Microsoft Office System

Customer Solution Case Study

Multimedia Publisher Chooses Proven

Software Suite Over Hosted Productivity Tools

Overview Country or Region: United Kingdom

Industry: Publishing industry

Customer Profile

Trader Media Group is a multimedia

publisher focusing on classified

advertising. Based in London, England,

the company produces a range of

publications viewed by 20 million people

a day.

Business Situation

When its parent company moved to

Google Apps for communication and

collaboration, Trader Media Group

needed to decide whether to make the

same move or continue its investment in

Microsoft Office.

Solution

After evaluating Google Apps and

Microsoft Office 2010, Trader Media

Group determined that Office 2010

provided the best functionality and

manageability in a cost-effective way.

Benefits

The right tools for employees

An investment in the future

A cost-effective solution

“It’s important to us that employees of Trader Media

Group understand we’re happy to invest in the best

possible tools for them, and we believe Microsoft

Office 2010 is the best choice out there.”

Alison Ross, Head of Service Support, Trader Media Group

Trader Media Group is a multimedia publisher of a range of

local, regional, and national publications. When its parent

company, the Guardian Group, moved from Lotus Notes to

Google Apps, Trader Media Group needed to decide whether or

not to move to Google Apps from Microsoft Office. IT and

business managers evaluated both products and determined

that continuing its Microsoft investment and upgrading to

Microsoft Office 2010 made the most sense for the company.

Employees can now do their jobs more efficiently with new

features in Microsoft Office 2010, and IT staff can rely on the

stability and tight integration of its end-to-end Microsoft

technology stack. Trader Media Group also deployed Microsoft

Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Live

Meeting to improve employee communication and facilitate

collaboration between workers at the company’s 12 locations.

Situation Wimbledon, England-based Trader Media

Group is one of Europe’s largest publishers,

with a portfolio of more than 70 leading

classified titles including Auto Trader. The

company’s website receives 10 million

unique users and 20 million hits per day.

Trader Media Group, a division of the

Guardian Media Group, was formed in 2000

from the merger of two other companies.

In addition to its headquarters outside

London, Trader Media Group has a

technology center in the north of England

and 10 branch offices. The company

employs 1,800 people, 150 of whom work

remotely.

Over the past decade, Trader Media Group

has transitioned much of its business from

traditional print media to online channels.

As a result, the company has become as

much a technology company as a

publisher, so it is important that employees

have access to software that they can use

to manage electronic data and

communicate effectively with colleagues at

any of the company’s locations.

Trader Media Group uses the Windows

Server 2008 R2 operating system and relies

on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 database

software for its main internal business

applications. Employees use the Windows

XP operating system and the Microsoft

Office 2007 productivity suite on their

desktop and portable computers, and the

software is a key part of their day-to-day

work. “There’s no doubt it’s the default

product for everyone in the organisation,”

says Alison Ross, Head of Service Support

at Trader Media Group. “It’s so embedded

and ingrained that people don’t even think

about it anymore.”

Although Trader Media Group has a long

history with Microsoft products, the

company was facing pressure to move to a

different platform for communication,

collaboration, and office productivity

applications. In 2009, The Guardian Media

Group, its parent, had moved from Lotus

Notes to Google Apps Premiere Edition,

and Trader Media Group needed to decide

whether to follow suit. The company was

also approaching the renewal date for its

licensing agreement with Microsoft, so it

had to decide whether to stay with

Microsoft.

“Because we’d been using Microsoft Office

for so long, a lot of people in our

organisation took it for granted—you come

in every day and it just works,” says Ross.

“We were getting a lot of pressure from our

business divisions to evaluate competitive

products. In our sector, we’re very

progressive with technology, so it became

our goal to prove that outstanding,

leading-edge technology can be Microsoft

branded—it doesn’t have to be Google.

And we wanted to show that Microsoft

solutions are cost effective, because

businesses obviously want to save as much

money as possible.”

Solution Although Trader Media Group is part of the

Guardian Group, the company’s IT staff has

a high degree of autonomy when making

technology decisions. The Guardian Group

determined that Google Apps was the most

appropriate solution for its business and

technology needs, and Trader Media Group

needed to make a decision for itself, so IT

staff began evaluating Google Apps and

Microsoft Office 2010 in late 2009. As part

of the evaluation, they looked at how each

solution met the company’s requirements.

Evaluation criteria included:

Is the solution easy to administer, with

the management features IT staff expect?

Does the solution provide the

functionality employees need to do their

jobs?

“There’s no doubt

[Microsoft Office] is the

default product for

everyone in the

organisation. It’s so

embedded and ingrained

that people don’t even

think about it anymore.”

Alison Ross, Head of Service Support,

Trader Media Group

What would be the process of moving to

the new solution?

Is the solution cost-effective?

