Customer Solution Case Study
/ Construction Group Finds Microsoft Solution Better for Business Than Google Apps
Overview
Country or Region: United Kingdom
Industry: Construction supervision and management services
Customer Profile
With nearly 4,000 employees, United Kingdom–based VINCI PLC handles construction and facilities management projects in the public and private sector. The main operating company is VINCI Construction UK Limited.
Business Situation
In acquiring Taylor Woodrow, VINCI PLC gained 1,400 employees who used Google Apps for e-mail and calendaring. VINCI PLC sought an alternative e-mail environment for its new staff.
Solution
After evaluating competing solutions, VINCI PLC migrated its new users to Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access. Users adjusted to the software with little training, and IT staff gained a more manageable system.
Benefits
· Straightforward, supportable enterprise e-mail solution
· Better system and data control
· Improved user satisfaction
· Flexibility and extensibility / “Many of the things you normally expect to be able to do at an enterprise IT management level were not available with Google Apps—things like the ability to easily manage groups and users.”
Tina Parfitt, Head of IT, VINCI PLC
VINCI PLC, the largest British subsidiary of VINCI, needed to decide how to integrate the messaging system from recently acquired company Taylor Woodrow Construction into its communications infrastructure, in a way that would allow the company to be agile and efficient. After considering several possible solutions, and carefully investigating the currently-used Google Apps offering, VINCI PLC chose to migrate its new users to Microsoft Outlook Web Access. VINCI PLC users now have a common e-mail and calendaring solution that interoperates with existing applications, and that provides the VINCI PLC IT team greater manageability, improved user satisfaction, simplified IT management, and increased flexibility compared to Google Apps.
Situation
Founded in 1899 by a pair of French engineers, VINCI has grown into a world leader in concessions and construction, with 164,000 employees in 90 countries and annual revenue of U.S.$50 billion. VINCI PLC, based in Hertfordshire, England, is the largest subsidiary of VINCI in the United Kingdom. VINCI PLC works in four sectors: Building, Civil Engineering, Facilities Management, and Air, and it has a Technology division specialising in Research and Development for the Construction industry. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion in 2008.
In September 2008, VINCI PLC acquired construction firm Taylor Woodrow, which had a longstanding relationship with its client list and had long-term facilities management contracts with many of its clients. With the acquisition, VINCI PLC was able to fill a niche in its construction offerings. At the time, VINCI PLC had 1,600 employees; the acquisition added another 1,400 employees, for a total of 3,000.
When VINCI PLC acquired Taylor Woodrow Construction, VINCI PLC was using Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 for e-mail, with a Web mail option for home workers. Employees used the Microsoft Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client as their office e-mail application.
Taylor Woodrow, however, had moved all its employees from Hewlett Packard OpenMail to Google Apps Premier Edition between March and July of 2008. Employees had access to the complete Google Apps suite, including Gmail for e-mail, Google Calendar, Google Sites, and Google Docs, even though the company was still widely using Microsoft Office. Although the company used Microsoft Office Outlook as its office e-mail client, it had never used Exchange Server, and it was already outsourcing technical support. Taylor Woodrow chose Google because it seemed to be an easy, inexpensive, and manageable stand-alone solution.
After the acquisition of Taylor Woodrow, the IT staff at VINCI PLC faced the task of migrating all 1,400 users to an e-mail environment that would be interoperable with its own Exchange Server–based solution. Although Taylor Woodrow had had some success with Google Apps, VINCI PLC was concerned about supporting this additional environment and concerned about the enterprise capabilities of Google Apps. “There were definitely some usability issues,” says Tina Parfitt, Head of IT at VINCI PLC. “Many of the things you normally expect to be able to do at an enterprise IT management level were not available with Google Apps—things like the ability to easily manage groups and users.”
Gmail also posed challenges to the way VINCI PLC staff normally use e-mail. VINCI PLC users need to send very large attach-ments, so that employees can transfer drawings, plans, blueprints, and other large files. Within VINCI PLC, the e-mail system had a 150-megabyte (MB) attachment limit, whereas Gmail had a 20-MB limit.
