Medway Plastics/Plastics Fabrication Technologies

Manufacturer Saves Time, Boosts Productivity by 50 Percent by Using Online Services

Medway Plastics (Medway), based in California, designs and produces custom injection molding. The company recently sought to improve its communication and collaboration infrastructure. However, because the organization has only two employees to oversee IT operations, it was faced with resource constraints. In October 2007, the company started to implement the Business Productivity Online Suite from Microsoft® Online Services, a group of hosted technologies that includes Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Office Live Meeting, and Exchange Hosted Filtering. Medway now has a solution that simplifies administration, saves time and money, and has increased productivity by 50 percent. The solution also streamlines communication and provides solid technical support.

Situation

Founded in 1974, Medway Plastics (Medway) supports many users around the world. Medway is primarily a research organization whose scientists and engineers work with manufacturers to generate new processes. Medway specializes in custom injection molding and tooling for customers around the world. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, the company has more than 200 users and maintains remote relationships in around the world.

The Business Productivity Online Suite gives me multiple data centers that are protected, so I have redundancy and security for a very minimal cost.  Jay Magness IT Manager Medway

Two IT administrators based in Long Beach manage the company’s IT infrastructure. They maintain a handful of server computers that run the Windows Server® 2003 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, and they also maintain all client computers. They also maintain more than 100 cell phones and a growing number of devices running the Windows Mobile® operating system. Until recently, the pair managed a POP3 e-mail messaging environment used by all employees.

“I work 12 hours each day, every day of the week,” says Jay Magness, IT Manager, Medway. “Maintaining our server computers, employee computers, and the phones and devices is a big job. As the company has grown, it’s put a big strain on me and the other employee, who works part time.”

Magness says he would often spend many hours each week working on POP3 problems and helping mobile employees with phone setup and configuration. “Many users experienced problems when they changed cell phones because their directory of contacts did not work properly,” he says. “I spent a lot of time on that issue, and it took time away from other things I needed to focus on, such as network administration.”

For Medway, effective communication and collaboration is critical. The organization needs to maintain regular and effective communication with partners, suppliers, and customers throughout the world. To bolster communication, the company recently deployed Microsoft® Office Live Meeting, a hosted conferencing solution. “We use Office Live Meeting every single day, about 30 hours each month in total,” says Magness. “We use it for project planning meetings and project status updates for customers.”

However, the company still needed a better way to share technical engineering drawings internally and with customers. “We transfer a lot of these drawings back and forth through e-mail, but this wasn’t very effective,” says Magness. “The file sizes were much too large, and it would take minutes for them to reach customers, instead of seconds. It was frustrating for customers in particular.”

According to Magness, Medway wanted to address all of these challenges, but it felt limited by resource concerns. “We definitely needed new technology here, but we could not justify spending money to hire a new person to manage it all,” he says. “At the same time, I was already working too many hours and could not envision managing a lot of new products by myself.”

Solution

In September 2007, Medway was given a preview of the Business Productivity Online Suite from Microsoft Online Services, enterprise software that is delivered as a service and hosted by Microsoft. Organizations subscribe to these services to access e-mail, contacts and calendar information, shared workspaces, and Web and video conferencing. The services are managed through a single, security-enhanced, Web-based interface. Through the interface, IT professionals can monitor the performance of the services, add and configure users, submit and track support requests, and manage users and licenses. 

The Business Productivity Online Suite includes Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online, Office Live Meeting, and Exchange Hosted Filtering. Exchange Online offers e-mail, calendaring, and contact lists. The service includes computer and mobile device support and integrates with the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client or can be accessed through Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access.

Managing the overall infrastructure is my core competency. With the Business Productivity Online Suite, I can spend time on infrastructure while Microsoft manages its core competency, which is Exchange Server, Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Office Live Meeting.  Jay Magness IT Manager Medway

Office SharePoint Online includes access to an online portal and team sites. Exchange Online is protected by Microsoft Forefront™ antivirus and antispam filters and Microsoft Exchange Hosted Filtering; Office SharePoint Online is protected by Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint.

Having already deployed Office Live Meeting, Medway decided to get on board with Exchange Online and Office SharePoint Online in October 2007. The company initially purchased 50 Exchange Online and Office SharePoint Online seats, with plans to purchase 100 more in the coming months. Deployment of the Business Productivity Online Suite was a simple process for the organization. “Getting everything set up took only minutes,” says Magness. “We were up and running almost immediately, so our users had Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail inboxes and SharePoint site access very quickly.”

Benefits

With the Business Productivity Online Suite, Medway has a hosted e-mail, portal, and conferencing solution that provides easy IT administration, helps to save time and money, and increases productivity for employees. The services also consolidate communication and collaboration for employees and give the company access to strong technical support from Microsoft.

