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Microsoft Office 365
Customer Solution Case Study
Software Provider Improves Customer
Service and Development Time with
Hosted Solution
Overview
Country or Region: Ireland
Industry: Software engineering
Customer Profile
Headquartered in Dublin, Big Red
Book is one of Ireland’s leading
suppliers of easy-to-use accounting
and payroll software for small and
midsize businesses.
Business Situation
To support customer service and
software development activities, Big
Red Book wanted a reliable email
and productivity solution that it
didn’t have to manage itself.
Solution
Big Red Book moved to Microsoft
Office 365, which includes the latest
version of the Microsoft Office
Professional Plus desktop suite, for
hosted communication and
collaboration services.
Benefits
• Improved customer service
• Avoided IT costs
• Reduced development time
“Our ability to have 99.9 percent uptime with
Office 365 is hugely valuable to our business.
We are enjoying improved business continuity,
so we have better and more reliable customer
service.”
Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Big Red Book is a
leading supplier of bookkeeping software for small and
midsize businesses in Ireland. As a small business in a
competitive market, Big Red Book depends on superior
customer service, and it requires reliable email so that it
can respond quickly to customers. To help reduce email
downtime and improve development processes, Big Red
Book chose to move to Microsoft Office 365, which
includes the latest version of the Microsoft Office
Professional Plus desktop suite. With the help of Itomic
IT Services, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Big Red
Book is taking advantage of a reliable email solution
hosted by Microsoft and improved communication and
collaboration tools. Big Red Book has improved
customer service, avoided costs of €250 (U.S.$360) per
employee, and improved its software development

“By using Office 365,
we are getting the
latest Office version.
The last two versions
of Office have been
quite good, so we are
excited about getting
all of the new
capabilities and
Situation
Founded in 1993,
Big Red Book
provides
accounting and
payroll software
to 30,000 small
and midsize
businesses in
Ireland. Its
software has an
easy-to-use
interface
compared to
more complex
on multiple roles.
Paraic Nolan,
Finance Director
at Big Red Book,
says, “My official
title is Finance
Director, but I
am also the IT
department and I
manage the
development
process.”
Big Red Book has
a support team
the lifeblood for
our company;
reliability of mail
is critical for us,
as it is the main
method
customers use to
contact us.” To
improve uptime,
Big Red Book
expected that it
would need to
purchase a
second server to
provide failover
customers were
notified that
email messages
were
undeliverable
due to the
company being
blacklisted.
Big Red Book
also wanted its
support team,
developers, and
testers to work
more closely
enhancements.”
Paraic Nolan, Finance Director,
Big Red Book
enterprise
resource
planning
systems. Big Red
Book is currently
working on a
project to
develop cloud-
based services
for payroll and
accounting called
Big Red Cloud,
and it expects
that service to
help it grow both
within Ireland
and
internationally.
Based in Dublin,
Ireland, the
company’s 18
employees
develop
applications,
test
software, and
support
customers.
Because of its
that responds to
customer emails
and answers
customer
questions over
the phone. For
email, Big Red
Book had a
single server
with Microsoft
Exchange Server
2003 managed
on-premises, and
most employees
used Microsoft
Office Outlook
2007 to access
email. With
limited IT
resources and no
failover server,
Big Red Book
had frequent
periods of
downtime. “Any
time email was
down, there was
a stampede at
my door. It was
capabilities.
The company
also had third-
party products to
protect against
malicious
software
(malware), but
they were not
effective. Nolan
says, “We had a
serious issue two
months ago,
when we got
blacklisted
because we had
an internal
malware
infection. That
caused a lot of
downtime and
burned two days
of my time to
resolve.” In
addition to the
lost time and
blocked email,
Big Red Book
together. It was
using an internal
customer
relationship
management
system to track
development
tasks, but this
information was
not linked to the
development
application
environment.
Employees found
it difficult to
locate
information, such
as development
team meeting
notes, which
employees took
by hand, typed
into Microsoft
Office Word
2007, and sent
to team
members by
email.
Employees used
size, the
company’s
employees take
my responsibility
to resolve,” says
Nolan. “Email is
was concerned
about its
reputation when
an instant
messaging
solution that had
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“The Office Web Apps
are fantastic. They do
not have all of the
capabilities of the rich
client, but they have
most of the
frequently used
features, so they are
perfect for working
from home.”
