Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Customer Solution Case Study
Manufacturer Streamlines International Operations with Unified Messaging Solution
Overview
Country or Region: France Industry: Manufacturing Customer Profile Founded in 1976, L’Occitane manufactures fragrance and body care products that incorporate natural ingredients. Business Situation With 850 stores in 60 countries, L’Occitane wanted to upgrade its existing messaging system and give its employees the tools to help them communicate easily, share corporate data, and work collaboratively. Solution L’Occitane created a unified messaging and collaboration environment using Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. Benefits Enhanced mobile and remote access Improved access and data sharing Streamlined business processes Increased availability and security
“This collaborative, unified communications environment gives us a competitive edge by improving business processes, lowering costs, and speeding up the rollout of the 150 stores that we open each year.”
Jérôme Cruz-Mermy, Information Systems Director, L’Occitane
L’Occitane is known worldwide for its natural body care and fragrance products. Privately held, the company employs 1,200 people and operates 850 retail stores worldwide. To make it easier for remote teams and employees to communicate and share information, L’Occitane deployed Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007. The company relies on Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 for presence awareness and instant-messaging capabilities. This new unified messaging solution helps people work collaboratively, has streamlined business processes, and is better able to support rapid growth while controlling costs.
“Under any circumstances, employees who are on the move can access their personal tools through smartphones, laptops, Web access points, or telephone lines.”
Jérôme Cruz-Mermy, Information Systems Director, L’Occitane
Situation
L’Occitane, the Haute-Provence fragrance brand, is known throughout the world and continues to attract customers who are in search of authenticity and quality. “The same offers, always, from season to season, from generation to generation,” says Olivier Baussan, who founded the company in 1976. Steeped in the traditional values of his native Provence, this talented entrepreneur took a bold risk in a very competitive sector and developed a line of beauty and fragrance products for the face, body, and home. In less than 30 years, Mr. Baussan has taken the business from the first boutique in Volx to a laboratory-factory in Manosque that now supplies 850 stores in 60 countries. “Our constantly expanding international organization relies heavily on internal communications and mobility,” states Jérôme Cruz-Mermy, Information Systems Director at L’Occitane. But the company’s existing messaging and information system was no longer meeting communication and mobility
requirements. “Each year we set up more than 150 new retail outlets. Speeding up this process involves major financial and business challenges,” says Cruz-Mermy. Fully committed to such growth, L’Occitane wanted to enhance business processes and improve customer relations by reducing both costs and administrative overhead.
Solution
Working with Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Newport Communications, L’Occitane began a complete overhaul of its messaging system in April 2006. The new solution is based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 for messaging and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 for database sharing and collaboration. To support instant messaging, the company chose Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. With many remote users accessing the corporate network, the company also deployed Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 to enhance security. Regarding its choice for a new solution, Cruz-Mermy says, “Microsoft technologies are advanced, feature-rich, and easy to use.” The Active Directory® service also played an important role in the new solution, enabling L’Occitane to consolidate existing directories. “We merged six Active Directory forests into one forest. We substituted five servers from our old messaging system for the European area with a centralized Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 platform,” says Cruz-Mermy.
Figure 1. The network at L’Occitane headquarters helps people work collaboratively all around the world.
Benefits
Cruz-Mermy sums up the benefits of the company’s new comprehensive messaging and collaboration solution. “[Having] Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, one portal for accessing document databases, and a complete set of mobility tools allows us to evolve towards a very responsive organization model based on information and document
“[Having] Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, one portal for accessing document databases, and a complete set of mobility tools allows us to evolve towards a very responsive organization model....”
