4-page Case Study - Posted 10/3/2008

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Kapsch Group

Technology Firm Raises Productivity, Reduces Meeting Costs With Unified Communications

The Kapsch Group, based in Vienna, Austria, evolved from manufacturing telephones in 1892 to being a leading global supplier of telecommunications and road traffic telematics systems. As the company grew through mergers and acquisitions, it acquired Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems from multiple vendors. Kapsch wanted to add unified communications capabilities and keep its PBX infrastructure intact. So Kapsch BusinessCom, the firm’s telecommunications division, integrated Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, and Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging with its PBX systems. It found that the Microsoft unified communications solution integrated well with its PBX systems, and the solution’s conferencing capabilities helped reduce travel time and costs, increase meeting productivity and communications efficiency, and expand new business potential.

Situation

The Kapsch Group was founded in Vienna, Austria, in 1892 by Johann Kapsch. It started as a fine mechanical workshop with 18 employees, who produced equipment for leading-edge technologies of the time such as telegraph stations and Morse code machines. Since then, the Kapsch Group has continued to maintain its strong commitment to quality and innovation to become a leader in the traffic telematics and communications industries. Today the company has 2,400 employees in three divisions:

We have the same number of people presenting demos, but now with Office Communications Server 2007 and RoundTable they don’t have to travel as much, so we can do twice as many demos.  Rie Metzger Microsoft Alliance Management Kapsch Group

• Kapsch BusinessCom AG offers the latest in voice and data communications solutions for small, medium, and large businesses.
• Kapsch CarrierCom AG supplies innovative communications technology services and solutions for operators of fixed and mobile networks.
• Kapsch TrafficCom specializes in developing, implementing, and operating smart traffic telematic solutions, including electronic toll collection, traffic surveillance, parking and access, and traffic control systems.

Although much of its growth has come from its existing operations, Kapsch has also expanded through several mergers and acquisitions. As a result of those mergers, the company now has to support and manage four different Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems, including Nortel Communication Server 1000, Cisco Communications Manager 5, Ericsson MX-ONE version 3, and Ericsson BusinessPhone 250 Release 16.

In addition, with seven offices spread out over Austria, and eight more offices throughout Eastern Europe, business meetings frequently required up to four hours of travel time, as well as the cost of gas or airfare. The company had a video conferencing system in its headquarters in Vienna and audio conferencing capabilities, but it wanted to support more efficient real-time collaboration among all of its workers while mitigating travel costs where possible. The company also wanted to add similar capabilities to enhance its ability to present its solutions to customers.

The company used Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 across the enterprise and wanted to create a voice system with the same scope that would support new capabilities such as video conferencing, unified messaging, presence, and instant messaging (IM). “We wanted to use the existing PBX infrastructure but create a corporatewide unified communications solution that would add new capabilities without requiring us to replace what we had and move everything to one of the existing PBX platforms,” says Rie Metzger, Microsoft Alliance Management for the Kapsch Group.

Solution

The unified communications project was spearheaded by Kapsch BusinessCom, which takes care of the communications and IT needs for the entire Kapsch Group. Kapsch BusinessCom is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a solutions partner for Cisco Systems, Ericsson, and Nortel, so it looked at unified communications offerings from all four vendors.

Choosing one of the hardware vendors would have required the company to replace its other PBX systems. Because the Microsoft unified communications solution was software-based, it would integrate with all of the existing systems and add new capabilities without requiring costly hardware replacement. So Kapsch decided to go with the Microsoft solution, which includes Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, Office Communicator 2007, and Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Messaging. The company is also deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 for in-house collaboration.

When the initial pilot testing started in June 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 had not yet been released, so Kapsch BusinessCom rolled out Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005 and Office Communicator 2005 to a pilot group of 400 users in its own organization. “After testing the instant messaging and presence awareness capabilities of Live Communications Server 2005 for six months, we said ‘this is great, this is what we want,’” says René Niederhuber, Unified Communications Consultant and Project Manager for Kapsch BusinessCom.

Because the Microsoft unified communications solution integrates so well with our PBX systems, our employees can use whatever device is most comfortable for them.  Rie Metzger Microsoft Alliance Management Kapsch Group

Once the integration was complete, Kapsch rolled out Office Communications Server 2007 to about 900 employees, including 750 in Kapsch BusinessCom and 200 project managers and IT technicians in other Kapsch business units and subsidiaries. Those users were able to take advantage of all of the new features, such as:

• Integration of IM with Exchange Server distribution lists.
• Software-powered VoIP, which allows users to make, receive, and manage phone calls using Office Communicator 2007 on their computers.
• Remote Call Control (RCC), which integrates the Office Communicator 2007 client with the PBX phone system so that users can place, receive, and manage calls through Office Communicator and use the traditional handset to communicate.
• Audio, video, and Web conferencing.

Two internal technicians provided six two-hour training sessions throughout the Kapsch locations to familiarize users with Office Communicator 2007 functionality, including how to:

• Dial a number from the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client and pick up their existing handsets to communicate.
• Transition from IM to a voice call.
• Use the headset with the Office Communicator 2007 soft phone on their computers.
• Set the presence capability to let colleagues know in real time when they’re available and when they’re not.

Most of those employees continue to use their existing handsets, which are fully integrated with Office Communications Server 2007. However, remote users working from home or other locations use the soft phone capabilities of Office Communicator 2007 with Jabra GN 9330, 9350, or 2000 USB headsets.