Paraic Nolan, Finance Director,
Big Red Book
no presence or
history. If
intended
recipients of an
instant message
did not have
their computers
turned on, the
sender had no
way of knowing
whether the
message was
received.
Solution
Big Red Book
moved to
Microsoft Office
365 to help
improve email
reliability and
collaboration
among its
support team,
developers, and
testers. Office
365 brings
together cloud
versions of
Microsoft
Exchange Online,
Microsoft Lync
Online, and
Microsoft
SharePoint
Online with the
latest version of
the Microsoft
Office
Professional Plus
desktop suite.
Nolan says, “We
do not need the
other services.
We previously
evaluated
Google Apps as a
potential solution
for our corporate
email and
document needs.
Google Docs is
not really
suitable for
business use due
to limited
functionality and
the lack of offline
capabilities.”
The
company moved
all employees to
Office 365 in
April 2011 with
the help of Itomic
IT Services, a
Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner.
Nolan says,
“Itomic helped
make the
transition easy. It
helped with
planning, setting
up domains, and
migration, and
its services were
excellent.”
Employees
immediately
downloaded
Office
Professional Plus
from the Office
365 portal to
take advantage
of the latest
says, “By using
Office 365, we
are getting the
latest Office
version. The last
two versions of
Office have been
quite good, so
we are excited
about getting all
of the new
capabilities
and
enhancements.”
By using Office
365, employees
get the rich
desktop
experience of
Office
Professional Plus
and the browser
experience of
Microsoft Office
Web Apps. Nolan
adds, “The Office
Web Apps are
fantastic. They
do not have all of
the capabilities
of the rich client,
but they have
most of the
frequently used
features, so they
are perfect for
working from
home.”
For messaging,
Big Red Book is
using Exchange
Online, which is
based on
Microsoft
Microsoft Outlook
2010 or Microsoft
Outlook Web
App, employees
have access to
key features, like
Conversation
View, Ignore, and
Clean Up
Conversation,
that help them
organize email
quickly. With
Microsoft
Forefront Online
Protection for
Exchange, Big
Red Book can
take advantage
of premium
malware
protection, in
addition to
regular security
updates. Big Red
Book is provided
with backups of
data between
georedundant
data centers and
a financially
backed, 99.9
percent uptime
service level
agreement from
Microsoft.
Because the
company doesn’t
have frequent
email outages
like before,
support
employees
respond to
hassle of
managing our
own email and
applications in
Microsoft Office
2010. Nolan
Exchange Server
2010 technology.
Through
customers’ email
messages more
efficiently.
36

Big Red Book has
adopted the
Microsoft Visual
Studio 2010
Ultimate
development
system and
Microsoft Visual
Studio Team
Foundation
Server 2010 to
help develop and
test its software,
including its new
can immediately
see what needs
to be tested,
perform the test,
and update the
status to
complete in
Excel. The status
is published back
to Team
Foundation
Server.
Employees have
their own view of
the data in Excel,
documents and
printed notes.”
Customer
support at Big
Red Book has
used Excel 2010
to develop
custom reports
for customers.
By using
Microsoft SQL
Server 2008 data
management
software,
instant
messaging while
they are on the
phone with
customers.
Testers and
developers use
instant
messaging to
communicate
about software
coding issues,
and they are no
longer unsure
whether the
“The fact that Office
365 is backed by
Microsoft is huge. I’ll
never have to change
providers again
because I trust
Microsoft to look after
our email and other
services for us.”
Paraic Nolan, Finance Director,
Big Red Book
Big Red Cloud
project. The
development
solution
interoperates
with Microsoft
Excel 2010
spreadsheet
software to
provide a great
workflow solution
between
developers and
testers to resolve
issues. A
developer can
look at the actual
application
environment and
fix any issues. A
tester can open
the Team tab in
Excel 2010 and
easily view the
list of all open
work items,
which comes
directly from
Visual Studio
which can serve
as a dashboard
for development
managers.”
The development
team expects to
use Microsoft
OneNote 2010
note-taking
program with
SharePoint
Online to capture
and share team
meeting notes.
Nolan says, “The
shared notebook
contains all of
the decisions
made in previous
meetings, so as I
type in the
search phrase, I
instantly see the
search results
about a topic
from past
meeting notes.
Before, I would
employees can
analyze
accounting data
in Excel 2010 in
an interactive,
real-time view.
For example,
customer
support can track
sales by product
and customer
over time by
using Slicers to
filter PivotTable
data and drill
down on a value
to get the right
details.
