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SME Case StudiesGoing into the cloud to raise productivity and lower costs

Running one’s own business has long been the “Hong Kong dream.” As the Chinese proverb says, “a salary will not make you rich.” But this path to wealth has traditionally been difficult for those without substantial capital to invest in factories, equipment, and personnel. Now, however, the rise of the Internet and globalization has created amazing new opportunities for people willing to embrace the service economy and innovative technologies. What’s more, by simplifying company registration, the government has ensured that it has never been easier to start your own business. Today, some 90% of Hong Kong businesses are SMBs and micro-enterprises, and many of these are run by young people. With professional knowhow and technical skills, our young entrepreneurs are capable of producing world-class products and solutions that gain global recognition. However, many of these businesses fail simply because a lack of management and operational experience leads them to misallocate resources and mismanage their cash flow. This case study tells the story of two young entrepreneurs who overcome serious challenges to the viability of their business by adopting cloud computing to create a virtual workspace and raise their operating efficiency and productivity.

Michael and Paul were university classmates and friends. Both graduated with degrees in electronics engineering and worked in large organizations in the telecommunications industry. After several years, they got together to start a company. Their plan to build a business around innovative handset software won them a place in the government’s incubation program, giving them valuable support and low-rent premises at the InnoCentre. Michael is in charge of software and technology development; Paul handles administration, business development, and sales and marketing.

Cloud formations: efficiency in a virtual workspace

While Paul and Michael are experts in the telecom sector, they are inexperienced in business management. Even so, their fledgling business has got off to a strong start. The capital they raised, plus government aid, gives them enough to cover expenses for one to two years, by which time they hope to have achieved a stable client base with predictable income. To keep expenses low while they develop the businesses, the two partners have decided to forgo full-time staff for the moment. They have instead hired nine students as part-time workers: eight to focus on software design and one to help with administrative paperwork. In the past six months, however, Paul and Michael have regularly found themselves at loggerheads. After reviewing the situation frankly, the friends realized that workflow management was their major problem. They identified three key challenges:

• We now use Business Contact Manager (BCM) in Microsoft® Outlook® 2010 to store and organize customer information. BCM allows us tailor our records to capture the data that is most important to us—such as each customer’s coffee preferences and their special requests and comments—and lets us flag our top-spending customers. It is then a simple matter to email customers from time to time with new product information and personalized messages.

• Paul’s important role in visiting the firm’s clients to learn their requirements, gather feedback, and generate new business takes him out of the office much of the time. It is therefore difficult for him to handle the administrative side of his job, doing

such routine tasks as confirming purchase orders and managing accounts payable and receivable, and so on.

• Michael’s software designers work separate shifts and sometimes find communications difficult as they seek to collaborate on their design jobs. A high level of communication is also required to efficiently update the team with clients’ new requirements.

In the spirit of the InnoCentre where the new business is located, Paul sought help and advice from others. He discovered that cloud computing could provide a solution to his company’s current challenges by creating a virtual workspace. He and Michael thus agreed to try Microsoft® Office 365 to tackle their three most urgent challenges while also meeting key requirements for cost efficiency and data security.

1. In the spirit of the InnoCentre where the new business is located, Paul sought help and advice from others. He discovered that cloud computing could provide a solution to his company’s current challenges by creating a virtual workspace. He and Michael thus agreed to try Microsoft® Office 365 to tackle their three most urgent challenges while also meeting key requirements for cost efficiency and data security.

Microsoft Office 365 provides access to all the software the business requires, including Office Professional Plus, Exchange Online, SharePoint® Online, and Lync™ Online. With this by-subscription service, Paul, Michael, and their team can manage day-to-day paper work, share internal documents, access email and external websites, and take advantage of video conferencing, collaboration tools, and instant messaging. Furthermore, not only does the company now enjoy the level of technical support previously reserved for very large enterprises, but it also minimizes its IT infrastructure expenses and ongoing IT costs. Using Microsoft Office 365, they pay only for the solutions they need at the time, with the backing of robust security, reliability, and control. This frees both Michael and Paul to focus on developing their business and its technologies.

2. To ensure administrative work can be handled when required, without involving the project teams, better workflow management was needed.

Giving staff greater flexibility in handling administrative work was a key reason for adopting Microsoft Office 365. The part-time administrative employee, for example, is now able to complete much of her work online, any time and anywhere. This means that she can keep flexible hours, instead of working three fixed days per week, and only come into the office when she needs to handle hardcopy letters, invoices, receipts, bank statements, etc. Paul also now relies primarily on email to confirm orders and send quotations, invoices, receipts, and proposals. This saves time and effort, as well as costs associated with mailing and courier services. Overall, administrative processes have been simplified and sped up and efficiency has increased.

3. To enhance Paul’s ability to handle administrative work and monitor current business status, despite his heavy out-of-office schedule, remote access to company data and tools was required.

Microsoft Office 365 is a cloud computing solution that allows Paul to use his various mobile devices, such as his phone and tablet PC, to manage quotations, orders, and invoices any time any where, and get immediate access to the latest financial and operational status reports. He can also keep in touch with clients and Michael’s team through email and video conferencing, which helps to minimize miscommunication and misunderstanding.

4. To improve productivity, better communication and collaboration between the various part-time developers and between the company and its clients was a must.

For tasks that require the team to share images and graphics, Michael can now find and connect with his developers and clients whenever he needs to. The team can use video conferencing and conduct presentations using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint® files via Microsoft Lync Online, and share documents with each other and with clients through Microsoft SharePoint Online. With these new capabilities, the company has improved the efficiency of client communications, enhanced team collaboration to minimize design mistakes, and improved design workflow, all with optimal security.

5. To ensure client confidentiality, and protect proprietary designs during development, a very high level of security is demanded.

When undertaking software development, the company is often party to the confidential marketing plans of its clients. Microsoft Office 365 offers powerful security features to deliver the high level of security that such clients demand, saving the company the expense of additional security solutions and bringing peace of mind to Paul and Michael. In addition, Microsoft Office 365 is designed to deliver reliability, availability, and performance with a guaranteed 99.9% uptime. In the telecoms field, where fast time-to-market is important to the success of new software, this reliability is a must.

Having professional expertise and innovative ideas does not shield a company from administrative and capital management issues. But those able to make the best use of current business software and services can now gain access to highly effective, low-cost business solutions, suitable for almost every industry. This is a huge advantage to local SMBs and micro-enterprises, allowing them to make the most of their talented human resources, improve their operating model, and increase efficiency and productivity. A good business software partner will give you access to sufficient technical support and assistance, provide professional advice to assist you in resolving business and technical issues, and share success stories to help your business deliver its best performance.

Microsoft Office 365 is now available in Hong Kong. For information on how you can trial Office 365 to experience what it can do for your business, you are invited to contact Microsoft or your authorized Microsoft dealer. Product website: http://www.microsoft.com/hk/online Enquiry Hotline: 2388 9600

Information provided by:

Microsoft Hong Kong Limited

For further information on SMB Solutions, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/hk/futureofproductivity/english