At about the same time as it deployed Office Communications Server 2007, Kapsch also deployed Exchange Server 2007 with Unified Messaging to a group of about 200 people in Kapsch BusinessCom to test side by side with the company’s existing unified messaging solution (a product called cycos mrs). “Our users especially like the calendar administration features in Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging that allow them to call in and accept or decline meetings, and to notify meeting attendees if they’re going to be late for a scheduled meeting,” says Niederhuber.

Kapsch set up an internal MySite page in Office SharePoint Server 2007 where employees can indicate their presence status and view the presence status of others. The company is federated with both Microsoft and Nortel, so they can view and share presence information and exchange IMs with contacts from those companies as well.

Kapsch uses the conferencing capabilities in Office Communications Server 2007 for internal meetings, such as monthly sales meetings and internal project meetings that include employees from Kapsch offices throughout Austria and in Eastern Europe. Kapsch installed nine Microsoft RoundTable™ conferencing and collaboration devices in its offices in Austria, which provide 360-degree views of the meeting location and highlights the person speaking to make it easier for remote attendees to follow discussions. In addition, Kapsch uses the conferencing capabilities to make presentations to customers at remote locations.

With RoundTable and the conferencing functionality of Office Communications Server 2007, we can go through presentations, share applications, and go over calculations and other project details together.  René Niederhuber Unified Communications Consultant and Project Manager Kapsch BusinessCom.

Benefits

By adding a Microsoft unified communica-tions solution on top of its existing PBX infrastructure, Kapsch gained several new communications tools, without having to replace any of its PBX systems. With this solution, the company is also reducing travel time and costs, increasing productivity and efficiency, and expanding business opportunities.

Preserves Existing PBX Investment

By implementing the Microsoft unified communications solution, Kapsch is preserving its investment in its existing PBX systems and gaining new VoIP, IM, and conferencing capabilities. “Because the Microsoft unified communications solution integrates so well with our PBX systems, our employees can use whatever device is most comfortable for them—either their regular desk phones or a headset connected to their computers,” says Metzger. “I can just press a button in Office Communicator 2007 to open my contacts in Outlook, click the contact link to dial, and pick up the phone on my desk to talk.”

Reduces Travel Time and Costs

Before implementing Office Communications Server 2007, Kapsch employees had to drive from two to four hours each way to attend meetings at the company headquarters. As a result, employees from more distant offices often couldn’t attend or they joined by a traditional conference call, which made it difficult to participate effectively in the discussion.

“The sales staff is always busy, and they didn’t want to spend time driving to headquarters and back every month for just one meeting,” says Metzger. “The conferencing capability in Office Communications Server 2007 provides the opportunity for people who can’t attend a meeting to join from a remote location and get new information or add their input to the discussion. We now use Office Communications Server 2007 and RoundTable for a monthly sales meeting attended by 10 Kapsch sales managers from all over Austria, which saves from four to eight hours of travel time a month per person, in addition to saving the company fuel costs.”

This capability also makes it easier to set up impromptu meetings with staff in other offices to resolve issues. “We recently had a brief internal meeting here in Vienna with colleagues in our Graz and Linz offices,” says Niederhuber. “We used the RoundTable device here at headquarters and they used personal Web cams on their PCs. We finished the meeting in an hour and it saved our remote colleagues about from two to seven hours of driving.”

Supports More Productive Meetings

In addition to saving time, the conferencing capabilities in Office Communications Server 2007 are much more effective than traditional telephone conferences. “With RoundTable and the conferencing functionality of Office Communications Server 2007, we can go through presentations, share applications, and go over calculations and other project details together,” says Niederhuber. “RoundTable really improves the quality of the work that we can accomplish in a meeting. And, as more of our employees see how easy and efficient this conferencing is, they’re finding more applications for it.”

Increases Efficiency

The Microsoft unified communications solution provides more ways to communicate—by voice, e-mail, and instant messaging—which makes it easier and quicker to exchange information and resolve issues. “Instant messaging is very easy to use and it helps us get information much faster,” says Niederhuber.

The presence and IM capabilities also help Kapsch work more efficiently within the organization and with its business partners through federation. “Federation with business partners is a major plus,” says Metzger. “Before, we had to send e-mail back and forth several times. Now I can see their presence status immediately. If their status is green, I can send an instant message to see if they’re free for a phone call, and if they say yes, I just click the link and we’re connected. It saves a lot of time and makes it much easier to get information and arrange meetings.”

Those same benefits apply to internal communications. “If you’re in a meeting, you might set your presence to yellow, which means even though you’re busy, you can be reached,” says Metzger. “So if someone needs information immediately or if there is a customer crisis, you can send IMs to help resolve problems—something that was not possible before.”

Expands New Business Potential

Kapsch has found RoundTable to be a very effective tool for presenting live demos to customers located several hundred kilometers away from Vienna. It saves the customer travel time and saves Kapsch travel costs. “Customers just log on to our demo lab and we present the demo using RoundTable with audio and video the same as if we were all in the same room,” says Metzger. “We have the same number of people presenting demos, but now with Office Communications Server 2007 and RoundTable they don’t have to travel as much, so we can do twice as many demos.”

That increased capacity has paid off in increased business for Kapsch. “In the first eight months since we started using RoundTable for these demos, we’ve increased our engagements by 20 percent over the preceding year,” Metzger adds.

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:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about Kapsch BusinessCom AG products and services, call 43 (0)50 811 0 or visit the Web site at:
www.kapsch.net/BusinessCom/en/Index_en.htm

For more information about Kapsch Group products and services, call 43 (0)50 811 0 or visit the Web site at:
www.kapsch.net/index_en.htm

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Document published August 2008