STERIA

IT Services Company Uses Strategic Partnership to Speed Deployment of Cloud Solution.

Business Needs:

Headquartered in Paris, France, Steria applies its keen insight and expertise to help organizations drive their business transformation through working more efficiently and profitably with the right IT-enabled business solutions. With offices in 16 countries throughout Europe, India, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, Steria supports a diverse range of clients in the public and private sectors.

The Microsoft Cloud Vantage team has shown a commitment to working with us every step of the way to ensure our successful transition to the cloud. That kind of reassurance is invaluable.

– Christian Revelli
Group Chief Information Officer, Steria.

Steria has experienced rapid growth in recent years. But international expansion compounded two existing challenges. First, growth made it more difficult to control IT costs. To support new offices around the world, the company needed to build new data centers, source and test servers, and spend time configuring and maintaining these assets.

Executives also found it increasingly difficult to ensure standardization of IT tools. For example, although the company used IBM Lotus Notes for email and file sharing, adoption of this technology varied from office to office. “And, the implementation of Lotus Notes was different from one country to another,” explains Christian Revelli, Group Chief Information Officer at Steria. “Not all of our offices were using the instant messaging and presence awareness capabilities of the solution.” This inconsistency was an obstacle to efficient communication, and it complicated IT management.

To slash operating costs, promote greater productivity, and make it easier to standardize and upgrade IT tools, Steria evaluated moving to a cloud-based messaging and collaboration solution. Although executives were excited by the prospect of lowering technology costs, they were also aware of the need for a major shift in the company’s IT operations. Executives wanted to ensure that both IT staff and employees throughout the company were prepared for the transition. They were also eager to develop plans for incorporating new capabilities and future product releases to maximize the long-term value of the company’s investment.

Solution:

Steria executives compared several online services solutions, including Google Apps and IBM LotusLive. In January 2012, the company ultimately selected Microsoft Office 365, which provides a full suite of productivity and collaboration applications hosted in Microsoft data centers and accessed through a monthly subscription. Microsoft Office 365 includes Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online, in addition to Office 365 ProPlus.

Beyond the functionality and ease of use of the solution, executives noted that a critical factor in the decision process was the availability of Cloud Vantage Services, a professional service offering from Microsoft that spans the online services life cycle. Cloud Vantage provides custom technical and business consulting expertise, all coordinated through a single point of contact—the Cloud Delivery Executive. “None of the other cloud services vendors offered the level of guidance that Microsoft provides,” says Revelli. “The Microsoft commitment to help us be successful in a specific timeframe through Cloud Vantage—along with the familiar set of tools and applications in Office 365—made it clear that this was the right solution for us.”

As a first step in its scheduled 12-month engagement with Steria, the Cloud Vantage team facilitated a kickoff meeting for project stakeholders. Next, Steria executives participated in a series of value realization workshops. In these sessions, Steria worked with Microsoft to create a plan for transitioning operational and governance practices, handling change and release management, and measuring return on incremental investment.

The Cloud Vantage team also helped Steria adapt its help-desk procedures to align them with a vendor-managed cloud services model. Over the next several months, Steria will shift its focus from preparing its IT staff for the move to the cloud to restructuring IT support and governance procedures.

Benefits:

Steria expects to experience the following benefits through its engagement with Microsoft Cloud Vantage Services:

• Enhanced readiness for adopting a cloud-based solution. Steria coordinates all deployment activities through a single point of accountability—a Cloud Delivery Executive skilled in Microsoft methodologies and backed by the full network of Microsoft resources. This key expertise provides Steria with a well-structured, predictable migration plan that clearly defines the company’s path to its desired goals. “The Microsoft Cloud Vantage team has shown a commitment to working with us every step of the way to ensure our successful transition to the cloud,” says Revelli. “That kind of reassurance is invaluable.”
• Faster time-to-value through collaboration with a trusted advisor. By using strategy and consulting expertise provided by Microsoft, Steria executives project that the company will be able to shorten overall deployment time. Also, as a result of the help-desk design service, the company expects to simplify issue resolution and promote faster adoption of the solution. And, by collaborating with Cloud Vantage on a forward-looking approach to value realization, incorporating plans for future releases, and innovating to expand their service offerings, executives are confident that Steria will continue to see a measurable return on its investment for years to come. “Our engagement with Cloud Vantage has helped us deepen our alliance with Microsoft as a trusted advisor,” says Revelli. “We chose to work with Microsoft, not only to help us make the move to the cloud, but to help us grow our business.”
• Estimated 20 percent IT cost savings. By partnering with the Cloud Vantage Services team throughout the entire life cycle of its transition to Microsoft Office 365, Steria gains continual service and support. It also benefits from a straightforward path toward standardization of business critical infrastructure, simplified IT management, and significant cost savings. Without the need to source and maintain servers, or manage licensing and software updates, network administrators will save time. The company also expects to substantially reduce its technology costs and boost employee productivity. “Bringing everything we need into one, unified cloud solution will certainly alleviate the burden on our IT professionals,” says Revelli. “Add to that the fact that we get consistent upgrades without having to purchase new software suites for each employee, and we estimate a 20 percent reduction in our total cost of ownership through Office 365.”

Microsoft Services

Microsoft Services is a global team of professionals who are dedicated to helping customers maximize the value of their investment in Microsoft software. Microsoft Services touches customers more than 715 million times a year, helping them plan, deploy, support and optimize our technologies. They also work closely with Microsoft Partners by sharing their technological expertise and product knowledge on a regular basis.

Source:

Microsoft Case Study: STERIA