Partner Solution Case Study
/ Software Provider Gains Customers, Grows Accounts with Hosted, Online Services
“Live@edu has opened many doors for us. It is a platform that will significantly boost our sales in the education market.”
Mauricio Bodstein, Education Business Manager, Programmer’s Software & IT Services
To gain education customers, Programmer’s Software & IT Services needed to provide hosted, online services, so it began to offer Microsoft Live@edu. It can deploy the services 50 percent faster than on-premises solutions, helping it to reachnew customers faster. And because Live@edu interoperates with other technologies, it helps Programmer’s sell complementary solutions and increase account sizes by 30 percent or more.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published April 2010
Business Needs
Programmer’s Software & IT Services, is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in Brazil, with a presence in the United States and Japan,specializing in custom software development and in software-based business intelligence, information worker, and mobility solutions.
Programmer’s, highly experienced at implementing on-premises e-mail and collaboration, wanted to attract education customers in Brazil. But it needed to find a lower-cost solution for these customers. “It is too expensive for most institutions to provide on-premises e-mail to students,” explains Mauricio Bodstein, Education Business Manager at Programmer’s.
Programmer’s evaluated several free* Web-based e-mail services, but found that these solutions did not connect easily to on-premises software, making it difficult for users to work seamlessly among programs. They also didn’t offer comprehensive communication and collaboration tools. To deliver seamless and comprehensive services to customers, Programmer’s needed to enable automatic synchronization of user information—such as student and staff directories—between its solution and on-premises environments. The free* services also did not give an institution the ability to customize the user interface to reflect the school’s brand identity.
Solution
In 2007, Programmer’s began to implement Microsoft Live@edu for customers. Live@edu provides a set of free*, hosted communication and collaboration services that an educational institution can apply its brand to, and that interoperates with existing on-premises software solutions and other online services. “As a Microsoft product, the look and feel of Live@edu is familiar, and the integration capabilities are very comprehensive. It was exactly what we were looking for,” says Bodstein.
Programmer’s helps customers move data from other sources like Postfix, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Gmail, to Live@edu, and helps them to configure a Live@edu domain and create user accounts. The company also implements Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 or Forefront Identity Manager 2010, so that an institution can connect Live@edu with its student information database and its Active Directory Domain Services environment for managing user accounts, and share that information with the Microsoft Outlook Live communication and collaboration solution or the Windows Live Hotmail Web-based e-mail service.
Using Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007, Forefront Identity Manager 2010, or even older university systems, Programmer’s can enable single sign-on and/or identity synchronization capabilities, so that a user who has logged onto one system, such as a Microsoft SharePoint Server–based intranet, does not have to log on a second time to access another system, for instance, to check e-mail within Outlook Live. Bodstein says, “With Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 or Forefront Identity Manager 2010, we can create a smooth transition between the local environment and Live@edu.” Through Live@edu, Programmer’s also provides students with access to a range of tools including instant messaging, Web-based workspaces, shared calendars, storage, and e-mail distribution lists.
Programmer’s has registered 118,000 Windows Live IDs in Brazil and plans to gain more new customers to register a total of 250,000 IDs by the end of 2010.
Benefits
With Live@edu, Programmer’s offers cost-effective, hosted services that easily gain adoption, which helps the company gain customers and grow account sizes.
Familiar,Compatible Tools
Live@edu offers tools that students are already familiar with, such as the Windows Live Messenger instant messaging client. “Microsoft products are popular among students and teachers,” says Bodstein. “Plus, the integration capabilities of Live@edu are better than other solutions.” Live@edu interoperates easily with other Microsoft Office system products and on-premises Exchange Server environments, and with many third-party tools. With identity management managed by Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007 or Forefront Identity Manager 2010,directory, identity, and password synchronization enables students to use multiple systemsmore easily.
Faster Deployments, Broader Reach
Using Live@edu, Programmer’s can tap into an entirely new customer base. “Live@edu allows us to offer hosted e-mail and collaboration to institutions in Brazil that were previously unavailable to them,” says Bodstein. Programmer’s can deploy Live@edu 50 percent faster than on-premises solutions because the work can be done remotely. “Live@edu enables us to double the number of customers we can support.”
Growing Account Sizes
Although Live@edu services are free* to the university, Programmer’s charges fees for implementing technologies such as Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007. Bodstein says, “When we deploy Live@edu, customers realize how important it is to invest in identity management.” Programmer’s estimates that by implementing identity management services with Live@edu, it can increase account size by at least 30 percent. Also, by deploying other tools, such as Microsoft SharePoint Server, and connecting them with Live@edu, “we can increase revenues from a single customer by more than 100 percent.”
Cost-Effective Solution
With Live@edu, Programmer’s can offer a solution at a significant cost savings for educational institutions. “Live@edu, as a Web-based solution, dramatically reduces a university’s costs,” says Bodstein. At the same time, with Live@edu, Programmer’s can help an educational institution promote its brand more effectively. “Live@edu provides the added benefit of integrating the institution’s brand into the tools that students rely on every day—at a very low cost. Live@edu has opened many doors for us. It is a platform that will significantly boost our sales in the education market.”
* Access to and use of the Internet may require payment of a separate fee to an Internet service provider. Local and/or long-distance telephone charges may apply.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published April 2010