Global Services Firm Reduces Internal IT Operations Costs by 40
Percent
“By changing to a more proactive approach, we’ve reduced our
operational costs by approximately 40 percent. Our investment in
Premier Support is a smart move that pays dividends.”
S. Ethirajulu, IT Head, Ramco
(Customer: RamcoWebsite: www.ramco.comCustomer Size: 1,400
employeesCountry or Region: IndiaIndustry: Professional services—IT
servicesCustomer ProfileSince 1999, Ramco has provided enterprise
software and services to customers in 35 countries. The company
maintains offices in nine countries and staffs 1,400
professionals.Software and ServicesMicrosoft ServicesMicrosoft
Services Premier SupportMicrosoft Server Product PortfolioMicrosoft
Exchange Server 2007Microsoft System CenterMicrosoft System Center
Operations Manager 2007TechnologiesActive DirectoryMicrosoft
Exchange ActiveSyncMicrosoft ServicesAs the consulting, technical
support, and customer service arm of the world’s leading software
company, Microsoft Services enables the successful adoption,
deployment, and use of Microsoft solutions and technologies for all
customers. For more information about Microsoft Services, go to:
www.microsoft.com/services )Business Needs
Ramco is a global IT services firm focusing on enterprise
applications that help customers respond swiftly to business
change. The company employs more than 1,400 professionals in nine
countries and brought in more than U.S.$37 million in revenue in
2009.
The internal IT team at Ramco comprises roughly 30 people who
are responsible for network, storage, IT security, and applications
running on approximately 130 servers. The team works with Microsoft
Services to proactively manage the company’s IT infrastructure,
which is largely built on Microsoft solutions and technology. To
save money for the company and to improve the stability of its
email platform, the IT team planned to migrate from Microsoft
Exchange Server 2003 to Exchange Server 2007.
“We were aiming to improve the availability of our email service
and gain the manageability features in the newer version of
Exchange Server,” says S. Ethirajulu, IT Head at Ramco. “We also
faced an expensive upgrade for our Blackberry servers and wanted to
adopt Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync in instead.”
Solution
Ramco considered several IT vendors to support the migration to
Exchange Server 2007. Eventually, the company decided to take
advantage of its Microsoft Services Premier Support agreement
because of the deeper expertise, broader capabilities, and more
holistic approach that Microsoft Services could offer. “Taking on a
project this complex and of such a critical nature, we wanted to be
sure that all our needs would be taken care of,” explains
Ethirajulu. “With Premier Support, we had greater confidence that,
no matter what issues arose, we could count on Microsoft to help
ensure a smooth migration.”
As part of the engagement, Microsoft engineers who are experts
in Exchange Server and Active Directory visited Ramco to help with
initial testing and setting up the two production servers. After
more testing on the production infrastructure, the team migrated
all employees’ inboxes over to the new solution with no major
issues.
During the migration, the Microsoft Services Technical Account
Manager assigned to Ramco helped to secure the expertise needed to
keep the project moving forward. “During the initial setup, the
Microsoft engineers identified a problem with our Active Directory
setup and then brought in the right resources to help us properly
architect the solution,” says Ethirajulu. “If we were working with
a different vendor, this type of complication would likely have
been outside the project scope and resulted in cost overruns. But,
our Premier Support contract is much more comprehensive and covers
our entire environment.”
With help from Microsoft Services, Ramco also set up the
Exchange Server 2007 Management Pack for Microsoft System Center
Operations Manager 2007. By using management dashboards in System
Center Operations Manager, the Ramco team can easily monitor key
health indicators and performance counters for Exchange Server.
In the near future, Ramco plans to upgrade to Exchange Server
2010 to take advantage of improved business intelligence
functionality. “We will definitely take advantage of our Premier
Support agreement when it comes time to upgrade again,” says
Ethirajulu.
Benefits
With assistance from Microsoft Services, the internal IT team at
Ramco realized the benefits of migrating to Exchange Server 2007
sooner and without service interruption.
Smooth Migration
Ramco migrated all of its employees’ email inboxes to Exchange
Server 2007 without major problems, earning the internal IT team
congratulations from senior management. “Our executives were
pleased with how well the migration went,” says Ethirajulu. “We
attribute our success to the good coordination between our team
members and Microsoft experts.”Increased Uptime
By moving to the newer Exchange Server 2007 solution, Ramco
significantly improved the reliability of its internal email
system. “Previously, we had roughly 80 percent uptime, but with the
help of Microsoft Services, we’ve changed our approach so that we
can provide 99 percent uptime for email,” says Ethirajulu.
Equipped with new processes and tools like System Center
Operations Manager, the internal IT team at Ramco spends less time
reacting to service outages. Instead, they proactively manage the
solution to identify and prevent issues before they disrupt
service. “Premier helped us to architect the system properly and
put in place the processes to ensure that the solution performs
optimally,” says Ethirajulu.
40 Percent Reduction in Operational Cost
Premier Support helps Ramco make the most of its IT investments.
“By changing to a more proactive approach, we’ve reduced our
operational costs by approximately 40 percent,” says Ethirajulu.
“Our investment in Premier Support is a smart move that pays
dividends.”
(Ramco headquarters in Chennai, India.)Ramco uses Premier
expertise to maximize the value of its Microsoft solutions and
technology. In the migration to Exchange Server 2007, Ramco worked
with Microsoft Services to implement Exchange ActiveSync
technology.
This material is provided for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
Document published August 2011
