person to maintain their own My Site pages, rather than IT having to do it was a strong selling point for our Chief Information Officer.”

Streamlined Communications

Gallup expects the tight integration between its new technologies will make it much easier for its associates to communicate and collaborate with each other and to work efficiently with clients.

“The Office Communicator 2007 client is constantly hovering in the background with your 10 most recent contacts,” says Weber. “If you get an e-mail and rest the mouse over it, you can see whether that person is available for real-time communications and then initiate a phone call or IM session just with a click of the mouse.”

With the enhanced replication capabilities in Exchange Server 2007, we can have servers at our disaster recovery site ready to restore functionality within two hours if necessary. Phil Weber Director of IT Infrastructure, The Gallup Organization

With Office Communicator 2007, users can also right-click on a document in Office SharePoint Server 2007 and see who sent the document and who the author was, and then start a phone conversation or IM session with either or both of those people. “As long as the people are in the contact list anywhere in the network, Office Communicator can find that information and establish a communication session,” says Weber.

Saved $1.8 Million on Licensing

Gallup chose the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and the Enterprise CAL Suite Step-Up because it covered all the products that Gallup planned to use and offered a significant savings. “By selecting the Enterprise Agreement with the Enterprise CAL Suite Step-Up, we saved about $1.8 million compared to the Select License, based on two forecasted upgrades over three years,” says Colón. “The Enterprise Agreement gives us the freedom to upgrade as soon as the new version is available. With the Select License agreement, we might not upgrade as quickly.”

Simplified Licensing Management and Upgrade Planning

Gallup not only saves license costs with the Enterprise Agreement and Enterprise CAL Suite Step-Up, it also simplifies license tracking. Rather than having to keep track of individual licenses for each product, the Enterprise CAL Suite provides user access to 11 server products under a single license at a consistent price per workstation for three years. If the company adds or subtracts users, it just readjusts the total at the end of each year. “With the Enterprise Agreement, we can centrally manage our licensing structure, ensuring compliance and ensuring that all of our users are on the same version of the software, which is critical to the way we work,” says Colón.

The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement also provides Gallup with a very clear upgrade cycle. “With the Enterprise Agreement and the Enterprise CAL Suite, we can plan more efficiently, knowing that we already own the licenses and upgrades,” says Colón. “We know what we’re going to spend, and that helps us to more accurately forecast and put a more forward-thinking plan around our deployments. We can plan our upgrades based on logistics rather than on budget availability.”

 

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