Jérôme Cruz-Mermy, Information Systems Director, L’Occitane
sharing in a collaborative approach between remote teams and roaming employees,” says Cruz-Mermy. Enhanced Mobile and Remote Access L’Occitane employees now have the mobility tools they need to guarantee them continuous access to the company’s information systems. “Under any circumstances, employees who are on the move can access their personal tools through smartphones, laptops, Web access points, or telephone lines,” says Cruz-Mermy. Remote access is essential, particularly when sales representatives are setting up a new retail outlet. Previously, remote connections could take a very long time to establish. Access had to be set up according to connection type and sometimes required a virtual private network (VPN). For many users, it was easier to make do with the information stored on their laptops. Now, employees use Microsoft Office Outlook® Web Access to browse the company’s Office SharePoint Server 2007 document databases. With
enhanced support for Outlook Anywhere (formerly remote procedure call over HTTP), Exchange Server 2007 automatically detects and implements the most appropriate access mode. “This transparent process guarantees continuous access to personal tools and document databases,” says Cruz-Mermy. Microsoft technologies perform well even when connections are frequently interrupted. This is particularly true during car or train trips when user access is provided through the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network. “A synchronization process can be initiated very easily because the solution has no problem handling these interruptions. We don’t have to reboot the system and start the process all over again from zero,” says Cruz-Mermy. With its new Unified Messaging server role, Exchange Server 2007 can now convert text messages into voice messages and store them in a user’s mailbox along with e-mail messages. This means that when Internet access isn’t available, employees can still receive e-mail and voice messages simply by placing a telephone call. Improved Access and Data Sharing To support instant messaging, L’Occitane uses Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. The company is building Web portals based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 to provide employees access to critical, centrally managed data. Together, these tools make it easier for employees around the globe to work collaboratively. Because L’Occitane products are also sold by specialty and cosmetics stores, these collaboration tools provide an important link between L’Occitane and its resellers, giving them access to critical document databases. “New product displays, as well as marketing and point-of-purchase documents for customers, enhance the marketing approach
Figure 2. With Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, employees can access information from anywhere in the world using various devices
while conveying the high-end image associated with our brand,” says Cruz-Mermy. Powerful new search engine capabilities in Exchange Server 2007 help employees to find and share data stored in e-mail messages and attachments. “Full text indexing allows [users] to find any kind of information with a few clicks of the mouse,” says Cruz-Mermy. “Sorting by subject provides considerable flexibility and allows users, for example, to group e-mails together by discussion files and to thus obtain all of the messages that were exchanged during a particular project,” adds Cruz-Mermy. Streamlined Business Processes The new messaging and collaboration solution at L’Occitane has had a positive impact on business processes—product designs, marketing strategies, and rolling out of new stores. All of these processes are strengthened now that employees have tools that support a collaborative work environment, instant messaging, and mobile devices. A critical and recurring task for L’Occitane is the changing window displays in all 850 stores—every three weeks. The company’s design and marketing departments are centralized, so delivering display information to all stores in a timely way was a major challenge. Previously, detailed documents were edited, photocopied, and then sent by standard mail to all 850 stores. Now, employees in every store can access the centralized document database through Outlook Web Access with just a few clicks of the mouse. Lower Costs L’Occitane has cut both management and operational costs since implementing the new solution. Improved collaboration capabilities and access to shared databases have helped L’Occitane to save considerable
time and overhead costs associated with changing window displays. The company is also able to speed up rollout of the 150 new stores that it opens each year. Consolidating its messaging architecture greatly simplified management, enabling L’Occitane to reduce costs and administration overhead. “The central platform replaces six directories and five messaging servers located on remote sites,” says Cruz-Mermy. Increased Availability and Security Exchange Server 2007 is a modular system that supports five server roles: Edge Transport, Client Access, Hub Transport, Mailbox, and Unified Messaging. This modular design enhances performance and gives users maximum system availability. The combination of Exchange Server 2007 and the Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 provides added security to L’Occitane. Cruz-Mermy says the previous messaging system was far more vulnerable to attacks. “We now have end-toend SSL encryption for remote access, and authentication is carried out using ISA Server,” says Cruz-Mermy. “This collaborative, unified communications environment gives us a competitive edge by improving business processes, lowering costs, and speeding up the rollout of the 150 stores that we open each year throughout the world,” concludes Jérôme Cruz-Mermy.
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. 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 Newport Communications products and services, visit the Web site at: www.newport-com.com For more information about L'Occitane products and services, visit the Web site at: www.loccitane.com
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to: www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx For more information about Microsoft Exchange Server, go to: www.microsoft.com/exchange
Software and Services
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio − Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 − Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006 Microsoft Office − Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 − Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Technologies − Active Directory − Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access
Partners
Newport Communications
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published December 2006