Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
Advertising Agency Improves Business Processes and Collaboration with Microsoft Office 2003
Overview
Country or Region: Poland
Industry: Professional Services
Customer Profile
TOTEM Advertising Agency is based in Lodz, Poland. It is a quickly growing agency that produces comprehensive advertising campaigns and promotional activities, as well as fairs, concerts, and cultural events through the country.
Business Situation
TOTEM has been using open source office software; however, the agency required software that was compatible with what its clients used and that would help improve business processes and collaboration.
Solution
TOTEM implemented Microsoft® Office 2003, which provided a range of software to address the agency’s various business needs.
Benefits
n Improved collaboration among employees
n Better communication, internally and with clients
n Centralized database and improved data analysis
n Increased efficiency and improved business process
n Document compatibility
“Working with Microsoft Office 2003 facilitates more effective teamwork by making document versions uniform. Compatibility of those documents with graphics applications makes our work much easier.”
Konrad Chwist, Production Manager, TOTEM
The TOTEM Advertising Agency in Poland committed itself to a comprehensive implementation of Microsoft® software to create a modern and flexible IT system that meets the company’s needs. TOTEM replaced the open source software it had been using with Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003. By introducing this new solution, the company gave its employees advanced tools for document and data management, bringing order to extensive business processes and providing sophisticated e-mail support. As a result, TOTEM employees are experiencing greater efficiency and benefiting from heightened collaboration.
Situation
The TOTEM Advertising Agency was established in 1995 with headquarters in Lodz, Poland. The agency operates mainly in its local market, but it also collaborates with
“Most of the people we work with use Office, usually the most current versions. Now, the data we send them look exactly as intended on their computers.”
companies nationwide. TOTEM is a full-service agency, and it conducts advertising campaigns and public relations (PR) activities from the project development stage to presentation in print and on radio and television. The agency prepares and performs market research and organizes fairs, concerts, and promotional and cultural events throughout Poland. Currently TOTEM has more than 1,000 projects to its credit and a group of loyal and satisfied clients. The company employs seven people onsite and hires many outside contributors and subcontractors on a project basis.
TOTEM uses computers in all phases of its operations. Employees have their own workstations, which were equipped with OpenOffice open source software in addition to graphics applications necessary for design and desktop publishing services. Since the agency serves clients throughout Poland, most of its publications and projects were sent to clients via e-mail and then, upon approval, to the printer (in the case of print advertising, catalogues, folders, and other publications). The quality and functionality of office software is critical for employee effectiveness. “We perform all operations on company computers. When an application doesn’t allow us to do something or slows us down, the agency cannot do that something or we work slowly,” explains Konrad Chwist, Production Manager at TOTEM.
The agency realized that the open source software it was using did not serve its operations well. More and more often, unexpected errors appeared in OpenOffice applications, making work even more difficult. “When an application crashed, work already done was lost and employees had to start over from scratch. They were not happy campers,” says Chwist.
Another serious problem was the lack of full compatibility of OpenOffice documents with applications used by the agency’s clients. “Incompatibility of our documents with clients’ software was causing increasing delays in project implementation,” says Pauline Watler, Designer at TOTEM.
Frequently, finished projects and final reports had to be updated by converting them to compatible formats. This was especially true for spreadsheets with advanced formulas and for complex documents. “Correcting such data was quite troublesome,” says Sylwester Skrobek, President of TOTEM. “Because of incompatible software, our work almost ground to a standstill. Faulty graphics and chart conversions were causing trouble when preparing even the most simple publications.”
Adding to the difficulties was a lack of technical support for OpenOffice, which was quite frustrating to employees who were deadline-driven and could not accept any equipment downtime. “Quite often several people were working on one project. Sharing information was necessary,” Chwist recalls.
After several missed project deadlines, TOTEM decided to abandon OpenOffice. “It became necessary to implement appropriate, integrated software that allows for sufficient information exchange within the company and offers effective tools for data traffic and processing. The lack of proper software solutions has caused us losses,” says Chwist.
After reviewing the functionalities available in a range of software products, TOTEM decided to implement Microsoft® Office Standard Edition 2003 for all of its on-site workstations.
Of utmost importance to TOTEM is that Office 2003 programs allow employees to create documents that are rich in content and information and can be read by customers without any problem. “Most of the people we work with use Office, usually the most current versions. Now, the data we send them look exactly as intended on their computers,” says Chwist.
The powerful formulas in Office Excel® 2003 help TOTEM employee
"The implementation of Microsoft Office decreased by half the number of delays in contract performance and the employees are able to work much more effectively.”
Sylwester Skrobek, President, TOTEM
s conduct the highly complex mathematical operations necessary for budgeting large advertising campaigns. Excel 2003 also helps employees create clear reports for TOTEM and its clients. “Office PowerPoint® presentations also look better and may contain more information than presentations prepared in other, similar programs,” says Skrobek.
Using the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client, employees can take advantage of mail merge and advanced e-mail sorting mechanisms, and they can better support client inquiries and e-mail. Outlook also provides anti-spam filters that help safeguard employee mailboxes.
Office 2003 software also allows employees to directly access information on current tasks that are related to meetings and deadlines. Data regarding clients and projects is accessible to all employees. Even though each employee has a strictly defined job description, each one may work on any part of a selected project.
Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 enables TOTEM to create Web sites for each project, and these sites are readily accessible to several users at the same time, which improves information exchange. The SharePoint sites allow users to make changes and create new versions of documents; changes and versions can be tracked transparently. In addition, SharePoint sites offer visibility into what each employee is working on and his or her availability. “This makes it easy to set up a meeting with clients, conference participants, and printing companies at a mutually convenient time,” says Chwist.
Other features that Microsoft Office 2003 programs offer TOTEM employees include:
n Project management made easy by the use of work areas.
n Dynamic data exchange among Office 2003 applications with the option of automatic updates.
n Ability to work online or offline.
n Enhanced document safety: Office 2003 applications allow documents to be distributed as read-only.
n Built-in tools for extensive data analysis.
n Global, professional standards for file and data exchange.
By implementing Microsoft Office 2003, TOTEM succeeded in making business processes more efficient and improving collaboration among employees and with clients. TOTEM is benefiting from the integration of Office 2003 programs, which help the agency safeguard e-mail and documents, analyze data, work with documents created in software that is compatible with that of its clients, and effectively prepare documents for printing and presentations.
Easy access to documents makes teamwork more effective and allows different group members to update projects multiple times. “Working with Microsoft Office 2003 facilitates more effective teamwork by making document versions uniform. Compatibility of those documents with graphics applications makes our work much easier,” says Chwist.
The agency makes use of Microsoft software features to design advertising campaigns and prepare materials for its clients faster and more effectively. A new, centralized database of customer contacts and other data significantly improves project management. “The implementation of Microsoft Office decreased by half the number of delays in contract performance and the employees are able to work much more effectively," says Skrobek.
Software and Services
n Products
− Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
− Microsoft Windows® XP Professional
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published November 2006
For More Information
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For more information about TOTEM products and services, call +48426304616 or visit the Web site at: www.totem.pl
The Microsoft Office System is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.
For more information about the Microsoft Office System, go to:
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