Customer Situation
Set up in 1927, The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is the voice of India”s business and industry. A non-profit and non-government industry body it serves as the first port of call for Indian industry and the international business community. Previously, FICCI was using Rediffmail’s email services, but this created significant, efficiency-limiting challenges such as downtime, limited features, security, and availability. FICCI deployed Microsoft Office 365 – a stable, reliable, secure platform with enhanced storage, service support, and security. The hosted enterprise communication and collaboration services deliver significant savings and eliminate capital expenditure while delivering a better experience, and improving collaboration across its offices worldwide.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is the voice of India’s business and industry. As a non-profit and non-government industry body, it serves as the first port of call for the Indian industry and the international business community. Established in 1927, The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is the largest and oldest apex business organization in India. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, it works closely with the government on policy issues, articulating the private sector’s views, enhancing efficiency, and competitiveness, and expanding business opportunities for industries through a range of specialized services and global linkages.
FICCI focuses on international networking and interactions and has joint business councils with 79 countries around the world. It has over 2,50,000 companies as members, either directly or via regional chambers of commerce. With more than 7 offices worldwide and 500 employees, it supplements government efforts in 39 industries with a variety of initiatives.
Partnership in Co-creation and Innovation
Until March 2012, FICCI was using a web-based e-mail service, Rediffmail by Rediff.com. Over the years, the organization identified a number of limitations. Rediffmail was not reliable and availability was the biggest concern. There were problems in the log such as slow server response, frequent data loss, and slow service response due to server issues. “We at times lost 72 hours per month due to frequent downtime or log-on related issues. The poor support in resolving issues was a major concern,” recalls Rajiv Mishra, Additional Director and Head of IT, FICCI.
FICCI has access to sensitive and confidential information pertaining to member companies, and policy and regulation-related information. This makes security extremely important for the organization. Frequent instances of spam and phishing along with data loss were a cause for concern.
From an IT cost and management perspective, the 500 MB mailbox size meant frequent mail backup. This requires IT resources and storage. FICCI would backup and archive Outlook files manually on the SAN (Storage Area Network). Therefore, larger mailbox sizes on the cloud would remove the need for manpower and storage infrastructure at each location.
Since Rediff offered only POP (Post Office Protocol) mail servers, synchronizing emails across devices such as smartphones, servers, and Microsoft Outlook was another issue.
“As smartphones become ubiquitous, our employees expect email access on any device. This was difficult to provide with our existing messaging solution. We realized, the absence of reliable email communication could paralyze the organization, as it was already hindering our efficiency,” says Rajiv Mishra.
Partner Solution and Microsoft Technology
FICCI surveyed the market and shortlisted Google Mail, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Office 365. It checked feasibility based on its requirements and decided on Office 365.
“We prefer Office 365 over others because of its compatibility with existing infrastructure and simple setup for desktop as well as mobile users across platforms including Windows, Blackberry, iPhone, or Android,” explains Rajiv. “Local Active Directory synchronization and 99.95 percent uptime were other added attractions.”
FICCI chose Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, PC Solutions, as its preferred partner for data migration and implementation of Microsoft Exchange Online. PC Solutions started implementation in April 2012, and within 2 months, it deployed the solution across FICCI’s 12 domestic as well as international offices for over 500 users.
Active Directory Rights Management Services secures data stored at rest in Microsoft data centers. In addition, the on-premises Active Directory authenticates and synchronizes the Global Address List (GAL) and allows single sign-on.
After the initial migration to Office 365, it plans to add another 200 Exchange Online licenses each quarter to stagger operating expenses over the year.
In August 2012, FICCI, with the help of PC Solutions started deploying Microsoft Lync Online, a collaboration tool for 50 users. It realized that Lync could benefit the dispersed teams. Based on the initial success, the company has added another 25 users across the organization.
Teams from different offices now work together with ease, access emails, documents, and calendars from anywhere, and, are confident of a secure business environment. The rich collaboration features permit instant messaging, audio/video calls, and full-feature online meetings with audio, video, and web conferencing.
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About FICCI
Set up in 1927, The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is the voice of India”s business and industry. A non-profit and non-government industry body it serves as the first port of call for Indian industry and the international business community.
