Tuesday, 1 September 2009

MANAGING 5,000 CONFERENCE ROOMS WORLDWIDE: Add-On Products of Denmark has just closed its largest Resource Central deal. The world's largest microchip manufacturer has purchased Resource Central, the MS Outlook add-on for managing meeting rooms and associated resources for use by its 250,000 employees.

For 10 years, Add-On Products has supplied the market with add-ons for Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, designed to increase productivity across organizations. Their customer base includes more than 400,000 clients worldwide, ranging from offices with a few PC workstations to organizations such as Ford Motor Company, Hewlett Packard, Shell, Home Depot, the US Army and the US Department of Education.

"Our products are designed to facilitate and streamline planning, cooperation and resource management in any organization. The applications can simplify room reservations, enhance calendar overview, manage e-mail signatures and journalize e-mail, says Peer Astrup, CEO of Add-On Products."

An investment in increased efficiency
The customer is the market leading microchip manufacturer with more than 250,000 employees worldwide. Acquiring the product Resource Central, an add-on module for Microsoft Outlook primarily used for booking meeting rooms and related equipment and services, the organization expects to make a series of routines more efficient.

"With Resource Central, a meeting can be planned in a maximum two minutes, including the booking of participants, room, catering and technical equipment, says Peer Astrup". He tells that, when searching for products, the microchip manufacturing customer placed particular emphasis on search capabilities, speed, handling of recurring appointments and reporting features that allow for better use of meeting rooms, projectors, etc. "Especially in cities with high real estate costs, organizations focus on space management. By maximizing the use of collective rooms, hot desks and other resources, you can save a fortune. The same applies when you avoid complicated booking procedures and are able to easily find an available room".

Brief decision and implementation processes
The microchip manufacturer, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, is among the world's largest corporations and delivers the central processors for most PCs. According to Peer Astrup, the client has previously applied a non-scalable system not suited for such a large organization. "To avoid covering the costs of developing a successor themselves, it was decided to scan the market for potential external suppliers. Hence, the corporation initiated a dialogue with us earlier this year".
From there, things have happened surprisingly fast. Add-On Products has just received the final acceptance of the order. "The openness and the pace have been impressive for such a large organization, even though extensive compatibility and stability tests have been made in relation to the customer's infrastructure and vital systems. In this context, it has been an advantage that our product is certified for use with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, says the CEO".