Microsoft Office SystemCustomer Solution Case Study

Sri Lanka Mobile Provider Cuts Time with Productivity and Communication Tool

OverviewCountry or Region: Sri LankaIndustry: Telecommunications

Customer ProfileMobitel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom, and is the second largest and fastest growing mobile service provider in the country with3.6 million subscribers.

Business SituationMobitel was running a mixed IT environment, making it difficult for the company to plan for long term growth. Mobitel wanted to improve its technology integration to streamline workflows and increase productivity.

SolutionMobitel deployed the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Active Directory 2003, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, and Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager 2007.

Benefits Reduces workflow times Increases productivity Improves business reporting Reduces learning time Supports future planning

We wanted to run software that integrated seamlessly together and was familiar to our business users. Microsoft clearly outlined its product roadmap and how we could use technology to improve our business users.Jeewapadma Sandagomi, Manager, ERM & Revenue Assurance, Mobitel

Mobitel is the second largest mobile service provider in Sri Lanka. With employees located throughout the country, its manual workflows and reliance on paper-based processes were increasing the time needed to make decisions, and impacting on the productivity of its workforce. Mobitel wanted to use technology to streamline its processes and improve delivery of services to its customers. Mobitel migrated from a mixed technology environment to running the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Active Directory 2003, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007. Manual tasks previously taking a longer time are now completed within a short time period, leading to greater efficiencies and faster delivery of services to Mobitel’s customers.

SituationMobitel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom, after being acquired in 2002, and is the second largest mobile service provider in the country with 3.6 million subscribers. Mobitel was the first mobile operator to launch super 3.5G HSPA technology in South Asia and experienced 100 percent customer growth between 2008 and 2009.

As a fast growing company, Mobitel had added software as needed and was running a mixed IT environment with solutions from several service providers including Microsoft Office and Open Office solutions. Mobitel was running Windows XP and then upgraded to Windows Vista. The company realized it needed a clear product roadmap in place for its technology infrastructure and more integration between its software products. Mobitel intended to reduce its workflows while improving the ability to plan its technology needs to support projected company growth.

As well as seeking greater integration throughout its technology environment, another key driver for change was the need to improve the business processes and create a paperless environment. The company was reliant on paper-based manual processes, which was time consuming and required dedicated resources. Its existing technology could not support the changes Mobitel wanted to make to its processes and workflows.

Mobitel had several key criteria when making decisions about its long term IT requirements. Mobitel users were familiar with using Microsoft products and a Windows environment, and this was an

important consideration as the company wanted to minimize disruptions and training time. The company wanted to use software applications that would integrate together seamlessly across multiple workflows and processes, to reduce complexity and ensure employees could focus on business improvements rather than working around the limitations of the technology.

As a mobile service provider, Mobitel encourages its employees to work from anywhere, and wanted technology in place to support this. At Mobitel, a significant percentage of employees use laptops, and this required them changing their mobile settings when they came to the office and connected to the server. Mobitel wanted it to be easy for employees to connect seamlessly when working in the office.

The long term future of technology was critical to the decisions the company made. Mobitel wanted a clear technology roadmap for the products deployed in its production environment. This was a key concern for the company, to avoid the risk becoming reliant on software that could be discontinued, or no longer supported.

SolutionAfter careful consideration, and discussions with Microsoft Sri Lanka as well as evaluating other software providers, Mobitel chose to move to a Microsoft based environment. Jeewapadma Sandagomi, Manager ERM and Revenue Assurance, Mobitel, explains the decision making process: “We wanted to run software that integrated seamlessly together and was familiar to our business users. Microsoft clearly outlined its product

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We wanted to run software that integrated seamlessly together and was familiar to our business users. Microsoft clearly outlined its product roadmap and how we could use technology to improve our business.

Jeewapadma Sandagomi, Manager ERM & Revenue Assurance, Mobitel

roadmap and how we could use technology to improve our business.”

In November 2007 Mobitel deployed the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Active Directory 2003, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007. All deployments were completed by May 2008.

Employees received a comprehensive one day training workshop on using the new software and the advanced features of the 2007 Office system. “We were trained by a consultant from Microsoft Sri Lanka who conducted workshops for our staff over a three month period,” says Sandagomi.

Mobitel made immediate use of a number of features in the Microsoft products within its business. Meetings and meeting rooms are now scheduled using the calendar sharing ability within Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. “Previously we had to send e-mails and check with each individual as to their availability. Now with Office Outlook 2007 we can send a meeting request and it’s automatically updated in the person’s calendar,” explains Sandagomi.

