Do not simply introduce software, but live and think in processes: this is the goal pursued by all4cloud. The IT service provider has already helped around 200 customers migrate to the cloud, the majority of them Small and Medium Enterprises from every sector imaginable—from circular connector suppliers right over to frozen pizza producers. They all have one thing in common: a desire to reorganize their processes. This is where all4cloud comes in. The SAP partner now relies on Microsoft Teams and partner Telekom for communicating externally with customers and collaborating internally among employees.
The challenge: A jumble of tools and the end of Skype for Business support
Setting up systems, talking to customers about their processes, and helping them achieve success with these new systems in the future—this is all in a day’s work for Henrik Hausen, CEO at all4cloud, and his colleagues. From establishing contact through to implementing systems, this entire process happens remotely in around 99.5 percent of cases. This is because the company has focused solely on cloud products since it was founded—they make up its portfolio and also form its infrastructure. “We are a cloud-born company; we live in the cloud,” Hausen says. “Since day one, we’ve made sure our employees are fully equipped for mobile work. This is our norm. You won’t find any servers lurking in our basement.”
In the past, however, it was also normal for all4cloud to draw on a range of tools in its work: Skype for Business took care of telephony as a stand-alone solution, without any kind of customer service, while another product was used for web presentations, and yet another for video conferences. In practice, this generally meant a constant to-and-fro between the individual tools. Besides this, there was no such thing as a standard structure for storing files with external partners, and it was common practice to collaborate on documents by exchanging them via email. This didn’t quite align with all4cloud’s agile and mobile way of working, so the team set out to find a new collaboration platform for internal and external communication. Fortunately, they didn’t have to look far. “We had always opted for the most powerful Microsoft 365 licenses. One day, one of our colleagues noticed that Microsoft Teams had been added to the package as a new product,” Hausen says. “It immediately went viral, which is why we decided to adopt it at management level and try it out. As Teams didn’t feature telephony at the time, we continued to run Skype in parallel to begin with.” This was the company’s setup until Hausen discovered two things: first, that Teams was going to incorporate telephony and, second, that Skype for Business was set to be retired in July 2021. He knew right away what this meant: they had to continue developing Teams and make it the company’s central communication platform.
The solution: A standardized means of communication supported by Microsoft Teams
“We were grateful for every additional tool we could disable. We were juggling too many as it was,” Hausen says, grinning. “That’s why we were counting down the days to migration.” Finding the right partner for the job was never going to be an issue for all4cloud. Back when it was being founded, the company had already sought a partner that could offer end-to-end support from a single source on everything relating to communication and infrastructure—from internet connections and mobile phones to Microsoft 365. They found exactly what they were looking for in Europe’s largest telecommunications company, Deutsche Telekom AG.
The two partners got to work on implementation at the end of 2019. “At the time, all4cloud was only the third or fourth customer we helped migrate from Skype to Teams,” says Oliver Falz, Account Manager at Deutsche Telekom AG. “Thanks to our long‑standing cooperation, we had grown to become quite the team and knew the company’s infrastructure pretty much inside out. This meant we could take care of the whole process for all4cloud—from implementation through to installation and setup.” When the time came to make the change, the project team opted for a hard cut. “We told our employees about the migration two weeks before moving from Skype to Teams. The switch itself happened overnight. It wouldn’t have been technically possible to do it any other way,” Hausen says. “Telephony is essential for us and for our customers; the transition had to be seamless.” This is why all4cloud chose to run just one platform, and even did away with all its old desk phones. “The landline phones were sat gathering dust, no one used them anymore,” Hausen says, laughing. all4cloud has since evolved a uniform and consistent meeting etiquette: microphones and cameras are now kept on thanks to the webcams and headsets sent out to all employees.
Microsoft Teams has enabled three previously independent channels to merge into a single platform that facilitates telephony, presentations, and video conferences in one. More stable telephony, good data and image quality, and a central and reliable platform: the empty promises of the past are now the reality of the present. And that’s not all: Hausen also notices a big difference in the way his colleagues worked. All without the need for change and adoption measures thanks to the company’s cloud origins. “Emails have become a rarity. It’s easier to type in the chat, especially if something needs a quick yes or no. No one really picks up the phone anymore; calls are simply made over the platform,” Hausen says. Microsoft Teams has slotted perfectly into all4cloud’s mobile work approach. Colleagues can see each other’s availability and pick up messages through the chat on their phones if they can’t be reached right away. They can then respond when it is convenient. Alternative means of mobile communication have been rendered largely unnecessary at all4cloud. Coordinating projects with the customers has also been much more straightforward since the switch. The entire sales process is handled digitally over Teams, where chats and documents are now stored centrally in one channel.
“We’re excited to see where Teams will take us. Every week, there are new updates that open up even more opportunities and even more interaction. I’ve never seen a platform grow so quickly,” Hausen says. “Teams also gives us a scalable work platform. We started out with eight members of staff; today we have 50. If, in the future, we end up with a workforce of 150, we’ll still have a stable basis to build on without having to switch to something new.”
“We used a whole host of communication tools in the past. Thanks to Microsoft Teams, we now have a single platform that facilitates telephony, presentations, and video conferences in one—a solution that is quick, simple, and stable.”
Henrik Hausen, CEO, all4cloud
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