A Cement Manufacturer Migrates Communications to Office 365 and Azure Web Apps
Vietnamese cement industry remains over last ten years a highly competitive market with domestic oversupply and significant export. Vietnam’s cement manufacturers are not only government controlled established enterprises but also joint-stock companies that came online in the 1990s due to the gradual transition from central planning to a socialist-based market economy, one of them – Chinfon Cement.
Business Situation
Chinfon Cement Corporation has an effective distribution network both internationally and domestic. It has two production lines in the North of the country, one cement grinding plant in the South, and its products are considered reputable.
A fast-expanding company, Chinfon Cement realised that it had outgrown its current messaging solution. Although Exchange 2007 had served them well in the past, the increase in business demands called for a more robust solution which retained reliability with better availability and improved storage capabilities.
Chinfon essentially needed a system with flexibility, better access and the ability to improve employee productivity at reasonable costs. The company also needed to look more keenly into its digital presence.
Solution
In order to gain maximum benefit towards future operations, Chinfon felt that it needed the help of a partner that not only had global experience, but could support it effectively on the ground in-country. Due to extensive experience as well as being able to meet Chinfon’s requirements, Noventiq was assessed to be the best partner candidate. Further, Noventiq had already supported ten other Vietnamese customers to date, proving its expertise locally.
Noventiq determined that a dedicated messaging solution integrated with Cloud Services would be most effective to, respectively, scale and ramp up the communications platform and web presence for Chinfon. As a key Microsoft Partner, Noventiq tapped onto the resources of Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Azure Web Apps, to boost Chinfon’s operations, make processes more effective while keeping overall costs down.
With Microsoft Office 365, Noventiq was able to replace the legacy Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003 originally in place. With the revamp, higher-level services were made available, including Cloud access and inter-office collaboration features.
Benefits
“We felt comfortable moving our messaging solution to the cloud with Office 365, as we knew that Microsoft and its strategic partner, Noventiq, could assure us of stable services with all the latest capabilities,” said (Alex Hsu, designation).
The benefits also included instant messaging services, limitless online storage, and the Office productivity suite that Microsoft is renowned for. An added-value bonus of having these capabilities consistently active and not having to manage them directly was also included.
Microsoft Azure Web Apps was utilized to power Chinfon’s online capabilities that allow it to rapidly build, deploy, and manage powerful websites and related apps. Cutting-edge security features, progressive personalisation, and enriched multimedia functions were made immediately available and could be used as and when necessary. Proper security controls were also put in place.
Through Microsoft’s advanced Cloud services, Noventiq was also able to raise Chinfon’s web and mobile capabilities, incorporating a customised branded design.
Since Noventiq recommended Microsoft apps via its SAM services, Chinfon Cement Corporation is now no longer bogged down with legacy equipment and can dedicate more time to advancing its business.
Microsoft’s Azure Web App platform ensures the scalability, security, and reliability of Chinfon’s digital presence while at the same time allowing the company to enjoy the benefits of the Platform as a Service (PaaS) business model. Through the deployment of Office 365, Chinfon could easily guarantee high email availability while at the same time avoiding the additional cost of software and storage on-premises.
These effective solutions deployed by Noventiq helped Chinfon control its operational as well as capital expenditure while at the same time allowing the latter to concentrate on its core business competencies. Thanks to the updated system, Chinfon could realise a 10% - 15% YoY growth in sales.