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SysAid’s rapid expansion of activities, together with the outdated exchange servers and two painful server shutdowns for two days, led the company to search for an alternative exchange solution.
“Our growth was increasing by almost 50% each year – 5 years ago we only had 25 employees. Our email exchange is not our core system, as we correspond with our clients through the CRM system, but email constitutes an important component of work with our suppliers and other external entities. We needed to increase the scope of our email exchange activities”, said Oded Moshe, SysAid’s Product Manager.
SysAid began checking the investment required to upgrade the servers, and identified additional costs deriving from such upgrading. One of these additional costs was due to the incompatibility of the existing backup system, and the necessity of replacing it in the case of upgrading the exchange servers to new ones.
SysAid contacted the Google’s sales center and received a firm recommendation for DoiT International to implement the solution. DoIT provided full accompaniment in planning the transfer, while identifying the organization’s needs and the requirement for a smooth transfer. “This is a project posed many problems. With the accompaniment of DoiT International we made a wise decision, to be flexible and not insist on everything being transferred at the same time. We executed the transfer in several phases, which was a main factor in the project’s success”, said Oded Moshe. “The project proceeded quickly. We had excellent support. Google can be sure that they recommended a great company. DoiT International has the necessary background to execute projects with Google Apps”, he added, “In spite of the do-it-yourself trend, if you want things to be done professionally, it is better to work with an expert”. After the technical transfer of the systems, a pilot was conducted under the supervision of DoIT, and training was provided for the employees.
An interesting fact is that part of the implementation process was based on user discussion groups. SysAid opened forums on Yammer to share knowledge regarding the use of the system. Many questions don’t even reach the IT support, as they have already been answered by other users, indicated Moshe.
Today, SysAid employees have full working knowledge of the email exchange applications, from the size of the mailbox to the self-added widgets available. Many employees enjoy the ability to easily connect portable devices and access the system from any location at any time. A small portion of employees chose to stay with the Outlook interface they were used to, while also enjoying the advantages of working with Google.
The system managers also found significant advantages in the Google G Suite system, especially the easy use of the management interface. Oded Moshe brings up the example of defining groups and privileges, which he uses himself easily and quickly.
Providing support for the company’s offices in Australia and Brazil has also become easier. With the previous system the Australian branch tried to use the online Exchange system, but it was inconvenient for the employees. “We connected the Outlook by VPN with the servers but it kept failing, especially when on the other side the users were not IT users. Today with Google G Suite, we have succeeded in decreasing the failures to zero. We receive more questions on ‘how to’ than system failures”
