NCT Group Chooses Windows Platform Over Linux for New Wireless Network System

“By investing in the Windows platform, we are confident we have built a solid foundation for our Group’s business success.”
- Allen Yap, Group Head of IT, NCT Venture Corporation Sdn Bhd


The NCT Group has interests in property development, construction and civil engineering. Its business units had been operating on a decentralized IT environment in different locations. To improve its IT infrastructure, NCT decided to centralize and consolidate its IT systems. It considered using Linux but discovered it was not as user friendly as Windows and integration would be a major problem.

It opted to deploy Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 while standardizing on Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office 2003 Professional for its desktops. NCT leveraged on Windows Server 2003 to set up a fully wireless network. The Windows-based system has eliminated cumbersome manual processes, enhanced communications and collaboration, and improved staff productivity.

Situation

The NCT Group has its roots in a humble specialist contracting firm established in 1985. Since then, it has diversified into property development, building construction and civil engineering, and trading of building materials. NCT has made its mark in many notable development projects throughout Malaysia.

The cornerstone of the NCT Group’s growth is attributed to its ability to synergize its multifarious activities into profit making entities and strategic alliances at home and abroad. The NCT Group, which has over 20 subsidiaries and associate companies, recently moved into its spanking new corporate office complex in Puchong, Selangor. The move saw the consolidation of its operations, with almost all of its subsidiary and associate companies relocating to the new headquarters.

Prior to the move, the Group’s operations were located in several locations in the central Klang Valley region. In terms of its IT network infrastructure, the Group had a system of multiple Local Area Networks and standalone PCs.

“The system was decentralized… business data was everywhere, making file sharing difficult. And we had to manually set updates or patches for PCs,” says Allen Yap, Group Head of IT, NCT Venture Corporation Sdn Bhd, the holding company of NCT Group.

Files were exchanged on disks and staff had great difficulty keeping track of the documents. “We often ended up with a huge pile of disks and sometimes we were not sure which file is the latest version,” he adds. As there was no centralized back-up system, staff had to back up their important business information themselves.

The IT system was unable to support the relocation and rapid business expansion of the Group, he adds. NCT also had a tough time managing its software assets as the various subsidiaries were running different versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems and applications. For communi-cations, selected staff had access to a POP3 e-mail system hosted externally by a service provider. E-mail accounts were often shared with a secretary tasked to print out the emails and sending it to respective users.

This meant that privacy and confidential information was exposed. Some staff also used their personal email addresses for business correspondence. There was no retention of mail when a PC crashes or users accidentally delete the mail, adds Yap.

Collaboration was a ponderous affair because of manual processes. Telephone calls and paper documents to communicate business information and decisions was the norm. “Memos were circulated to all staff. This paper-based information flow resulted in high paper usage. More damaging was the fact we were unable to share business, customer and supplier information centrally.”

Without an efficient flow of information within the Group, the management was handicapped in its decision making. “Decision making was slowed down because business information often had to be sent physically to different parties in different locations,” explains Yap.

“Overall, low productivity and lack of efficiency characterized our operations. We realized it was time to revamp our IT environment,” says Yap.



Solution

With the impending move into its new building, NCT Group decided it was the ideal opportunity to consolidate and centralize its IT system and eliminate the obstacles to its business growth. (Image left: Mr. Allen Yap)

Apart from the Windows platform, NCT also contemplated migrating to the Linux platform because of the prospect of free Open Source software. However, after evaluating both platforms, NCT decided to stick with a tried and trusted platform – Windows.

“We considered using Linux because of budget constraints. However, we found out its not user friendly and integration would be a major problem. Though its initial cost may be lower, its support and maintenance costs are much higher than Windows,” he explains.
The staff were also not receptive to the idea of switching to Linux as they were very comfortable and familiar with Windows applications, he adds.

Ultimately, the decision was an easy one to make. “The total cost of ownership for Windows is lower than Linux. Windows is a long-term investment. It is a user friendly platform and easy to integrate with other systems. Unlike Linux, support for Windows is widely available and costs much less.”

“Under the Windows environment, there is a wider choice of business applications available. This is an important consideration as we plan to leverage on IT to further grow our business,” Yap explains.

Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Digital DNA (M) Sdn Bhd was engaged to help NCT’s IT team deploy the new Windows solutions. On the server end, NCT deployed Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 while standardizing on Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office 2003 Professional for the desktops (via Open Licenses). The Group had previously acquired OEM licenses for its various versions of Windows operating systems and Microsoft
Office applications.

The deployment process took about a month and was completed end 2005 and the revamped IT system now caters to about 100 users. Yap says Digital DNA played an important role in ensuring the implementation proceeded without any major hitches.

The unique aspect about the implementation was that NCT opted for a fully wireless network. “When people heard we were going wireless, they warned us that the performance of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is not reliable. In reality, the deployment went very smoothly and our users gave feedback that they are satisfied with the overall performance of WLAN,” says Kong Ruenn Dih, NCT Senior IT Executive.

“Users with Wi-Fi enabled notebooks can roam from room to room, and floor to floor seamlessly while connected to our centralised applications systems such as Inventory System and Accounting System,” explains Yap.

