Tieto

IT Services Firm Uses Integrated Voice Solution to Build New Applications, Cut Costs

Based in Finland, Tieto is the largest computer services and software solution provider in the Nordic region of Northern Europe. Most of the company’s employees are located in separate offices and collaborate virtually on customer projects. Although Tieto had begun to implement a unified communications infrastructure to make that process easier, the company still had to manage different phone systems and software-based voice solutions. To address that problem, Tieto implemented Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007, which streamlines communications channels. Now 2,000 Tieto employees have unified tools (voice over IP, conferencing, and unified messaging) for communicating, and Tieto developers have the ability to create new internal applications as well as customer solutions. The new solution has also helped Tieto increase productivity and cut travel costs by 15 percent.

Situation

Tieto is an international IT services company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. One of Europe’s largest IT services providers, Tieto has offices in 26 countries and employs nearly 17,000 people. The organization delivers software solutions and consulting services to enterprises in the public administration, finance, telecommunications, and forest industries, in addition to other sectors. Its largest customers reside in Northern Europe, Germany, and Russia.

We have reduced total travel costs by 15 percent companywide thanks to our strong collaboration infrastructure. Office Communications Server 2007 … play[s] a strong role in that.  Michael Wittwer Vice President of Business Development Tieto Digital Innovations

A major business challenge for Tieto is getting its employees to work together effectively despite the geographic distance between offices. “Even though many of our employees are based in different competency centers in locations all over the world, they need to work in virtual teams,” says Michael Wittwer, Vice President of Business Development, Tieto Digital Innovations. “We need to combine the best expertise and competences from all of those offices into virtual teams to provide the best possible solutions to our global customers.” 

That business model necessitates seamless employee communications. “We need to have very smooth communications capabilities, so employees can easily contact colleagues on their virtual team by e-mail or phone and involve them in video conferences when they need to,” Wittwer says.

To meet these communications needs, Tieto began laying the foundation of a unified communications infrastructure in 2003. It implemented the Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 e-mail messaging environment and the instant messaging capabilities of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. Tieto also deployed Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003, which helped improve employee collaboration.

However, the overall communication and collaboration infrastructure at Tieto was still not as integrated as the company wanted it to be. This was magnified by the fact that the company had acquired a number of new businesses, introducing new Private Branch Exchange (PBX) phone systems and voice over IP (VoIP) telephony systems into the Tieto environment. “With each new acquisition, we would get different technology into our company that had to be harmonized with our existing solutions,” says Wittwer.

In fact, Tieto IT administrators had to manage several different PBX systems, as well as the VoIP solutions and a Nortel telephony system. “We had a mix of new and old infrastructures,” says Ilkka Salomaa, Senior Technology Consultant at Tieto. “In our business world, where we have virtual teams in different countries and on different continents, that simply does not work. The end user experience in terms of communication was not good.”

Tieto also needed to address an increasingly competitive marketplace, in which IT solution providers like itself were being asked to design and deploy unified communications solutions with integrated voice functionality.

The company wanted to find new technology that integrated with its growing Microsoft IT infrastructure while giving Tieto developers the ability to design new, integrated communications solutions.

Solution

In January 2008, Tieto began the process of studying new unified communications solutions. After looking at products and technologies from a range of vendors, Tieto decided to implement Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.

The software integrates instant messaging, presence, and VoIP capabilities with audio, video, and Web conferencing into one seamless solution centered on the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client. With Office Communicator 2007, users have a single interface through which they can send e-mail messages, initiate instant messaging sessions, and check colleagues’ presence information. In addition, users can place VoIP calls from within Office Communicator 2007.

Tieto was also interested in Office Communications Server 2007 because it includes developer tools that can be used to create custom telephony applications. Tieto was especially intrigued by the idea of using Office Communications Server 2007 Speech Server to create speech-based, automated call center solutions for its customers.

[One] customer can reduce its travel costs by €12 million [$15.7 million] annually, or more than 20 percent, using our solution…. solutions based on Office Communications Server 2007 are really helping to reduce travel costs.  Michael Wittwer Vice President of Business Development Tieto Digital Innovations

Office Communications Server 2007 also supports federation, which means Tieto could interoperate with other corporate instant messaging networks, such as those of its largest customers. “We really liked the built-in voice functionality and the overall integration of Office Communications Server 2007,” Wittwer says.

In April 2008, Tieto began its deployment of Office Communications Server 2007, both internally and for one of its largest customers. The initial deployment included 300 Tieto users. At the same time, the company deployed Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging to these users. With this technology, users can receive voice-mail, e-mail, and fax messages in their mailboxes. They can access these messages from computers or cell phones. This made Tieto the first customer in Northern Europe to deploy Microsoft solutions for conferencing, VoIP, and unified messaging.

With the new solution in place, the pilot group of users can communicate quickly with colleagues in other offices through instant messaging, e-mail, or voice―all from their computers. These users can also easily launch audio or video conferences whenever they need to. 