VINCI PLC was also concerned that any new e-mail system needed to be extremely flexible and easy to reconfigure. Both VINCI PLC and The VINCI Group have continued growing through acquisitions, and they occasionally sell parts of the business as well—for example, since the Taylor Woodrow Construction purchase, VINCI PLC has sold two of the smaller parts of its business and acquired another company. “We need a system that makes it easy to transfer e-mail and accounts as part of selling a business,” notes Parfitt. “And we need to be able to connect new users quickly when we acquire another company. We wanted an enterprise solution we could manage ourselves, because we manage most of our IT projects, systems, and support in-house.”
VINCI PLC had a very tight deadline for making the transition. VINCI PLC acquired Taylor Woodrow in September 2008, and planned to rebrand the company as VINCI Construction UK in January 2009. Taylor Woodrow users needed to be able to receive e-mail through the vinciconstruction.co.uk domain as soon as possible without messages bouncing back to the sender, and they needed access to e-mail messages that they had formerly stored in remote Google servers.
Solution
In spite of a tight timeline, VINCI PLC felt it was important to evaluate a number of different communications solutions in order to make a decision that would fit best with the company’s long-term business goals to have a flexible and easily scaled technology infrastructure. Starting in September 2008, VINCI PLC not only looked at the existing Google Apps deployment—and considered the possibility of moving all its users to Google—it looked at other solutions, due to the fact that while VINCI PLC was using Microsoft Exchange Server, The VINCI offices in France were using Lotus Notes, and VINCI PLC had previously used a Novell Groupwise system.
Multiple Options to Evaluate
VINCI PLC evaluated the Google offering carefully. “When we looked at the size of our business and our plans for the future, we felt that Google Apps would be unmanageable for a business like ours that needs to react quickly to changes like acquisitions and sell-offs,” explains Parfitt. “And although Google may appear less expensive at first, it costs money to support and run it.”
Gmail also presented usability challenges for VINCI PLC that could impact employee productivity. Some VINCI PLC employees work at home and others are often on the road, moving from one construction site to another, without guaranteed access to a fast, reliable Internet connection. “We have people who expect to be able to receive large drawings,” says Parfitt. “If they don’t get them quickly, they could have a large workforce standing around waiting.”
The Gmail interface was a source of concern as well. VINCI PLC employees were used to being able to create as many folders as they needed to organise and store their e-mail messages, but Gmail does not offer that option—users can label messages, but there is no folder capability. “I think Google got that one wrong,” says Parfitt. “They believe too strongly in their search engine for finding messages, which is not how many users think. Also, Gmail collapses conversations into single threads, which makes it easy to accidentally forward an entire conversation. If you’re using a product like Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access or the Office Outlook client, you see exactly what you’re forwarding.”
Given the tight deployment timeline, VINCI PLC decided that the best solution would be to move Taylor Woodrow users over to a messaging system that would be as compatible as possible with the existing VINCI PLC infrastructure. The company looked at available offerings from Microsoft and felt that for the initial rollout it would be easiest to give Taylor Woodrow employees a Web-based e-mail solution to provide a smooth transition from Gmail.
Smooth Transition to a New Solution
VINCI PLC made the decision to base the new VINCI Construction UK e-mail solution on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in conjunction with Microsoft Outlook Web Access 2007. The first step in the migration process was to move all the existing Taylor Woodrow messages and calendars over to the new system. Given the lack of easy export tools in Google Apps, VINCI PLC chose to bring in a partner to help with the move. With assistance from Microsoft, VINCI PLC hired BitTitan, a software development company and Registered Member of the Microsoft Partner Program that specialises in helping clients implement solutions based on the Microsoft environment.
VINCI PLC was pleased with its choice of BitTitan for this project. “We felt they were an extremely willing partner who collaborated with us to do something that is not easy,” says Parfitt. “They worked with us to develop a migration tool that pushed the boundaries as much as possible, while still keeping our strict deadline in mind. They faced a lot of technical challenges, but the transition went smoothly. There aren’t any other tools out there on the market, so it was quite an achievement.”
