14 DAY TRIAL // Electronics manufacturer Note is one of the companies which decided to move to Microsoft’s Office 365, and which is already ripping the fruits of its decision.
Following the decision to adopt Office 365 and leave Google Mail aside, the company managed to unify its communication infrastructure and to enjoy significant IT cost reductions.
Additionally, its employees benefit from a familiar work environment, while also receiving increased value.
After choosing Google Mail in 2010, Note determined that it would be better to switch to Microsoft’s Office 365, and made the transition by the end of 2011.
“Office 365 is much more integrated and advanced than Google and offers more of the functionality our employees need,” said Mikael Johansson, IT and process development manager at Note.
“Our employees can use Office 365 without additional training. Combined with the extended functionality in Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Lync Online, we think Office 365 offers much more enterprise value than Google.”
Note is based near Stockholm and is one of the largest contract manufacturers of electronics equipment in Scandinavia. The company owns nine factories and has 1,000 employees in six countries.
Through moving to Office 365, the company was able to benefit from better management of information, while also offering new collaboration options to its employees, so that they would be more productive than before.
“Office 365 is a better fit with our overall IT strategy. Now we have a single environment we can use to help organize and share information between business teams and across multiple facilities and devices," Johansson said.
"Google offers no equivalent to the deep integration between Office 365, Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online.”
Through consolidating its collaboration environment with Office 365, the company also enjoyed cost reduction. It can manage subscriptions under a single agreement, while avoiding the cost of third-party solutions.
“We are a manufacturing company,” Johansson said. “Whenever we can effectively outsource our IT burden like we can with Office 365, we build competitive advantages for our business.”