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Clothing Firm Cuts Costs by Switching from Google Apps to Office 365

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Today we hear from BabyBloem, on why Microsoft was the best decision for their business in their move off Google Apps to Microsoft’s cloud solutions!

“It’s so easy to communicate now. I can turn my computer on and see when China’s online. With just one click, I can ask them a question. Office 365 makes the world more accessible.”

-- Hermi Valk, Owner, BabyBloem

BabyBloem
Launched in 2007, Netherlands-based BabyBloem designs baby clothes made from environmentally responsible fabric, with zipper closures that make it quick and easy to dress and undress active, growing infants. The 3-person company manufactures its designs in China and resells them to small retailers in the Netherlands, also sells clothing directly to customers online.

IT Challenges
Collaboration is the heart of this company. BabyBloem's three employees are extremely mobile workers, working sporadic hours from varied locations, from home and on the road. Employees exchanged documents through email, and shipped samples to test quality and make adjustments. With BabyBloem Owner, Hermi Valk, travelling to China four times a year, the company spent €300 monthly on long-distance telephone calls.

Employees worked in Google Apps, and found it difficult to use, especially when searching for content, performing mail merges, or reusing existing text and Microsoft Excel tables to create new proposals. When employees converted Microsoft Word documents into Google Apps, they often lost formatting and content.

BabyBloem wanted a collaboration solution to help cut telephone and travel time, and expenses. The company also wanted to improve its data security, along with access to (and storage of) documents.

IT Solution and Benefits
In May 2011, BabyBloem switched from Google Apps to Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. IT partner, Wortell, built the company a new website and extranet using design tools in Office 365 (which are not available in Google Apps), powered by Microsoft SharePoint Online. Wortell connected the website to BabyBloem's existing, e-commerce platform. Office 365 also gave BabyBloem employees the familiar experience of the productivity applications they were already comfortable with. Now, with Office 365, employees can reuse text and tables, documents and images render correctly, and mail merges go smoothly.

For collaboration, BabyBloem employees and partners use a standard Internet connection to access SharePoint Online through a password-protected portal, where they can use collaboration features to search, store, and edit documents in a shared environment. This enables them to work together and make fast decisions without being encumbered by the delays of postal mail, email, and telephone.

What a Difference!
With Office 365, BabyBloem staff members were able to overcome their search frustration with Google Apps, now searching across files and email messages to locate content quickly. And because there was no longer any need to convert Microsoft Word files to a different system, the content retained all of its original formatting. Valk says, "Now we can find data right away—in email, documents, and spreadsheets. We can access information from an iPad or iPhone; our productivity follows us wherever or however we want to work."

The audio/video calling powered by Microsoft Lync Online gives BabyBloem employees more flexibility to interact with partners and each other without the added expense of long-distance phone bills and international travel. Lync Online enables them to see instantly if users in China are online, chat via IM, make computer-to-computer calls, and switch to voice or video conferencing with just a few clicks. Valk appreciates being able to move from an IM conversation to a video conference or online meeting: “I can take a look at a garment in China and quickly see if the work has been done correctly, without waiting for them to ship me a sample. It makes our approval process easier.”

Cutting Costs
BabyBloem expects to cut collaboration expenses in half and improve productivity. In addition, BabyBloem estimates that the solution will cut travel, shipping, and long-distance telephone expenses by 50 percent. Valk adds, "It's so easy to communicate now. I can turn my computer on and see when China's online. With just one click, I can ask them a question. Office 365 makes the world more accessible."

Read the full case study.

As an Office 365 user, do you find the world to be more accessible? What feature do you appreciate most?

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Ian Ray: There are lots of resources to help you customize an Intranet or Extranet site.  You may want to check out http://bit.ly/nNZOJf to get started. Office 365 provides tools which enable small businesses to build simple, public-facing websites. A user can control how a page layout is built or how a new link is opened. I am sure you already know that. If you are focusing on a pop-up window, you are missing the points of this case study.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Kelli: Great to hear that you are joining a long list of customers that switched from Google Apps to Office 365. Please let me know how to reach you to assist. If it is more convenient for you, please reach out to me directly at ttai@microsoft.com.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    @Mike, BabyBloem appreciates the ability to see if partners in China are online. Office 365 enhances their productivity, bringing the experience of the applications they were already familiar with, along with features such as moving from IM conversations to video conferencing or to an online meeting.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    thank you

  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2011
    "I can turn my computer on and see when China’s online." Just like before with Google Apps, right? Green = online. Grey = offline.

  • Anonymous
    August 09, 2011
    I've been using Google Apps for intranet Web sites and open source CMS tools for extranet sites. I tried using Office 365 beta for this purpose and it was much slower going, for me at least. BabyBloem.nl was made with Office 365 tools? There are tables for layout. The site brings up pop-up windows when you add to cart. Is this 1999? If I were in charge of Microsoft's negative advertisement blog department, I wouldn't be pushing the ability to make Netscape-era Web sites.

  • Anonymous
    December 05, 2011
    Looking into converting from Google Apps to Office 365.  Have already paid for Google Apps, so Would like to convert, but still allow users read-only access to Google Apps (email, documents, etc.) - anyone know if this is possible? Also wondering if there's a way to prevent users from sending email from Google Apps account after we convert. Thank you in advance for you help.

  • Anonymous
    April 30, 2013
    Another perspective: www.linkgard.com/.../google-apps-vs-office-365.html

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