“The wireless network system infrastructure provides our staff with mobility, and supports our rapid business expansion. It has improved our entire organization’s productivity and daily business operations,” states Yap.

With the new system, NCT staff can share files across the wireless network. And with Exchange Server in place, NCT no longer needs to have its emails hosted externally. Sharing email addresses or using personal email addresses among the staff is now a thing of the past.

NCT also leverages on Outlook Web Access (OWA), enabling its staff to access their emails even when they are outstation or traveling overseas. “For example, our project staff can access their emails via their notebook PCs, GPRS phones or PDAs from anywhere and at anytime. That’s a tremendous improvement over the old system,” says Yap.



Benefits

Enhanced Communications and Collaboration
The new Windows-based solution provides NCT with a reliable messaging system for effective internal and external communications. “Improved communi-cations is one of the main benefits of our investment in Microsoft technologies. E-mail has enabled our communication with customers and suppliers to become faster and more efficient,” says Yap.

E-mail now plays an important role in internal communications. “Previously, after any discussions we had to call up various parties or send memos to disseminate the
information. Now, we just send out an e-mail on the outcome of discussions and what needs to be done,” says Yap, adding this has resulted in savings from reduced telephone calls and paper usage. He says issues and discussions can also be raised via emails and tracked easily,” he adds.

Communications with the company’s site offices has also been enhanced. “Previously, we had to burn project papers or drawings on CDs and send it to our site offices. This could take one or two days, sometimes longer. Now we can just email it to them,” says Yap.

NCT also plans to leverage on the Windows SharePoint Services technology within Windows Server 2003 for an internal collaboration portal. This is expected to provide a further boost to collaboration among the staff. “At the end of day, if your communications improves, your business moves faster and everything functions more efficiently,” Yap testifies.

Efficient and Cost Effective Operations
The Windows-based network system has improved NCT’s internal operations by eliminating a number of cumbersome manual processes.

“Our users can now share business data, customer and supplier information centrally. They are able to access, create, view and edit the shared data and information electronically. This has greatly improved work efficiency.”

Yap says that performing business activities through electronic media has drastically reduced or eliminated paperwork. This has also reduced spending on telephone calls, storage media and paper.

Previously, the staff had to do their own back-up at the end of the day. Now they don’t need to as the back-up is done centrally. For the three-person IT team, the new centralized system is easier to manage and operations are now more efficient. “The Windows Server System is very robust, reliable and easy to manage,” says Kong

“Previously when we had workgroups and standalone PCs, we spent a lot of time trouble shooting. We usually had to stay back each day just to resolve problems,” she adds.

Over the longer term, the improved efficiencies and productivity of the new centralized system will reduce the high cost of ownership of maintaining a decentralised system, says Yap.

Software Standardisation
The standardization of the desktop Windows operating systems and Microsoft Office have eased the support burden, increased productivity and resolved compatibility issues.

“Maintaining individual PCs is now much easier as everything is standardized. We can update applications through the server – we don’t need to go to individual PCs to install the updates or patches,” says Yap.

For the staff, they no longer have to deal with incompatibility issues when sharing documents from different versions of Microsoft Office. “Now, users are able to share their worksheets with others without facing any incompatibility issue.”

The software standardization has greatly simplified IT support in terms of software asset management, user training, updates and deployment, says Yap. NCT used Howler, a software asset management tool, to help in managing its software assets.

Wireless Boost
While some viewed NCT’s move to go wireless with trepidation, the management was confident that Microsoft technologies was designed to facilitate the building of wireless networks.

“Not many companies in Malaysia have set up fully wireless networks, so there appeared to be some elements of risk. But we discovered that Windows technology was fully compatible with wireless networks,” says Kong.

She affirms there were “no problems setting up a wireless network because Windows Server 2003 has the necessary features to support this.” There was also no need to spend extra on additional third party applications to set up the wireless network, she adds.

“Moving from workgroups and stand alone PCs to a wireless LAN is a big leap. Microsoft provided us with the technology to easily achieve this,” adds Kong.

The NCT management is happy that the Group has put in place a solid technological base for business growth. “We are in the construction industry and so we appreciate how crucial it is to have a solid foundation. By investing in the Windows platform, we are confident we have built a solid foundation for our Group’s business success,” says Yap.

Overview
Country: Malaysia
Industry: Property Development

Customer Profile
NCT Group is a Malaysian group of companies involved in property development, building construction, civil engineering and trading of building materials.

Business Situation
NCT’s 20-plus business units had been operating on a decentralized IT environment in different locations. As this hindered its business expansion, NCT decided to centralize and consolidate its IT system on the Windows platform.

Solution
It deployed Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 while standardizing on Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office 2003 Professional for its desktops. It also set up a fully wireless IT network.

Benefits

• Enhanced communications and collaboration
• Efficient and cost effective operations
• Software standardization
• Wireless boost

Software and Services

Products

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003
  
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
  
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  
• Microsoft Office 2003 Professional
  

For More Information
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com/malaysia

For other case studies in this series, visit www.microsoft.com/malaysia/business/ casestudies

For more information about NCT Group’s products and services, call +6(03) 8064 3333 or visit www.nct.net.my

For more information about Digital DNA’’s products and services, call +603 7803 2362 or visit the Web site at: www.CHASSAsia.com