Microsoft Lync Server 2010Customer Solution Case Study

Taiwanese Telecom Provider Enhances Business Processes with Communications Solution

OverviewCountry or Region: TaiwanIndustry: Telecommunications

Customer ProfileChunghwa Telecom (CHT) provides telecommunications and information related services throughout Taiwan. The company employs 24,000 workers and in 2009 had annual revenue of NT$180 billion (U.S.$6 billion).

Business SituationCHT wanted to upgrade its enterprise voice solution to a more efficient solution that would help it reduce costs and improve business processes.

SolutionCHT decided to expand its unified communications solution by deploying Microsoft Lync Server 2010 to provide employees with a robust, reliable enterprise voice solution to help increase productivity.

Benefits Improved communication Reduced costs

“We have built several applications for Lync Server that help us improve our business processes and save valuable time and money.”

Feng-Sheng Chen, Senior Director, Chunghwa Telecom

Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) provides fixed network, mobile, Internet services, and enterprise telecom services. As one of the largest integrated telecommunications operators in Taiwan, CHT relies on timely communication between its employees and partners to keep operations running smoothly for its subscribers. CHT relied on a Microsoft communications solution, along with voice over IP and web conferencing services from other vendors. CHT felt its employees could be more productive with a single solution that offered an integrated, complete experience, so it decided to upgrade its current solution by deploying Microsoft Lync Server 2010. With this deployment, CHT can offer employees a single communications and collaboration client that will help employees be more productive and help the company reduce travel costs.

SituationFounded in July 1996, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) was created under the auspices of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Republic of China, Taiwan. With 24,000 employees, CHT earned revenues of NT$198 billion (U.S.$6 billion) in 2009 and provides telecommunications and information-related services nationwide. Its services include city calls, long-distance calls, international calls, GSM, data communication, Internet services, broadband networking, satellite communication, intelligent network, mobile data, and multimedia broadband.

For CHT, communication is the core of its business. Internally, employees rely on capabilities such as email and instant messaging to discuss important development projects for customers. For its messaging solution, CHT deployed Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and for collaboration it deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, now known as Microsoft Lync Server 2010. Employees rely on the capabilities in Office Communications Server such as presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing, and desktop sharing to keep one another informed of ongoing projects. For video conferencing, employees used video conferencing rooms, which meant they had to be in the office, and also that they had to book a particular room.

Externally, the company relies on communications technology such as Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration 4.0 and Exchange Server 2007 to develop applications like its mobile email messaging service, mPro. Using mPro, CHT customers can access their

mobile messages through their mobile phone when they are away from the office. CHT has also developed a number of applications for Office Communications Server 2007 such as iMOC, an Office Communications Server client for the iPhone.

When CHT employees are away from the office, they have access to a custom web-based Office Communications Server interface to keep in touch with colleagues. They can also send offline notifications and SMS messages through custom commands CHT added to the Microsoft Office Communicator menu. Additionally, CHT developed several communications enabled business process (CEBP) applications. One, called IM Center, sends instant messages to employees who need to complete a form or other workflow; another, called LDAP Robot, is an application employees can use to send queries to back-end systems through Office Communicator.

As a communications provider, CHT was conscious of the importance of having a single tool that people could use to communicate. Although CHT was satisfied with Office Communications Server and the CEBP applications it had developed, the company was unsatisfied with the lack of interoperation between its communications solutions. It believed a single-point solution that employees could access from anywhere could help it keep costs down and help its workers be more productive at their jobs.

SolutionCHT knew it wanted to deploy a more unified solution, so through 2009 and 2010 it considered solutions from a number of

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vendors. In the end, because CHT has had success developing and implementing Microsoft solutions for its employees, and because it had successfully developed so many useful Office Communications Server applications, it decided to upgrade its communications solution by deploying Microsoft Lync Server 2010. In addition to offering the capabilities employees were already using such as presence, instant messaging, and desktop sharing, CHT also chose to expand the deployment to include enterprise voice and ad hoc collaboration and online meetings.

The main appeal of the Microsoft solution for CHT was the idea of a single client, Microsoft Lync 2010, for employees. From within Lync 2010—or from within the Microsoft Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client—employees can view presence information for their coworkers and initiate a phone call with a single click of the mouse. CHT plans to deploy the full solution for 15,000 employees by the end of October 2010.

As part of its deployment, CHT tested and deployed several phone endpoints and a survivable branch appliance. The survivable branch appliance (SBA), which was supplied by Network Equipment Technologies, is a new technology for Lync Server that organizations can use to provide high-availability communications to branch offices without redundant network connections. The SBA provides a local connection to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) that employees can use to place calls if network communications are lost. CHT is also using the Voyager PRO UC headset from Plantronics and Polycom CX600 IP phone.

