UC Point, certified Microsoft Cloud Productivity- and Unified Communications Partner, successfully migrated the VIRZ Association of Innovative Data Centers in Germany to a Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based communication and collaboration solution. Within a week UC Point was able to meet and exceed customer expectations set for this cloud communications project and significantly reduce operational costs. All of the VIRZ member organizations as well as the students of the Technical University Deggendorf (THD) in Germany greatly benefit from the newly available communication modalities on the unified platform. UC Point replaced the legacy communications infrastructure at the VIRZ Association of Innovative Data Centers in Germany with a modern, cloud-based communication and collaboration solution. VIRZ previously used disparate solutions for communication, such as a dedicated email domain and Webex for conferencing and online seminars. With Microsoft Office 365, VIRZ has made the move to a unified platform to simplify internal communications and increase usability for collaboration and conferencing. Skype for Business Online now serves as their central communications platform for seamless conferencing, instant messaging, and audio/video calling.
A focal point for VIRZ are the quarterly meetings of the association. With Skype for Business, VIRZ members who are unable to attend in person now have the opportunity to join via video conferencing. The same goes for seminars that VIRZ offers in close collaboration with the Technical University Deggendorf (THD) for their bachelor program in “Data Center Technology”. In the future, seminars and events hosted by VIRZ will be made available online, thereby enabling students to continue to participate in these unique offerings even when they are studying abroad.
Moving to the cloud has had measurable success for VIRZ, for instance, significantly reducing operational costs for email services. The ability to host video conferences online with Skype for Business is not only easier for the user it also saves time and is less cost intensive for the organization. Skype for Business features such as video, instant messaging, and presence have greatly improved communication among the members of VIRZ. Conferences are started with a single click and questions are easily answered with instant messaging. In addition, using OneDrive enables VIRZ members to access and collaborate on documents from anywhere in the world.
“The newly available communication modalities with Skype for Business and the ability for VIRZ members to share and edit documents from virtually anywhere have greatly increased team collaboration within our organization. In addition, the new platform has significantly reduced operational costs compared to our legacy environment” says Hartwig Bazzanella, Chairman of the Board at the VIRZ Association for Innovative Data Centers, in his recap of the project’s success.
Markus P. Keller, Founder and CEO of UC Point, adds: “According to the findings from a recent cloud-study from Nextido, even small and medium sized organizations won’t get around the cloud. More than 85 per cent plan to implement cloud services or are already using them. We are very excited that we were able to quickly and successfully migrate VIRZ to the cloud and enable new communication and collaboration features for their users.“
