Bytes lead Eurostar to success with Office 365

Overview

Eurostar faced a significant task in transitioning their estate to a cloud-based data centre. They desired control with additional support when required, and the ability to keep hold of their existing third party products. Bytes worked with Microsoft and Comms-care, bringing a wealth of technical and product knowledge to their Office 365 project, generating substantial ROI for Eurostar.

Challenge

Eurostar wished to retain their third party products products, and for their selected partner to have the technical ability to successfully incorporate these products into the final solution, whilst delivering in line with Microsoft best practice. Due to the criticality of the data centre move, it was crucial that the chosen partner was able to be flexible and work with the least intervention possible, as management resources were stretched. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris and Belgium, Eurostar acknowledged that demand for their services could be affected, and wished to eliminate any unnecessary expenditure.

Working with Bytes has proved to be a great partnership for Eurostar, assisting us to design, configure and migrate into the Office 365 eco-system.

Norman Bailey-Powers, Lead Solutions Architect

The Bytes Solution

Following discussions about future aims, Bytes introduced Eurostar to several partners based on their requirements, of which Comms-care was Eurostar’s preferred bidder. Led by the Productivity and Mobility Practice Lead, a proposal was created to adopt Office 365 for 1500 users; this included the transition of Exchange on-premises to Exchange Online, and Skype for Business on-premises to Skype for Business Online. Integration with Eurostar’s’ chosen third party, Cloud Identity Service, was provided, and a seamless logon experience for all users was achieved. Office 365 Pro Plus was also rolled out across the estate. Due to the close relationships between Bytes, Comms-care and Microsoft, the investment by Eurostar was marginal, with the majority of the funding being met by Microsoft Software Assurance Planning Service Days and Adoption Funding.

Benefits

Eurostar has realised its vision of Cloud First by moving all core Skype for Business and Exchange on-premises infrastructure to its chosen cloud platform. This has resulted in reduced running costs, and the improved ways of working has increased staff morale and resulted in higher productivity rates. The guidance from Bytes, Microsoft and Comms-care allowed Eurostar to realise significant return on investment at the pace desired from the start. They were given a super-fast solution with limited outlay, high levels of support and funding negotiated from Microsoft.

Connect