BitTitan not only transferred all e-mail messages, but also automatically converted users’ labels from Gmail to Office Outlook folders, so that users’ e-mail organisational structures were maintained. Google Calendar entries were moved over as well, so users still had access to historic calendar data. BitTitan was able to complete the project in only a few months, making it possible for the conversion of Taylor Woodrow accounts to VINCI Construction UK accounts to take place on schedule in August 2009.
Training and Support
To facilitate the transition to Office Outlook Web Access, VINCI PLC provided training materials and hands-on instruction. IT staff not only placed an Office Outlook Web Access FAQ site on the company’s Microsoft Office SharePoint Server intranet portal, it also developed user guides, organised workshops, and replaced Google desktop shortcuts with pointers to Office Outlook Web Access. The company also enlisted some of its “super users” as in-office resources to answer questions and give advice to other employees.
Most users adapted quickly to the new system. “From the user point of view, it was as simple as adjusting to a new Web-based e-mail system,” says Parfitt. “We sent out invitations to 1,400 users for a migration workshop, and only 50 people replied. It turned out that most of them had basic questions, so we did not need the large workshops, and we only held training for those users with more sophisticated requirements.”
By choosing a robust and well-established messaging environment, VINCI PLC gained access to a wealth of easily accessed support and troubleshooting information. “If you’ve got an Exchange issue, you usually don’t need to call a support line,” explains Parfitt. “So much information is already available on the Web, through Microsoft TechNet and other sites. I don’t think we’ve had to call Microsoft more than three times in five years.”
On the other hand, VINCI PLC had major concerns with Google support. “We asked them basic questions about things like network administration rights—the sort of things you need to do quickly after an acquisition—and we found we were logging a lot of calls,” says Parfitt. “The information just isn’t out there on the Internet yet.”
Benefits
VINCI PLC has given its newly acquired employees an e-mail system that is not only easy to use, but that has improved functionality compared to Google Apps. With Office Outlook Web Access in place, VINCI PLC now has standardised on Microsoft e-mail solutions, which simplifies IT support, increases system and data control, and puts VINCI PLC in an excellent position to adapt its infrastructure to changing business needs.
Straightforward, Supportable Enterprise E-mail Solution
By standardising on Microsoft solutions for e-mail and calendaring, VINCI PLC has established a communications infrastructure that fits the company’s needs and goals. “It’s about having something that we can easily manage and support internally with minimal training,” says Parfitt. “And standardising on Microsoft tools makes it simple for us to adapt as the structure of the business changes. It means we can plan for the future without worrying about technical details.”
Better System and Data Control
As part of the transition to Office Outlook Web Access, VINCI PLC has taken all of the e-mail and calendar data that had previously been stored on hosted servers and brought it all in-house. The company now manages its own applications on-premises as well, so it can better administer and control programs and data. “When we were making our decision, we considered the fact that moving to a hosted solution meant taking our data out of our data centre and putting it in someone else’s hands, which potentially has risks,” says Parfitt. “With a hosted solution, we also lose some enterprise-level administrative control. For example, with our Microsoft solution, as soon as we deactivate or suspend an Active Directory account, that user can’t access the system directly or via virtual private network [VPN].”
Improved User Satisfaction
The former Google Apps users who are now part of VINCI Construction UK have been pleased with Office Outlook Web Access. “We received quite a lot of positive feedback,” says Parfitt. “The interface looks better, sending e-mails is easier, spell-checking is better, and users have access to a single global address list. They also appreciate the folder capabilities they have now for message storage and organisation, and they don’t have to worry about the attachment-size restrictions of Google Mail.”
Flexibility and Extensibility
VINCI PLC and VINCI Construction UK are well-positioned for future growth and changes with a communications infrastructure based on Microsoft tools. The companies already have their next steps planned. “As soon as we can, we’re going to move 100 of our users to the full version of Office Outlook,” says Parfitt. “The variety and interoperability of Microsoft offerings ensures that we have the tools we need to support smart business decisions.”