With offices spread throughout Lebanon, the Ministry of Finance wanted to provide voice, video and conferencing capabilities to enhance collaboration, mobility as well as productivity among its employees.
The solution also had to be easy to use and cost-effective. By implementing Microsoft Lync 2010, the Ministry’s staff could finally communicate with each other, regardless of their location and collaborate effectively.
Business Needs
Employees of Lebanon’s Ministry of Finance are spread across several locations, including virtual teams that require continuous collaboration.
One of the challenges the Ministry had was ensuring that its employees would be able to communicate and collaborate effectively, irrespective of their geographical location. Because of a lack of a dedicated communications system, it was only possible to
keep in touch using a standard phone or email. Furthermore, for those that were on assignment overseas, the only way of communicating with their colleagues was by email. These situations made intra-office collaboration very difficult and hindered the employees
from having a meaningful dialogue with each other.
Another issue was the matter of finding a specific person within the Ministry. With a staff of over 5,000 employees, it was almost impossible to look a person up using the Ministry’s personnel directory unless one knew their username or real name. “Even
if you could find them, you had no idea if they were away, in a meeting or in a middle of a phone call. This inability to connect and know each other’s availability caused a lot of dissatisfaction among the employees. We were really having difficulty in collaborating
with our colleagues, and it was very frustrating for everyone," says Ahmad Itani, who works as a Systems Manager at the Ministry.
In many cases, people had to be in the same room whenever they needed to have a meeting. This meant that they had to leave their work stations or travel to different branches of the Ministry. This was both time-consuming and expensive.
Solution
In order to resolve these problems, the IT Director, with the approval of the Director General and the Minister of Finance, worked with his engineers in finding a solution. The strategy had very clear goals. One of which was that the Ministry needed voice,
video and conferencing capabilities that employees could access either through their computers or phones. Another was the ability to view the status of a person. These would give a worker the advantage of being able to communicate virtually, as well as plan
the most appropriate time to get in touch with a colleague.
Other considerations included cost reduction, high integration and improved collaboration.
“We also wanted a solution that would reduce our phone bills as well as seamlessly integrate with our present infrastructure. Particularly during meetings, we wanted to give our employees, in some cases, the ability to share and work virtually on the same
document. This would eliminate the need to travel and allow them to participate wherever they may be,” says Ahmad.
The Ministry looked at all possible solutions in the market. After a careful review, the Ministry chose Microsoft Lync 2010.
“Our analysis showed that Microsoft Lync 2010 met all our requirements and more. Additionally, it was a less expensive solution than the nearest competitor,” he adds. To ensure a very smooth implementation, the Ministry turned to Microsoft Consulting Services
(MCS) for assistance.
“MCS provided most of the implementation capabilities. We did not have a lot of knowledge about deploying and implementing Microsoft Lync 2010 in the way that we wanted to do it. For example, we wanted to have high availability, clustering and silos. MCS
helped us with the implementation until we reached what we wanted to achieve out of this solution. We also wanted to integrate Microsoft Lync 2010 with our PBX software called Avaya, which we did not know how to do. MCS provided us with all the help that was
needed to make this happen. MCS was with us from the get-go until the project was completed.” The Ministry also plans to replace their old phones with USB Microsoft Lync phones as part of the overall strategy.
Benefits
After having deployed Microsoft Lync 2010 for just a few months, employees are experiencing the advantages of the solution.
"Initially, they were skeptical and they felt that it was an application that would simply waste their time. However, after having had the opportunity to use the system, the employees realized that Microsoft Lync 2010 had far more capabilities than just
instant messaging (IM). Plus, they like the fact that they can keep in touch with everyone, especially if they're traveling abroad," says Ahmad.
Increased Productivity and the Value of Presence
Microsoft Lync 2010 has given employees the power to communicate and collaborate with each other like never before. One of the pain points that the solution solved is the ease of finding a specific person. “With Microsoft Lync 2010, you just type a name
and get several hits. You can also send an instant message (IM) right away and add that person to your contact list. Plus, it’s very easy to use,” he adds.
The software’s usefulness does not end there. One of its key features is that it provides an immediate visual representation of a user’s availability or “presence." This means that a would-be caller can see if a person that they want to speak with is available
or busy. This visibility allows an employee to plan their calls accordingly.
Voice Conferencing and Cross-Platform Compatibility
Being able to use voice conferencing has proven to be a big help to the employees. “Voice conferencing is good for us because it saves us on phone calls. With Microsoft Lync, you just have to click on someone’s name and you can establish a call.” Another
advantage is that the staff can use their smartphones or computers regardless of platform to make a phone call. “We have a lot of Mac and mobile phone users here at the Ministry. The fact that there are clients for all these different types of platforms shows
the power of Microsoft Lync as a unifying communications solution.” Consequently, employees can be more mobile when they need to collaborate.
Enhanced Collaboration using Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010
One of the collaboration tools that the employees are using is co-authoring. Through Microsoft Lync 2010, a Microsoft Office document can be shared and worked on by different people simultaneously. “This has proven to be a great time saver since you can
get everybody's input during meetings even though they may not be in the same room. This has also made a lot of trips unnecessary and has saved us a lot of money.”
For the employees at the Ministry, Microsoft Lync 2010 has given them a decisive advantage.
“Microsoft Lync 2010 has dramatically changed the way we communicate, improved collaboration, and increased our productivity. Our users are very happy with the solution.”
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
