Antek (Microsoft Lync Server 2010)

The ANTEK consulting group has four offices in the territory of the city of Tver. As analog telephone sets were installed not on each desktop, employees used e-mail and free instant messengers. To increase security and efficiency of interaction between divisions and with clients, the company management set the task to create a unified communication environment. It was decided to implement the new platform for office communications of Microsoft Lync 2010. Today Lync will unroll at 35 workstations at offices ANTEK. All employees use functionality of voice communication, instant messages, and all heads up to a small link are supplied with webcams and can participate in video conferencing sessions. Having estimated possibilities of the solution, ANTEK also decided to provide Lync as a cloud service to the customers who can use it on the Internet without any difficult software installations.

About the Customer

ANTEK company appeared in the market in August, 1990 and began the way of development as the trading company. It gained the first experience of foreign economic activity and wholesale in the federal market of food (distribution of ULKER in Russia), and then became one of leaders of regional retail market of consumer goods (the first in the Tver region supermarket chain and network of specialized shops).

The credo of ANTEK – true success accompanies business using new technologies and system approach in management. The company well knows problems of medium business "from within" and are able to eliminate them – it resulted in confidence that its competences in management consulting will be demanded in the market. Since 2008 the profile enterprises entering into ANTEK group began to offer in the market of service in the field of personnel, finance and legal consulting. Together with inclusion in the structure of the ANTEK group of the profile enterprise Informatika Businessa LLC in a range of services of the company the profile of IT consulting appeared and it came to readiness to offer clients consulting and outsourcing in all main spheres of ensuring activity of business. For the purpose of providing to clients an opportunity to receive any set of services necessary for them by the principle of one window in 2010 the decision to integrate the profile enterprises in uniform structure under the name ANTEK Consulting Group was made.

Situation

As of the beginning of 2010 the ANTEK Consulting group had four geographically distributed offices in borders of the city of Tver. "Geographical distribution developed historically in process of development of the directions of business and is defined by set of requirements to these directions (for example, availability to the client, low cost of lease, existence of the wide channel of the Internet, etc.)", – Sergey Zaytsev, the manager of sales department of Commercial department of KG ANTEK told.

The company implements the principle of "one window" meaning that clients can receive all set of services (consulting) necessary for them in one place. However different divisions which should interact constantly with each other for high-quality providing services are engaged in ensuring services.

Meanwhile telephone infrastructure of ANTEK represented traditional set of hybrid office exchange and analog phones in each of offices. And telephones were installed not in each workplace – only one device what was insufficiently for operational communication between separate divisions and employees fell on five-six people. Therefore in the company e-mail and different public means of exchanging by instant messages and a voice communication were actively used.

Further business development required to arrange interaction between divisions and individual employees.

"We needed to create the unified communication environment integrating in itself e-mail, a voice and video conferencing, storage of contact information and results of communication in uniform base of the company and also to ensure safety, independence of location of office and to give to employees an opportunity to work from the house", – Nagorny Sergey, the head of IT department of KG ANTEK explained.

In August, 2010 the management of KG ANTEK made the decision on implementation of the large-scale project, one of components of which implementation of the new platform for office communications – Microsoft Lync 2010 was.

"Effective objectives were us: low cost of the solution, globality, unity. As showed market research, suitable alternatives exist only on the basis of hardware VoIP-solutions, but they are very expensive. Therefore the project is decided to be performed using new products of Microsoft, including Microsoft Lync", – Sergey Nagorny, the head of IT department of KG ANTEK

Solution

The complex project on creation of unified communication environment started in October, 2010. Its realization was enabled by forces of project team of KG ANTEK from six people into which specialists of division of Research and Development and group of system administrators entered. Active support and consultations were provided by the staff of the Russian office Microsoft.

