Swiss consultancy uses cloud to boost business agility at low cost
31 May 2010
In this case study, you can read about how a Swiss consultancy uses cloud to boost business agility and take more time to invest in the people and in their business without worrying about infrastructure.
Lodestone is a management consultancy that ensures a lean operational structure by selectively outsourcing its IT functions. It is based in Switzerland and operates across 13 countries.
However, Lodestone was dissatisfied with the services of the company that it contracted to host Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. The same hoster maintained a file server that housed corporate documents, but it was difficult for consultants to access this data over a slow virtual private network. Lodestone wanted to provide better and faster communication and collaboration tools for its consultants to access information and connect with one another, without high investments in its own infrastructure. The company subscribed to Microsoft Online Services to gain access to a suite of integrated, hosted communication and collaboration software. Now Lodestone consultants can take advantage of corporate knowledge stores and more efficiently collaborate on projects.
Our consultants drive our business, not our infrastructure. With Microsoft Online Services, we can invest in our people and let Microsoft worry about the servers. It’s a perfect fit for Lodestone.
Reto Alberini Head of Information Technology, Lodestone Management Consultants
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Small & Medium Enterprises are the backbone of Europe’s economy. We work hard with governments and industry to ensure that SMEs get the most out of technology. Thanks to cloud computing that has pervasive benefits throughout the economy, SMEs can now exploit economies of scale, to rapidly expand their business and offer innovative solutions with less risk. This space on our website is dedicated to innovative European SMEs and the added-value of cloud computing to their businesses.