1. Microsoft Office System
Communications-Enabled Business Process Case Study
Accounting Firm Cuts Costs, Increases
Revenues with Unified Communications
Overview “We expect that in the first year of using the Microsoft
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Financial services—Accounting Unified Communications solution, the increased
services
revenues will cover the cost of the technology.”
Customer Profile IT Manager, Accounting Firm
An accounting firm in Minneapolis
provides a range of tax and business
consulting services to more than a Controlling internal costs and keeping an accurate record of
thousand companies in the city’s
metropolitan area.
billable hours are two of the most important pillars of success in
running a professional services business. In Minneapolis, an
Business Challenge
The firm needed to replace an aging
accounting firm was struggling with one major component of its
Private Branch Exchange (PBX) telephone operations—its phone system. It chose to replace the system
system, and it wanted to find a solution
to help capture more billable hours.
with a Microsoft Unified Communications solution using
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft
CEBP Solution
The firm deployed Microsoft Office
Office Communicator 2007 R2, and Microsoft Exchange Server
Communications Server 2007 R2, 2007. The firm also deployed Convergent TimeSweeper, an
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2,
and the TimeSweeper application from
application that helps to capture phone calls, meetings, and
Convergent, an IT solution provider. other billable activities. The solution has helped the firm save
ROI
U.S.$30,000 compared with the cost of a more traditional phone
• Saves U.S.$30,000 over traditional PBX system. Conferencing capabilities are included with the
phone system
• Captures more billable time, leading to
technology, and the firm is also capturing more billable time—
one-year return on investment enough to pay for the new solution in about a year.
• Achieves greater employee efficiency

2. Business Challenge CEBP Solution
The firm’s success is based on helping clients control costs and The company deployed Microsoft Office Communications Server
improve revenues. The company recognized that it could improve 2007 R2 and TimeSweeper, an application that integrates with
its own business by enhancing internal operations. Among its Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to efficiently capture all
biggest challenges were controlling costs during the upgrade of an billable, customer-related activities such as phone calls and emails.
aging telephone system and finding ways to capture more billable The solution also helped the firm migrate to a voice over IP (VoIP)
hours. telephone system, which eliminated costs associated with moving
to a more traditional Public Branch Exchange (PBX) network.
ROI
• Firm saves about U.S.$30,000 using the VoIP system compared with a more traditional PBX telephone solution.
• Employees are able to find and capture additional billable time that used to be lost due to inefficient processes. Management
estimates that employees are averaging between 30 and 60 minutes of extra billable time captured each week, which is producing
greater revenue.
• Employees can be more productive during routine tasks, such as finding client contact information.
Business Challenge new Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system
A Minneapolis accounting firm has built a was installing a voice over IP (VoIP) solution
“A new PBX system strong reputation in the metropolitan
region by providing customers with
that could unify the firm’s communications.
would be quite services that include tax preparation and “Whatever we purchased, we knew we
planning, audits, and management would have it for many years,” says the IT
expensive without consulting. The firm has been in business manager. “A new PBX system would be
offering much flexibility, for decades and works with companies in
virtually every industry and of all sizes, from
quite expensive without offering much
flexibility, while a unified communications
while a unified small family businesses to large solution could help us integrate functions
corporations. like voice mail, email, and phone calls from
communications solution our PCs.”
could help us integrate Part of the company’s success results from
its own diligence in carefully managing While evaluating the possibilities for a new
functions like voice mail, internal operating costs and continually phone system, the firm also looked for
looking for ways to improve revenue, some type of solution that could help
email, and phone calls including the efficient capture of employees track their billable hours more
from our PCs.” employees’ billable time. In late 2008, the
firm started evaluating its options for
effectively. “During the course of the day,
it’s easy, for example, to take phone calls
IT Manager, Minneapolis Accounting Firm replacing an aging phone system—and, in from clients but forget to document them,”
the process, realized that it had an the IT manager says. “Even only a few
opportunity to capture more billable time. minutes a day adds up over the course of a
year to lost revenue.”
“Our phone system dated back to 1992,
and it was beginning to fail,” says the firm’s CEBP Solution
IT manager. “After experiencing two Following discussions with Convergent, a
outages, we became concerned about Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, the
continuing with the system, especially accounting firm decided to deploy a
because we could no longer purchase communications-enabled business process
replacement parts.” solution using Microsoft Office
Communications Server 2007 R2 and the
The company began evaluating its options. Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2
One alternative to simply updating to a client software. The IT manager says the

