2 page Case Study - Posted 7/15/2008

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Robby Gordon Motorsports

In Auto Racing, Speed is Everything—Both On and Off the Track

Robby Gordon Motorsports—the only single-car, owner-driver team on the premiere NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit—competes with teams three times its size. To increase its ability to compete, the company upgraded to Windows® Small Business Server 2008 beta software, deployed on an HP ProLiant ML350 G5 server. The organization’s efficiency and collaboration have been significantly increased, making a positive impact on the increasing communications and operating more efficiently.

Business Needs

Speed characterizes an auto racing business, both on and off the track. For Robby Gordon Motorsports, moving fast behind the scenes is critical to delivering competitive race teams and vehicles to the track. "This is a performance-based business in many regards," says Rob Harris, Media and Marketing Manager for Robby Gordon Motorsports. "Things change constantly. We need to attract sponsors and manage relationships with them. We manufacture complicated vehicles for three types of series. And we manage a retail business and relationships with a growing fan base." The company does this with employees based at headquarters in North Carolina and race teams that are on the road most of the year.

We have to adapt quickly to changes and be able to rapidly respond to opportunities. This means that we need access to information from anywhere—information like engineering data, sponsor plans, e-mail access, and fan-based CRM data. Rob Harris Media and Marketing Manager Robby Gordon Motorsports

Solution

To increase its agility and productivity, the company upgraded its Windows® Small Business Server 2003 software to Windows Small Business Server 2008 beta software. According to Harris, this upgrade is having a direct impact on the company's competitiveness. "Windows Small Business Server 2008, with its integrated, enhanced Windows SharePoint® Services, improved e-mail capabilities, and compatibility with Windows Mobile®, has taken our ability to communicate and collaborate to the next level."

But does this mean checkered flags? "I’ve been here seven years, and this team is performing at a higher level than I've ever seen before,” notes Harris. “I attribute a lot of that to Windows Small Business Server 2008 and what it does for our organization’s ability to perform. It integrates together the tools we need to succeed, and makes it easy and intuitive for people to use them.”

The HP ProLiant ML350 G5 server also gives the company a rock-solid hardware foundation for its new capabilities. “The ProLiant server is a definite improvement, with much better performance,” notes Harris. And as the company continues to grow, running Windows Small Business Server 2008 on the ML350 gives it the flexibility to accommodate the change.

Benefits

By upgrading to Windows Small Business Server 2008, Robby Gordon Motorsports has added new collaborative capabilities, increased the efficiency of many processes, and improved the flow of information—all of which lead to a more agile, competitive organization.

Increased collaboration. The collaboration tools were a key factor in the decision to upgrade. "Our business is driven by our ability to share information—in some cases very complicated information—easily and accurately," explains Harris. With Windows SharePoint Services, much higher levels of collaboration can occur between department heads, mechanics, road crews, engineers, and office staff.

For example, they now document race car build processes on Microsoft® Office PowerPoint®–based trainings and post them on a SharePoint portal. "If a decision is made to change the way we make or assemble part of a race car, that needs to be accurately captured and communicated universally," explains Harris. "It's now easier across our organization to find files and share information—from sponsorship schedules to marketing plans to licensing concepts."

Detailed race analyses, including the amounts of sponsor exposure, were previously filed away. Now, with this information posted to the SharePoint portal, the entire marketing team has the information at its fingertips. Harris says that improvements in remote access and remote e-mail are also having an impact. "Anything that saves you time when you're looking for things, or simplifies a process, makes us more efficient."

Greater efficiency. For merchandise licensing decisions (such as selecting a t-shirt design), Windows Small Business Server 2008 has made the process much more efficient and delivers faster decisions. Previously, merchandising proposals were routed by a combination of paper and e-mail— a disjointed process that stalled easily. Now, complete concepts, including photo galleries and terms and conditions, are posted on a SharePoint portal for review and approval. Any bottlenecks are obvious and quickly resolved. “This has shortened our review and approval process by literally weeks,” notes Harris. “And we can now post marketing information, such as a logo or marketing photos, one time rather than 100 times through e-mail.”

Remote access to tools and information. Robby Gordon Motorsports employees travel around the country to secure sponsorships and entertain existing partners. Recently, while on the road, they had to customize a 50-page, full-color document with messages appropriate for an important meeting with a potential sponsor. They were able to remotely access content from their server to prepare this specific proposal. With the new remote access capabilities, they safely circulated the document to staff in several locations for review and approval, and transmitted the document to a remote printer so it was ready to present when they arrived. “Our ability to access information—whether on the road or working from home—is much better,” says Harris. “Our ‘shared resources’ are now actually shared and used.”

Stronger relationships. Anytime access to e-mail and the Internet through laptops and Windows Mobile smartphones helps the company strengthen ties with its sponsors and fans. “We can answer a message from a major sponsor at any hour and adjust proposals on the fly, which demonstrates a greater responsiveness than waiting until the next day,” explains Harris. “And we’re using Windows Mobile Web-enabled smartphones to take on-track pictures and post them immediately to our fan Web site, allowing our fans to follow the team in real time.”

Windows Essential Server Solutions
Windows Small Business Server 2008 is part of the Windows Essential Server Solutions family, designed to help small and midsize businesses boost productivity and growth. Based on the latest innovations, Windows Essential Server Solutions dramatically simplify the deployment, ongoing management, and use of server technology. For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit:
www.microsoft.com/sbs08