It was decided that providing Lync service to users on the Internet by the principle of SaaS will become optimal (Software as a service is software as service). Within the project the following large-scale works were performed: justification of engineering infrastructure of DPC and choice of co-location provider of services; the choice of the hardware solution for creation of a private cloud and equipment procurement; deployment of the platform based on software of Microsoft (including installation of new server operating system Windows Server 2008 R2, security protection of the corporate level of Microsoft Forefront TMG, the instrument of IT management of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager virtual machines); implementation of basic services for providing from a cloud (a mail service of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, communication service Microsoft SharePoint Server) and, at last, implementation of Microsoft Lync 2010.

Using software of Microsoft on servers virtual machines were created, defense of perimeter and security, data backup, authorization of users, increase in availability to administrators of DPC (reduction of time of response to possible incidents) are provided and also some other tasks is solved.

"If to consider the project entirely, then it is possible to say that we used practically all server products of Microsoft. It is connected as with an expanded set of services for clients in DPC of KG ANTEK, and with need of ensuring reliable functioning of each service separately including Lync 2010", – Sergey Zaytsev told.

The project was implemented according to in advance approved plan. The only delay happened because of difficulties in joining of Lync 2010 with the lock equipment for telephony of Cisco which was not included into the official listing of the supported Lync 2010 of the equipment. The second complexity of implementation had not technology character, and was connected with a so-called "human factor": at the time of implementation for this product there was no documentation and training courses. It was succeeded to cope with this problem, having connected the employee of Microsoft – the consultant in the field of Lync 2010. "In fact, provided us online consultation and training at the same time which there underwent practically all specialists of ANTEK involved in work on the project on all its extent", – Sergey Zaytsev specified.

Essential advantage of Microsoft Lync 2010 in the ANTEK group consider the fact that its implementation does not require considerable finance costs. It was only necessary to understaff all jobs with wire headsets and webcams and to purchase several IP phones for needs of divisions.

Advantages

All project works were completed in March, 2011, and by today in the ANTEK group the solution based on technologies of Microsoft working according to the cloud SaaS model ("software as service") and seven services, including Lync 2010 providing through the Internet is deployed.

"We consider that with implementation of Lync all goals set by us are fully achieved – users of the company were satisfied with convenient tools for the most different types of communication which are at their order now", – Larisa Gavrilova, the senior office manager of KG ANTEK emphasized.

The desktop application of Lync is installed at 35 workstations at all four offices ANTEK. All employees use functionality of voice communication, instant messages in the work, and all heads up to a small link are supplied with webcams and can participate in video conferencing sessions.

"I use Lync constantly. For example, if it is necessary to look, whether on site now the colleague from other office. It is not necessary to spend more time for phoning. If the status "Is borrowed" from the person, then I just write the letter. It is possible to look at the list of all calls easily. These are, of course, not all opportunities, but even they very much save time", – Larisa Gavrilova, the senior office manager of KG ANTEK.

Besides, having estimated possibilities of the solution, in the ANTEK group also decided to provide Lync as a cloud service to the customers who can use it on the Internet without any difficult software installations. Today on trial testing there are ten workstations – eight in Governor apparatus of the Tver region and two in business company.

Sergey Nagorny considers the main result of project implementation just an opportunity to offer the latest technologies in the field of the joint communications for the SaaS model to clients in all territory of the Russian Federation.

The economic party of use of the communication solution Lync through a cloud can be characterized in the following two digits. According to specialists of the ANTEK group, one-time savings in investments on the company user make not less than 90% that is reached due to sharp cost reduction when using the joint communications according to the SaaS model (apart from at the same time costs for the project of DPC from the supplier of the solution). Besides, the project provides to the customer economy in 34% at the level of monthly costs thanks to an exception of the regular servicing technicians on places at offices, to their transfer to more significant projects and transition to outsourcing model with an output of all structural IT components of each office in a cloud. In ANTEK company in turn the DPC on technologies of Microsoft as for providing own divisions, so the external clients using solutions of Microsoft on a subscription is serviced by two system administrators.

IT specialists of ANTEK see big perspectives in development of communications in opportunities of close integration of Microsoft Lync 2010 with the system of office telephony, a corporate portal based on Microsoft SharePoint and e-mail based on Microsoft Exchange. This concept is the cornerstone of the solutions proposed by KG ANTEK to external clients.