3. solution was a natural fit for the firm—it Microsoft products. To make and receive
already uses Microsoft products, including phone calls, the firm’s employees use
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft several different IP telephony hardware
Office Live Meeting, the Microsoft Office products. These include the Polycom
2003 Editions, and the Windows XP client CX700, a full-featured desktop phone that
“We estimate that we operating system. plugs directly into the firm’s network; the
achieved an immediate “Products from Cisco System were one
Polycom CX200, a smaller desktop phone
with more-limited features; and the
savings of about $30,000 obvious choice, but they had a significant Plantronics Savi Go, a USB headset that
drawback for the firm. They are really plugs into users’ PCs. All voice mail goes
by installing the expensive,” says the IT manager. The firm into Exchange Server 2007. Users receive
Microsoft Unified plans to upgrade to Microsoft Office
Professional 2010 and the Windows 7
notifications of voice-mail messages in the
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 messaging
Communications operating system by the end of 2010. and collaboration client, and they can listen
to their messages by simply clicking the
solution instead of The choice was also driven by message icon.
purchasing a PBX TimeSweeper, a solution from Convergent
that integrates with the Microsoft Unified ROI
system.” Communications products to efficiently By choosing to implement a Microsoft
capture many different types of Unified Communications solution that
IT Manager, Minneapolis Accounting Firm
communications that can be converted into includes the TimeSweeper application from
billable time. TimeSweeper gives the Convergent, the accounting firm was able
accounting firm’s employees a simple, to achieve significant cost savings and
calendar-based view of how much time is increase its revenue. The firm saved money
spent in activities such as phone calls, in both immediate and long-term expenses
conference calls and web-based by deploying an IP-based communications
conferencing, instant messages, and email solution instead of a traditional PBX system.
and voice-mail reviews. With TimeSweeper, It also is capturing more billable time
users can select single or multiple days and because of the TimeSweeper application. In
apply filters to sort through different types addition, employees can work more
of communications. After the employee efficiently because of the tight integration
selects an entry, TimeSweeper uses of the communications tools.
Exchange Web Services to extract
information about the date, duration, and Saves U.S.$30,000 over PBX System
activity type. This data is then sent The deployment of the Microsoft Unified
automatically to the firm’s client billing Communications solution led to immediate
system. cost savings for the firm, as well as long-
term savings.
The firm also installed ESTOS PhoneTools
for Communicator, which employees can “We estimate that we achieved an
use to highlight any phone number within a immediate savings of about $30,000 by
Windows application—including their installing the Microsoft Unified
Microsoft Office software or web browser. Communications solution instead of
They can then press a hot key on their purchasing a PBX system,” says the IT
keyboard to dial the number. manager. “Additionally, there is a
substantial savings associated with the
The firm began implementing the solution Microsoft conferencing capabilities,
in July 2009 and completed the including the easy telephone-based
deployment in September 2009. It conferencing and Microsoft Office Live
completely replaced its PBX system, so all Meeting. A Cisco solution would have
communications are now handled with the required a WebEx contract for our

4. conferencing needs, with an annual fee of
about $20,000. Microsoft includes this
functionality as part of its solution, which
means we can eliminate an expensive and
ongoing annual cost.”
“With the TimeSweeper
software and its Captures More Billable Time, Leading to
an Expected One-Year ROI
integration with the With the innovative TimeSweeper
application integrated into its Microsoft
Microsoft technology, I Unified Communications solution, the
am seeing between 30 accounting firm is able to capture more of
its billable time. This, in turn, is helping to
and 60 minutes of achieve a quick return on investment in the
new technology.
additional billable time
captured each week.... “With the TimeSweeper software and its
integration with the Microsoft technology, I
[When] you multiply that am seeing between 30 and 60 minutes of
additional billable time captured each
by every employee over week,” says the IT manager. “That doesn’t
52 weeks, the increased sound like a lot at first, but when you
multiply it by every employee over 52
revenue is substantial.” weeks, the increased revenue is substantial.
We expect that in the first year of using the
IT Manager, Minneapolis Accounting Firm
Microsoft Unified Communications
solution, the increased revenues will cover
the cost of the technology.”
Achieves Greater Employee Efficiency
Deploying the Unified Communications
solution has delivered a benefit that was
not obvious when the firm was evaluating
its options: greater overall efficiency. “It is
simply easier to do common tasks all day
long,” says the IT manager. “In the past, the
process of looking up a phone number and
then going to the phone to dial would
typically take about 30 seconds, and if
you’re interrupted by someone, you start all
over again. With the Microsoft Unified
Communications solution, I can simply
right-click a number and dial it. It’s almost
instantaneous. Throughout the day, that
time savings of 30 seconds or more per call
really adds up. The Microsoft technology
makes our employee communications
faster and more efficient—and it is more
cost-effective to deploy and maintain over
the long run.”

5. For More Information Microsoft CEBP
For more information about Microsoft Communications-enabled business
products and services, call the Microsoft processes (CEBP) based on the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- Unified Communications platform offer
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft businesses three ways to increase
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- productivity:
2495. Customers in the United States and • Contextual collaboration. Helps users
Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing communicate efficiently by providing
can reach Microsoft text telephone context about their communications.
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. • Business Process Communications.
Outside the 50 United States and Reduces human delay in businesses
Canada, please contact your local processes, so people can contact
Microsoft subsidiary. To access decision makers when they’re needed.
information using the World Wide Web, • Anywhere-access capabilities. Users can
go to: interact with computers via natural
www.microsoft.com speech, using the telephone or IM in a
fully automated way.
For more information about Convergent
Solutions products and services, call (952) For more information about the Microsoft
303-7100 or visit the website at: Office system, go to:
www.convergent-solutions.com www.microsoft.com/communicationsserver
Software and Services • Convergent TimeSweeper
• Microsoft Office • ESTOS PhoneTools
− Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007 R2 Hardware
− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 − Polycom CX200 and CX700 desktop
R2 phones
− Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 − Plantronics Savi Go headset
• Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
− Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Partners
Standard Edition • Convergent
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published June 2010