Mobitel frequently uses the voting function in Office Outlook 2007. Instead of manually requesting approvals or confirmation that documents have been received, Mobitel now sends out an e-mail to employees requesting them to indicate their vote, feedback or approval. “Voting is a very attractive feature in Outlook and we use it all the time. It’s such a quick way of making sure all staff have read and agreed to a new

process, and to get their feedback on other areas of the business,” comments Sandagomi.

Mobitel has built its intranet on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, with every division in the company having dedicated pages for content, calendars, pictures and document libraries. With Office SharePoint Server 2007, users in each division can manage the site themselves.

Office SharePoint Server 2007 with its simplified workflow has meant Mobitel can run its approval process on the site. Mobitel can now upload content to its intranet site and send e-mails to the people responsible for approving it. “We estimate that it now only takes us a couple of hours to get everyone’s approval by using Office SharePoint Server 2007,” confirms Sandagomi.

Documents that were previously sent out as attachments over e-mail are now posted on the Mobitel Intranet. This new process ensures that employees’ mailboxes do not reach capacity, leading to undelivered e-mails. “If we send out a large document to around 500 email accounts, it takes up a lot of space on our server. Using our SharePoint site we eliminate this problem entirely,” says Sandagomi.

Mobitel is using many applications developed in-house. Many change requests are created every day by different users, and previously the change request had to be created and then sent to the IT department. This manual workflow process was taking one to two days to complete. Mobitel is now using Office SharePoint Server 2007 to create a change request on

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The voting feature is a very attractive feature in Outlook and we use it all the time. It’s such a quick way of making sure all staff have read and agreed to a new process, and to get their feedback on other areas of the business.

Jeewapadma Sandagomi, Manager, ERM & Revenue Assurance, Mobitel

the Mobitel intranet site, which is tracked and responded by the IT department within a couple of hours.

Using Office Outlook 2007 on their laptops, Mobitel employees can check e-mail and access the mobile intranet site running on Office SharePoint Server 2007, ensuring that they keep up to date with their customers and the business while on the move.

BenefitsMobitel has recognized a number of benefits to its business by deploying the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Exchange Server 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007, including reduced workflow times, increased productivity, and greater accuracy in business reporting.

Reduces Workflow TimesThrough deploying Microsoft technology, Mobitel has cut many of its previously manual and paper-based workflow processes to a significantly shorter time period. Using the calendar features in Office Outlook 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 for uploading content and obtaining approvals, the company has streamlined its processes and improved efficiency through technology.

Increases Productivity With employees able to work from anywhere and mobile devices and laptops being seamlessly connected, Mobitel has increased productivity among its workforce. Employees can access e-mail on the go, ensuring they can respond promptly to customers and internal teams rather than

waiting until they return to the office. “Mobile broadband access can be plugged to users’ laptops so they can connect to Outlook. When they come into the office they can plug in the LAN cable and connect direct to the server, so it’s very convenient for them,” explains Sandagomi. Whether in or outside of the office, scheduling meetings and booking rooms can be completed in a matter of minutes, allowing more time for collaboration instead of unnecessary administration.

Improves ReportingMobitel is using a combination of Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 features to improve its business reporting. Office Excel 2007 provides multiple features that deliver data analysis to support scenario planning, with results quickly uploaded to the Mobitel intranet site running on Office SharePoint Server 2007. This means that Mobitel has instant access to the latest business information, to accelerate and support decision making.

Project status reporting is now updated on the Mobitel intranet site, with the management team using the site to view project status. As well as using Office SharePoint Server 2007 for project reporting, Mobitel is running scenario planning through Office Excel 2007 spreadsheets, using the reporting features to create pivot tables, generate reports, and analyze data. “We use Office Excel 2007 to help us with corporate planning as the new

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We estimate that it now only takes us a couple of hours to get everyone’s approval by using Office SharePoint 2007.

Jeewapadma Sandagomi, Manager, ERM & Revenue Assurance, Mobitel

features mean we can view company data in a variety of ways that help management make decisions about the business,” explains Sandagomi.

Reduces Learning TimeWith business users already familiar with a Windows environment, it did not take long for them to start using the new features available in the 2007 Office system. “A one day training session was all it took for employees to feel comfortable using the technology. Many were already familiar with Microsoft Office, so the training helped them make better use of the new features available in the 2007 Office system,” comments Sandagomi.

Supports Future PlanningIt was essential for Mobitel’s business planning to use technology products with a clear roadmap. “The product roadmap outlined by Microsoft was important as we needed to see how the products would integrate together and the long term plans for each product. We like how the products support each other and seamlessly integrate” says Sandagomi. Due the success of this integration, the company has now deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

Microsoft Office SystemThe Microsoft Office system is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office system, go to: www.microsoft.com/office

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Mobitel (Private) Limited products and services visit the Web site at: www.mobitel.lk

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published June 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Office - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio - Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 - Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager - Microsoft System Center Operations Manager