Small businesses embrace Microsoft cloud technologies for increased agility and efficiency

Below, see how cloud technologies such as Office 365, Windows Azure and Windows Intune help small- and medium-sized businesses around the world achieve their goals.

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Paradyne

Country: Australia

Business Segment: Technology Solution Provider

Microsoft partner Paradyne is also a born in the cloud SMB itself – the company made the decision to base its entire IT infrastructure in the cloud in order to lead by example for its SMB customers. As one of the top Office 365 partners in Australia, Paradyne strives to help customers do more with their technology by giving them the best of breed cloud solutions. Leveraging Microsoft cloud solutions has not only afforded Paradyne employees the time to focus on running the business instead of worrying about IT management, but it has also leveled the competitive playing field for the company, giving this SMB capabilities once available only to the largest of enterprises. Through its own experience with the cloud, Paradyne shows its customers how the cloud offers the flexibility and agility that helps businesses be more productive, save money and achieve an improved working experience overall. (Pictured: Loryan Strant, Director & Co-founder.)

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Green Fuels

Country: United Kingdom

Business Segment: Manufacturing & Resources

Microsoft Partner: Expressware

While Green Fuels, a biodiesel equipment manufacturing company, was not born in the cloud, switching to Office 365 has helped the 12-person company meet the demands of rapid growth across offices in the U.K., the U.S. and China. Prior to moving to the cloud, Green Fuels’ on-premises servers linked through a virtual private network and consumer conferencing technology lacked reliability and availability – especially for a company with an increasing need to collaborate across borders and time zones. Since working with partner Expressware to transition to Office 365 and Windows Intune, Green Fuels now has a modern, professional IT infrastructure to power its business growth. In the words of Green Fuels CEO James Hygate, “Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics CRM and Windows Intune have made us more professional, efficient and productive. Office 365 allows us to collaborate and work effectively in real time when we are working in different locations all over the world and we can also better serve our partners and customers.”

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Sitewards

Country: Germany

Business Segment: eCommerce

For German eCommerce agency Sitewards, improving the effectiveness of its business processes is a companywide mission. Following feedback from employees, Sitewards set out to reduce IT management and administration efforts to ensure those at the company could focus on the topics they love and achieving their business goals. Its first step was to move most of its IT services to the cloud and implement Office 365. Since the transition, overall agency productivity has increased while time-consuming IT management efforts and costs have been minimized. According to CEO Lars Ax (second from left), the choice to go with Microsoft was a relatively easy one. “Lots of basic functionalities are not or not yet supported by other providers,” said Ax. “We didn’t want to match our business processes to what the software supports – we want the software to be able to support our business processes.”

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MNE Creations

Country: China

Business Segment: Mobile Gaming

After experiencing a series of hardware failures, Chinese mobile gaming startup MNE Creations quickly realized the need for a cloud-based platform to protect against recurring data loss. Prior to deploying Windows Azure, MNE Creations worked with a few other cloud providers but found the utmost value and utility with Azure. “So far, we found that Microsoft services best meet our needs, especially given that we're based in China and other similar solutions can’t be accessed reliably,” said CEO Sarah Yang. Windows Azure has not only given the startup overall peace of mind, but it has also provided increased mobility and convenience for those working remotely, as well as supplementary storage space without taking up room in the company’s office.

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Companhia Athletica

Country: Brazil

Business Segment: Fitness Provider

Microsoft Partner: Go2neXt

Brazilian fitness center Companhia Athletica decided to utilize Office 365 in order to provide employees with solutions suited to meet its various IT needs at a low cost. With a network of 17 locations and nearly 1,600 employees, Companhia Athletica needed a platform that allowed for employees to sync emails, contacts and calendars, as well as receive immediate access to company documents, regardless of location or time of day. "For us it was important to have a range of options,” says Gary Schulze, director of Companhia Athletica. “One of the great benefits of Office 365 over competitors is the flexibility to tailor the type of package that will suit the user.”

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Tayman Lane Chaverri LLP

Country: United States

Business Segment: Professional Services

Microsoft Partner: New Signature

Born in the cloud, boutique law firm Tayman Lane Chaverri LLP (TLC) was founded on the desire to provide its clients a flexible and mutually beneficial partnership not offered by larger law firms. In order to free itself from technology restrictions common at larger firms, TLC needed technology that matched its nimbleness, could scale up quickly and be agile and responsive. Given these requirements, TLC’s decision to build its technology infrastructure in the cloud from the very beginning was a no brainer. With the help of Microsoft partner New Signature, TLC implemented a completely cloud-based infrastructure using Microsoft Office 365. As a result, the company is more agile and flexible and can engage with clients and projects in real time in a highly secured environment.

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