By using Lync
Online, Big Red
Book now has an
instant
messaging
solution with rich
presence
information.
Support
employees can
intended
recipient
received the
message.
Benefits
By using Office
365, Big Red
Book has a
reliable
communications
and collaborationon
solution that it
does not have to
manage, so it
can focus more
on its business.
Nolan says, “The
fact that Office
365 is backed by
Microsoft is
huge. I’ll never
have to change
providers again
because I trust
Microsoft to look
after our email
and other
services for us.”
Team Foundation
Server. Nolan
says, “The tester
have to open and
search through
multiple
see who is online
to escalate
issues using
The company
has improved
customer
46

service, avoided
costs, and
improved its
development
process.
Improved
Customer
Service
Big Red Book
depends on
reliable email to
support
customer
service. Nolan
messaging to
reach out to
company experts
to resolve issues
while they are on
the phone with
customers. Big
Red Book can
resolve issues
faster, which
helps to build
trust and
customer loyalty.
It can also
develop reports
reduce email
downtime.
• Saved
€2,200
($3,200) by
avoiding the
license and
installation
cost for a
spam
solution.
• Saved €200
($290) by
eliminating
its mail
solution provides
great workflow
between
developers and
testers.
Development
managers can
also track
progress better
with a built-in
dashboard in
Excel. In
addition,
developers and
testers are
says, “Our ability
to have 99.9
percent uptime
with Office 365 is
hugely valuable
to our business.
We are enjoying
improved
business
continuity, so we
have better and
more reliable
customer
service.” With
the enhanced
antivirus and
antispam
capabilities, the
company has
decreased the
risk of another
severe incident
that could cause
days of
downtime and
communication
delays with
customers.
for customers
faster, with the
ability to drill
down into the
right details by
using Excel
2010.
Avoided IT
Costs
Big Red Book
estimates that
with Office 365 it
has reduced IT
costs in its first
year by €4,470
(U.S.$6,400) or
€250 ($360) per
employee, with
savings in the
following areas:
• Saved
€2,000
($2,900) by
avoiding the
purchase of
a separate
server for its
on-premises
backup
solution.
• Saved €70
($100) by
avoiding
purchase of
secure mail
certificates.
Reduced
Development
Time
With Office 365
and Visual Studio
Team Foundation
Server,
developers and
testers can
update issues
and work items
more quickly.
Because
employees can
access work
items more
easily in Excel
2010, they can
prioritize work
items and spend
resolving
development
issues faster
through the use
of instant
messaging and
presence. The
company
expects the
improved
process to
reduce
development
time for its
cloud-based
bookkeeping
service.
“The ability to
communicate
better is difficult
to quantify, but
there is definitely
a financial
benefit. The
more efficiently
we
communicate,
the better
The support
team is using
instant
Exchange
Server to
less time
creating status
updates. The
products we can
deliver,” says
Nolan. “Office
56

For More Information
For 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
365 is a key part
of our business
strategy.”
•
Microsoft
Office 365
Microsoft Office
365 brings
together cloud
versions of our
most trusted
communications
and collaboration
products—
Microsoft
SharePoint
Online, Exchange
Online, and Lync
Online—with the
percent
reliability. Office
365 features
robust security,
IT-level phone
support, geo-
redundancy,
disaster
recovery, and
the business-
class privacy
controls and
standards that
you expect from
a world-class
service provider.
For more
information
about Microsoft
Office 365, go to:
www.office365.c
om
using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com
For more information about Itomic
IT Services products and services,
visit the website at:
www. w.it o m ic. c.ie
latest version of
our Office
desktop suite
and companion
web applications
for businesses of
all sizes.
For more information about Big Red
Book products and services, call
+353 1 204 8300 or visit the
website at: www.bigredbook.com
Office 365 helps
save time and
money, and it
frees up valued
resources.
Simple to use
and easy to
administer, it is
financially
backed by a
service level
agreement
guaranteeing 99
Software and Services
• Microsoft Office
− Microsoft Office Professional Plus
− Microsoft Excel 2010
− Microsoft Lync 2010
− Microsoft OneNote 2010
− Microsoft Outlook 2010
• Microsoft Office 365
− Microsoft Exchange Online
− Microsoft Lync Online
− Microsoft SharePoint Online
• Microsoft Visual Studio
− Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Ultimate
− Microsoft Visual Studio Team
Foundation Server 2010
This case study is for informational purposes
only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published June 2011
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