Simplifies IT Administration

Because the Business Productivity Online Suite gives Medway hosted e-mail, portal, and conferencing capabilities, the company’s IT administrators do not have to worry about managing these new technologies on premises. “With the Business Productivity Online Suite, I have a much easier method of managing e-mail and collaboration for our users,” says Magness. “The deployment itself is very easy and fast, and I can rely on Microsoft to manage everything. The simplicity of this is a huge advantage to me.” Magness points out that the management of cell phone directories is particularly easier now. “When an employee gets a new cell phone, all I have to do is point that phone to Exchange Online and all phone contact information is transferred."

Management of IT security has also been simplified. “With Forefront and Exchange Hosted Filtering protecting everything, I don’t have to even worry about Exchange Server, Office Live Meeting, and SharePoint site security,” says Magness. “Thinking about security issues used to keep me awake at night, but it doesn’t anymore.”

Saves Time and Money

The Business Productivity Online Suite also saves Magness time that he would have spent managing and maintaining e-mail and other communications technology. “I always spent way too much time managing the POP3 system, and now I spend zero time on e-mail management,” he says. “With the Business Productivity Online Suite, I don’t have to spend any time or effort setting up and configuring new systems. Why would I want to spend time on that here if it can be done for me off-site?” As a result, Magness can focus more on strategic IT initiatives. “Managing the overall infrastructure is my core competency,” he says. “With the Business Productivity Online Suite, I can spend time on infrastructure while Microsoft manages its core competency, which is Exchange Server, Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Office Live Meeting.”

For Magness, having hosted services also saves money that might have been spent maintaining on-premise server computers. “There are major cost savings on hardware and software,” he says. “Also, I don’t have to hire someone who knows Exchange Server and Office SharePoint Server. The Business Productivity Online Suite gives me multiple data centers that are protected, so I have redundancy and security for a very minimal cost, which is important to us as a small company. I also have the tools and functionality that these products provide without having to invest in the infrastructure.”

Boosts Productivity

Now that Magness spends less time managing the company’s communications systems, he can be more productive on the job. “I have seen at least a 50 percent productivity increase because of the Business Productivity Online Suite,” he says. “Employee cell phones are backed up now, and whatever information is in users’ e-mail inboxes is also in their cell phones. I don’t have to manage those things in multiple places. Everything is at my fingertips.”

I have seen at least a 50 percent productivity increase because of the Business Productivity Online Suite.  Jay Magness IT Manager Medway

Medway customers are also more productive. “Our customers don’t have to experience delays in sending and receiving large engineering drawings,” says Magness. “It’s much faster now with Office SharePoint Online. We set our customers up with Office SharePoint Online accounts so they can simply go to the portal and retrieve these files. Also, because we can use Office Live Meeting to discuss projects, customers don’t have to travel across the country to meet with us anymore. They can put more time into their work.”

Streamlines Communication and Collaboration

Medway has also experienced streamlined internal and customer communication and collaboration because of the Business Productivity Online Suite. “I can now set up a SharePoint portal directory or folder for each project that I’m working on, which I couldn’t do before,” says Magness. “I can also manage the calendar for that project in the SharePoint portal, which makes every project easier to manage.”

Magness no longer has to call customers on the phone to discuss a drawing that they might not have even received through e-mail. “I can walk out onto our production floor here to look at a project and immediately launch an Office Live Meeting session with the customer to talk about that project in real time,” he says. “Communication is definitely better now.”

Provides Strong Technical Support

Magness says that technical support is another advantage of using the Business Productivity Online Suite. “Microsoft support has been amazing. They are so responsive,” he says. “When I send a request, I receive an immediate response. I am directly connected to people who can actually solve the problem I’m having.”

Magness adds that Medway already had high confidence in Microsoft before the company decided to implement the Business Productivity Online Suite. “For years, we’ve trusted Microsoft for our operating systems and applications” he says. “That makes us very confident that these online services are also secure and reliable.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/

For more information about Medway Plastics products and services, call (800) 301-7885 or visit the Web site at:
http://www.medwayplastics.com/

Microsoft Online Services

Microsoft Online Services is a business-class communications and collaboration software offering delivered as a subscription service, hosted by Microsoft, and sold with partners. These services help make it easier for customers to rapidly and cost-effectively access the most up-to-date technologies, and are designed for rapid deployment to provide customers with streamlined communications, simplified management, and business-class reliability and security.
 
For IT staff, Microsoft Online Services helps reduce the burden of performing routine IT management tasks such as installation, provisioning, ongoing maintenance, patches, updates, and upgrades. This makes it possible for them to spend more time on initiatives that move the business forward. These services are backed by strong service level agreements (SLAs) and are designed to meet the regulatory compliance and reliability needs of enterprise customers. On a technical level, the services boast the sophistication and reliability that customers expect from Microsoft, which continues to invest heavily in building data centers to support these services.

For more information, visit:
www.microsoft.com/online 

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published September 2008