Microsoft Online ServicesCustomer Solution Case Study

City Redirects $90,834 from IT Budget to Citizen Services by Using Cloud-Based Email

OverviewCountry or Region: Puerto RicoIndustry: Government—State and local

Customer ProfileMunicipio de Humacao, a coastal city in eastern Puerto Rico, is home to 62,000 people. Its deep history and beautiful location make it a popular tourist destination.

Business SituationThe city needed to upgrade its older email system to provide improved connectivity and reliability for employees working all over the city, but it did not have the budget to invest in new hardware, software, and IT staff.

SolutionHumacao decided to move to the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, which provides security-enhanced cloud-based email, collaboration, web conferencing, and instant messaging.

Benefits Savings of U.S.$90,834 Anticipated productivity gains worth

$492,000 Higher reliability, no downtime worries

“We avoided spending $100,500 [on servers, licensing, and maintenance]. IT is usually seen as spending money; with Microsoft Online Services, we are saving the city money.”

Evelyn Howe, Information System Administrator, Municipio de Humacao, Puerto Rico

Municipio de Humacao, Puerto Rico, lies on the eastern coast of the island and has struggled with revenue drops caused by the global recession. To avoid new technology expenses and improve email reliability and accessibility, the city decided to eliminate its messaging server and instead use Microsoft Online Services for email messaging, collaboration, web conferencing, and instant messaging. With its move to the cloud, Humacao netted a savings of U.S.$90,834 by avoiding on-premises infrastructure expenses. It is also realizing productivity gains worth an estimated $492,000 annually due to improved communication and collaboration, more reliable email, and remote access to email messages and files. By delivering key communication services from Microsoft data centers, the city enjoys far greater reliability and the ability for employees to work from any Internet-connected location.

SituationFounded in 1793, Municipio de Humacao is a coastal city in eastern Puerto Rico with a population of about 62,000 people. Its economy has evolved from primarily agriculture-based to one dependent on tourism and growing biotechnology and technology industries.

Like most municipalities around the world, Municipio de Humacao has watched its tax revenues dip precariously during the global economic recession that began in 2007. Tourism fell and some manufacturers closed their doors. Less income has meant more pressure on city departments to cut costs. The small IT staff of four, responsible for supporting the city’s 250 information workers and technology infrastructure, especially felt the need to economize. “IT is usually seen as just spending money and not adding value,” says Evelyn Howe, Information System Administrator for Municipio de Humacao. “When money was the tightest, we were faced with the uncomfortable need to spend even more.”

Specifically, the city’s email server, running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, was in need of an upgrade. The city’s 250 information workers (out of 1,200 total employees) are located all over the city, and many could not connect remotely to the email server or to other city applications, for that matter. They frequently did not receive email messages and had other problems that required IT support. But, Howe’s staff simply did not have the resources to help.

Many employees resorted to using their personal email accounts to conduct city business. However, this was discouraged, as

many city departments required secure email messaging. Setting up meetings often required many email messages and phone calls, because remote employees could not synchronize their electronic calendars.

In addition to its email challenges, Municipio de Humacao had no convenient way to inform employees about departmental and citywide news. The city distributed the news by using paper bulletins, which was slow and inefficient.

Some departments used Microsoft Office Access 2007 database software as a document-sharing platform. The permit department, for example, used the program for storing and sharing permits. But Office Access 2007 was not designed as a collaboration platform, and employees lacked version-control and document-tagging features available in other collaboration programs, such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. “We wanted to implement Office SharePoint Server 2007, but that would require another server and more work for our staff, which we just couldn’t afford,” says Howe.

In early 2010, the city’s email server failed completely. Without the funds to replace it, the city had no choice but to carry on as best it could by using employees’ personal email accounts. “We knew we had to do something,” says Howe. “We didn’t have the budget or the IT resources to buy and manage a bigger server environment. But we had to provide our employees with basic communication services.”

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“We didn’t have the budget or the IT resources to buy and manage a bigger server environment. But we had to provide our employees with basic communication services.”

Evelyn Howe, Information System Administrator, Municipio de Humacao,

Puerto Rico

SolutionIn early 2010, Humacao looked into Google Mail (Gmail) and Google Apps as an inexpensive way to gain new email and collaboration capabilities. “We liked the fact that with Google, employees could have their work and personal email accounts on the same platform,” Howe says. “However, the Google programs simply weren’t easy to use. We had setup, connection, and usability problems. And for the city, the Google solution did not offer the security that we needed. Some city offices actually forbade us to use Google.”

The city had used Trinexus, a local Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, as its enterprise software advisor since 2006. Trinexus had supported the municipality with several strategic projects. On January 2010, Trinexus presented the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, part of Microsoft Online Services, as an alternative to Gmail and Google Apps. The collection of services is hosted by Microsoft, delivered over the Internet, and licensed through a monthly per-user subscription. It includes Microsoft Exchange Online for messaging, Microsoft SharePoint Online for collaboration, Microsoft Office Live Meeting for web conferencing, and Microsoft Office Communications Online for instant messaging.

Howe was thrilled. “My IT department tested Microsoft Online Services, and it solved all our problems,” she says. “We could easily access email from home, synchronize calendars, and it was easy to use. But best of all, it eliminated the need to maintain email and collaboration servers in-house.” The city ran a successful trail of Business Productivity Online Standard Suite

and subsequently decided to license the suite for its 250 information workers.

Four-Day RolloutWith the decision made, Trinexus switched the city to Microsoft Online Services within four days. “Connecting Microsoft Online Services to our domain was simple and handled efficiently,” Howe says.