As of January 2009, Tieto has deployed Office Communications Server 2007 with full VoIP functionality, along with Exchange Server 2007 Unified Messaging, to 2,000 employees. Those 2,000 Tieto employees use LG-Nortel USB phones as their primary device for voice communications.

Benefits

Office Communications Server 2007 gives Tieto employees unified tools with which to communicate with colleagues. The organization’s developers can now design new integrated applications for both internal and customer use. Tieto has also taken advantage of the solution’s voice functionality to reduce costs, increase employee productivity, and improve the overall efficiency of IT administration. 

Unifies Employee Communications Tools

With Office Communications Server 2007, Tieto workers have unified communications tools that they can manage from the Office Communicator 2007 client. “The Office Communications Server 2007 solution is very seamless and easy to use,” says Wittwer. “I can use presence to see if a coworker is available, and with just one click I can connect by voice or arrange a video conference with that person. It is now easy to connect with people. If it was too complicated, we wouldn’t have deployed the solution.”

The Office Communicator 2007 client was one of the main features that convinced Tieto to implement the solution. “Office Communicator 2007 gives us one client that unites all of our communications tools,” says Salomaa. “From an end user point of view, that’s a big step forward for us.”

Helps Developers Create Integrated Applications

Using the solution’s developer tools and application programming interface (API), Tieto developers have been able to integrate the functionality of Office Communications Server 2007 into a number of new applications. For instance, Tieto recently created a solution called Future Office, an information worker productivity solution. “Using Office Communications Server 2007 developer tools, we easily created a new office application that gives our workers voice capabilities,” says Salomaa.

In all of these cases, Tieto is able to show its customers how applications based on Office Communications Server 2007 can be used in day-to-day operations. “We have seen that the best demonstration we can make to our enterprise customers is to show we have made these applications work in our own company,” Wittwer says. “It serves as a showcase to our customers.”

IT administration is clearly going to be easier once Office Communications Server 2007 is fully deployed …. We will have a one-product IT infrastructure, which gives us better control and manageability.  Ilkka Salomaa Senior Technology Consultant Tieto

Conferencing Reduces Travel and Long-Distance Calling Costs

The new unified communications capabilities in Office Communications Server 2007 make it simple for Tieto employees to quickly and easily collaborate by audio, video, or Web conference with their colleagues in competency centers across the globe. As a result, Tieto has significantly reduced its costs related to long-distance calling and off-site meetings. “We have already reduced travel by 25 percent, and we have reduced total travel costs by 15 percent companywide thanks to our strong collaboration infrastructure. Office Communications Server 2007 and extensive audio and video conferencing capabilities play a strong role in that,” says Wittwer.

Likewise, Tieto anticipates that it will be able to help its customers cut travel-related costs with newly deployed Office Communications Server 2007 solutions. “We did a detailed assessment for one customer that will use a solution including Office Communications 2007 that we’re helping to implement,” remarks Wittwer. “Our study showed that the customer can reduce its travel costs by €12 million [$15.7 million] annually, or more than 20 percent, using our solution. I don’t think anyone doubts anymore that solutions based on Office Communications Server 2007 are really helping to reduce travel costs.”

Increases Information Worker Productivity

Tieto employees using the Office Communications Server 2007 solution have been able to work more productively as the result of their new, integrated communications tools. “When I need to quickly find people and their presence information shows they’re busy, I don’t have to wait and try again later,” says Wittwer. “Instead, I receive an alert in Office Communicator 2007 when their status changes, and then I can immediately click on their name to contact them by voice or instant message. It saves a lot of time and increases productivity.”

The Future Office application built by Tieto on Office Communications Server 2007 is also helping to boost productivity. Because it has an interface similar to widely used Microsoft Office applications, Tieto employees quickly learn how to use the new application. The familiar interface means these employees can spend less time training and more time working. “Our Future Office solution, which integrates Office Communications Server 2007 functionality, definitely makes our information workers more productive,” says Wittwer.

Improves Efficiency of IT Operations

Tieto IT managers can now perform their administration tasks and other IT operations more efficiently. “IT administration is clearly going to be easier once Office Communications Server 2007 is fully deployed, because there will be fewer communications channels to worry about from an operational perspective,” Salomaa says. “We will have a one-product IT infrastructure, which gives us better control and manageability.”

Because Office Communications Server 2007 integrates with the Microsoft technologies already being used by Tieto, such as the Active Directory® service and Exchange Server 2007, the company expects that scaling the new solution will be easier. “We don’t need to replace anything to get work solutions to end users because Office Communications Server 2007 integrates so well with our infrastructure,” says Salomaa. “Deploying the solution is much easier when you already have a complete Microsoft-based infrastructure.”

For More Information

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For more information about Tieto products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.tieto.com

Microsoft Office System

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Document published January 2009