For video conferencing, CHT is testing the Microsoft LifeCam HD video camera.

CHT employees will continue to use Lync for desktop sharing, which its IT team uses to troubleshoot and resolve issues for employees. They will also continue to take advantage of integrated features like presence, which shows—through any integrated Microsoft product such as Microsoft Office—if colleagues are available for a quick chat or conference. Employees will also have access to new capabilities like the Activity Feed. Using the Activity Feed, employees can type a short note to let colleagues know what they are working on at any given time, giving them information in addition to presence status. Another feature CHT employees can use to enhance their presence information is the Location feature. For employees who travel or who frequently visit other offices, they can set their location in Lync, so coworkers know where to find them. Another capability CHT believes will help employees is the Rich Contact Card, which offers details about coworkers such as their manager and their direct reports. If a coworker is unavailable to answer a question, the employee can easily see who else on the team might be available to offer an answer or give direction.

CHT also plans to keep and enhance many of the CEBP applications it originally developed for Office Communications Server. In addition to its iMOC mobile client for the iPhone, it is currently developing a mobile communications client for Google Android-based phone systems, the aMOC. CHT will enhance its current web client to include the latest capabilities for remote employees as well.

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BenefitsBy upgrading its communications solution with Microsoft Lync Server 2010, CHT can provide employees with a rich single-client user interface for interacting with colleagues and partners alike. By providing the convenience of capabilities such as enterprise voice, ad hoc collaboration and online meetings, and enhanced presence features like Location, CHT believes it can create a more productive work environment for employees and reduce travel costs.

Improved ProductivityNow CHT employees have a single user interface from which they can view presence, place a VoIP call, initiate a desktop sharing session, send an instant message, or start a conference. With the unified client, CHT employees can improve their productivity by as much as 20 percent. They also will continue to have access to the CEBP applications that CHT had developed to help employees be more productive. “We have built several applications for Lync Server that help us improve our business processes and save valuable time and money,” explains Feng-Sheng Chen, Senior Director at Chunghwa Telecom. “For example, with our IM Center, we can easily let someone know he has important forms to sign. He doesn’t have to waste time trying to figure out what he needs to do.”

CHT also believes employees will benefit greatly from the new capabilities such as the Rich Contact Card. “With the Rich Contact Card, if an employee needs to contact a colleague, but sees he isn’t

available, he can easily view and then contact the colleague’s manager or teammates for help,” explains Meng-Hsien Lin, Researcher at Chunghwa Telecom. “It saves time when people need to make business-critical decisions.”

Other capabilities like Location and Activity Feed also help improve productivity and communication by enhancing the traditional presence information, because employees can see at a glance exactly what coworkers are working on or where they are at any given time.

Reduced CostsWith the deployment of Lync Server 2010, CHT expects to reduce costs, particularly in the area of travel. For executive meetings, people no longer have to travel—instead, they can meet through an online meeting. CHT also no longer has to dedicate a room for video conferencing or worry about cumbersome—and expensive—equipment. “We can use online meetings when we want to meet with our colleagues, or even with our partners, which helps us greatly decrease the number of business trips we have to take,” says Lin. “It saves us both money and time.”

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“We can use online meetings when we want to meet with our colleagues, or even with partners, which helps us greatly decrease the number of business trips we have to take.”

Meng-Hsien Lin, Researcher, Chunghwa Telecom

Microsoft Lync Server 2010Microsoft Lync Server 2010 ushers in a new connected user experience that transforms every communication into an interaction that is more collaborative and engaging and that is accessible from anywhere. For IT, the benefits are equally powerful, with a highly secure and reliable communications system that works with existing tools and systems for easier management, lower cost of ownership, smoother deployment and migration, and greater choice and flexibility.

For more information about Microsoft Lync Server 2010, go to:www.microsoft.com/lync

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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 Chunghwa Telecom products and services, call 886-2-23445488 or visit the website at: www.cht.com.tw

For more information about Polycom products and services, call (800) Polycom or visit the website at: www.polycom.com

For more information about Plantronics products and services, call (888) Plantronics or visit the website at: www.plantronics.com

For more information about Network Equipment Technologies products and services, call (800) 234-4638 or visit the website at: www.net.com

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

Document published November 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Office− Microsoft Lync 2010− Microsoft Lync Web App

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft Exchange Server 2007

Enterprise Edition− Microsoft Lync Server 2010

Hardware NET Survivable Branch Appliance Microsoft LifeCam HD Camera Plantronics Voyager USB Headset Polycom CX600 IP Phones