The city has purchased 150 licenses to date but plans to purchase seats for all 250 information workers by 2012. “People are clamoring to have it,” Howe says. Remote Access to Mail, Calendars, DocumentsToday, the 150 employees who are using Exchange Online enjoy a full-featured, highly secure email program that is accessible from any Internet connection. “Remote access to email is huge for us,” Howe says. “Employees can access mail and set up meetings from any Internet-connected location, including their homes. No follow-up phone calls or emails are required to tell people about meetings. People can even see meetings from their mobile phones, which was not possible before.”

The city has plans, in summer 2011, to link Exchange Online with a customer relationship management (CRM) application that it uses to log and respond to citizen issues. This linkage would enable help-desk workers to route issues to colleagues in different departments by sending email messages within the CRM program.

Municipio de Humacao uses Microsoft Exchange Hosted Archive, a service that is available with the Exchange Online

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“Employees can access mail and set up meetings from any Internet-connected location, including their homes.... People can even see meetings from their mobile phones, which was not possible before.”

Evelyn Howe, Information System Administrator, Municipio de Humacao,

Puerto Rico

subscription and that archives older email and chat messages. Previously, the city had no archival capability for email. Each time an employee needed to recover a deleted email message, Howe’s team spent hours retrieving it. “With Exchange Hosted Archive, if someone accidentally deletes a message, it takes just an hour or so to get it back,” she says.

The city also benefits from Microsoft Forefront Online Protection for Exchange, included with Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, which provides multiple filters and virus-scanning engines to help protect against spam, viruses, and phishing scams.

City employees created a city intranet on SharePoint Online where all employee news, an employee directory, and other centralized resources are stored, eliminating the need to circulate paper news bulletins. Some city departments, such as Human Resources and Communications, have created sites on which, for example, human resources forms, policies, and procedures are easily accessible by all city employees.

The city is eager to start using Office Live Meeting for PC-based web conferencing. “It’s difficult for people to get away from their offices during a busy day to drive across town for a meeting,” says Howe. “Office Live Meeting will allow more officials to meet, reduce traffic, and reduce our carbon footprint by cutting down on driving.”

BenefitsBy switching to Microsoft Online Services for email and collaboration, Municipio de

Humacao is saving time and avoiding costs that it can instead redirect to delivering better citizen services. Cloud-based email is also far more reliable, eliminating worries about email downtime.

Savings of Nearly $400,000By deploying Microsoft Online Services, Municipio de Humacao reduced IT costs significantly. “We avoided spending $100,500: $25,000 on new servers, $43,500 annually on software licensing, and $32,000 to hire someone to manage Exchange Server and SharePoint Server.” Howe says. “IT is usually seen as spending money; with Microsoft Online Services, we are saving the city money.”

Subtracting the $9,666 annually that the city is paying to license Microsoft Online Services for 150 users, the city has netted a total savings of $90,834.The city also estimates that it will save approximately $300,000 over three years by eliminating services that are now included in Microsoft Online Services. “IT savings are important, especially in this economy. We are spending that money in the city health center to support our citizens and in the public works department to fill potholes and take care of other infrastructure needs.”

There is also value in the fact that Microsoft Online Services are a flexible monthly operating cost rather than a capital cost. “We can add new users to Microsoft Online Services at any time,” Howe says. “When IT is part of a capital budget, we only have the opportunity to request new equipment once a year, and these expenses are very difficult to justify.”

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Anticipated Productivity Gains Worth $492,000 AnnuallyHowe estimates that she is saving 10 hours a week, or 40 hours a month, on dealing with email issues. That adds up to a productivity gain for her alone worth $12,000 annually. “I’m able to spend that time meeting with city departments and implementing new applications instead of worrying about email,” she says.

An even bigger time savings will come from making all 250 information workers more productive throughout the day as they set up meetings more easily, send and receive email from anywhere, and share documents. “I conservatively estimate that our employees are saving at least one hour a day using Microsoft Online Services, an annual productivity gain worth $480,000 once all 250 employees are using it,” Howe says.

Higher Reliability, No Downtime WorriesOf course, underlying all the productivity gains is the foundational fact that Microsoft Online Services are there when employees need them. “Since moving to Microsoft Online Services, we haven’t had any email downtime at all,” Howe says. “If our Internet goes down at work, employees can simply go home and continue working from there. Our peace of mind is immeasurably greater since moving email out of our facility and into Microsoft data centers.”

Microsoft Online ServicesMicrosoft Online Services are business-class communication and collaboration solutions delivered as a subscription service and hosted by Microsoft. With these offerings, customers can cost-effectively access the most up-to-date technologies and immediately benefit from streamlined communications, simplified management, and business-class reliability and security features. For IT staffers, Microsoft Online Services are backed by strong service level agreements and help reduce the burden of performing routine IT management, freeing up time to focus on core business initiatives.

For more information, visit: www.microsoft.com/online

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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 Trinexus products and services, call (787) 292-1499 or visit the website at: www.trinexus.net

For more information about Municipio de Humacao, call (787) 852-3066 or visit the website at: www.gobierno.pr/GPRPortal/StandAlone/MunicipalityInformation.aspx?Filter=9

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

Document published May 2011

Software and Services Microsoft Online Services− Microsoft Business Productivity

Online Standard Suite− Microsoft Exchange Online− Microsoft Forefront Online Protection

for Exchange− Microsoft SharePoint Online

Solutions− Software-plus-services

Partners Trinexus

“I conservatively estimate that our employees are saving at least one hour a day using Microsoft Online Services, an annual productivity gain worth $480,000.”

Evelyn Howe, Information System Administrator, Municipio de Humacao,

Puerto Rico