OCS Made Easy: Agile IT Has the Expertise to "Do it Right the First Time" for Nation's Best-Known Snack Cake Company and Bakery
There is likely no tool more powerful for connecting the dispersed office than Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS). This comprehensive communications platform manages all real-time (synchronous) communications including instant messaging, VoIP, audio and video conferencing.
Additionally, OCS works with existing telecommunications systems, so a business can deploy advanced VoIP and conferencing without tearing out their legacy phone networks. OCS also powers presence, which enables users to see at a glance if someone is available and contact them with a click using instant messaging, a phone call, or video conference.
The sad fact is that most businesses that choose OCS barely tap a percentage of its capabilities and capacities. One of America's most established and best-known snack cake makers did not want to be most businesses. It wanted to get all that OCS has to offer, so when it came time to deploy, this company chose the Microsoft OCS experts at Agile IT.
The Challenge
Simply put, the client--with more than 6,000 dispersed employees and annual sales of more than $1 billion--needed to increase productivity and the fastest, proven way to do so is through centralized communications.
The tool the client chose to make these improvements was Microsoft OCS. However, it lacked the in-house expertise and bandwidth to rapidly deploy this robust solution. Additionally, training is always required on any new system, and this was a further bandwidth requirement the client was trying to limit. Additionally, the client needed the new system to be installed and deployed rapidly, and it required training to be expedited as well.
The client chose Agile IT because Agile IT "...brought the expertise to the table to greatly speed up our deployment, and help us do it correctly the first time," says client IT Director, Charles Leeds. The solution Agile IT delivered was also done in strict accordance with the client's varied team schedules. Ensuring a rapid technology deployment with minimal impact to existing business processes, projects, and people is one of of Agile IT's prime directives.
The client now enjoys massive communication improvements across its enterprise. Both the rapid deployment of, and the detailed education in, Microsoft OCS means that the client--while having many teams, many locations, and many ongoing projects--now operates as if under one roof.
Agile IT brought "a comprehensive knowledge of OCS," says Leeds, who adds, in recommending Agile IT, that its people were both "knowledgeable and easy to work with."
A rapid deployment of a complex technology. A business need met and a deeper understanding gained. Productivity increases through a centralized communications platform. The people who make everything easy and easily understood. No one comes close to Agile IT.