Evaluating the Options

Trader Media Group IT staff began by

evaluating the Google Apps Premiere

Edition being used by the Guardian Group.

One of the most important factors in the

decision was how the Google Apps

functionality compared with what the

company would get with Microsoft Office.

“We wanted to see what the Google

products would bring us that we don't have

already,” says Ross. “And more importantly,

we needed to find out what we would lose.

For one thing, using the Google solution

meant we would lose our strategic

investment in a Microsoft infrastructure,

and it would mean moving to an off-

premise hosted solution, which we hadn’t

planned to do yet.”

IT administrators were concerned about the

changes that would come by moving to a

hosted Google solution. Although the light

administrative touch required by hosted

applications meant potentially less work for

technical staff, Trader Media Group wasn’t

sure about the switch. “Our model for

running IT is very well structured and

organised,” says Ross. “Therefore, to

remove our ability to closely administer and

manage the environment made us see the

Google alternative as a negative, rather

than a positive.”

Trader Media Group was also concerned

that the level of functionality provided by

the Google solution might be a step back

from what employees had come to expect

from Microsoft Office. “For a company

without great email tools and an older

version of Microsoft Office, it might be

more attractive,” notes Ross. “But for us,

with a mature Microsoft architecture and

Microsoft Office on everyone’s desktop, I

think we were asking people to lose a lot,

particularly the full richness of Microsoft

Office Outlook.”

The evaluation team discovered issues with

the Google functionality as well, including

issues with formatting and exchanging

documents. Microsoft Office Word

documents, Office Excel spreadsheets, and

Office PowerPoint presentations are the de

facto document standards in the company,

and when these documents were opened in

Google applications, native formatting

translated poorly, and the user experience

was difficult to adjust to. “I don’t think I

would move our finance or accounts

departments to Google Apps,” says Ross.

“They need the Microsoft Office tools to do

their jobs, so we’d end up paying for both

solutions anyway.”

IT staff had other concerns, including the

level of support available, recoverability of

documents, and the availability of

established technical resources and tools

for migrating to the new solution. The ever-

changing nature of the Google

environment was also problematic. “I was

concerned that the product is so dynamic,”

explains Ross. “Features are added

continuously, and in our organisation we

prefer to control our releases. I wasn’t

pleased that new functionality could pop

up tomorrow, and our helpdesk wouldn’t

be prepared to help with problems. That

would compromise the high level of service

we give our internal customers.”

Although a major draw for Google Apps is

its low price, Trader Media Group worried

about hidden costs. One concern was the

likelihood that the company would need to

pay for extra user licenses to maintain older

user accounts since users’ data is not

stored onsite. So even though the upfront

costs might be lower, the full solution could

be significantly more expensive.

“I don’t think I would

move our finance or

accounts departments to

Google Apps. They need

the Microsoft Office

tools to do their jobs."

Alison Ross, Head of Service Support,

Trader Media Group

Given the potential problems with a move

to Google Apps, the IT group felt strongly

that its preference was to stay with

Microsoft technology and continue to

move forward with new Microsoft products

as they become available. As part of

discussions about renewing its licensing

agreement, technical and business staff

from Trader Media Group visited the

Microsoft Executive Briefing Centre in

Reading, where they got their first look at

Microsoft Office 2010. What the Trader

Media Group representatives saw

impressed them, particularly Outlook 2010.

“A lot of our senior people would say they

spend 60 to 70 percent of their computer

day working with Outlook,” says Ross. “And

there were several easy-to-demonstrate

features in Outlook 2010 that people can

easily relate to their day-to-day work that

will give them a real head start. Something

as simple as grouping messages into

conversation views can have a profound

effect on the way people interact with

email. This release is a genuine leap

forward.”

Deploying Microsoft Office 2010

Seeing the early preview of Microsoft Office

2010 convinced Trader Media Group that

renewing its Microsoft licensing agreement

and upgrading to the new version of the

Office suite was the best choice for its

business. IT staff began the deployment in

April 2010 with an initial deployment of 60

people from both the IT and business

departments. The deployment ran

smoothly from the beginning. “It seemed

very painless,” notes Chris Rees, Service

Delivery Manager at Trader Media Group.

“Our employees really put the products

through their paces, but we’ve had no

implementation issues whatsoever, and we

haven’t had to downgrade any users back

to the older version because of problems.”

As part of the deployment, IT staff solicited

direct feedback from users, and it has been

overwhelmingly positive. Users have found

that enhanced functionality in Microsoft

Office 2010 and consistency across the

products has improved the user experience.

Employees are more productive, especially

when it comes to email. “The Conversation

View really helps me keep my inbox

orderly,” says Lesley-Anne Davies, SLA/OLA

Manager at Trader Media Group. “The

Quick Steps are great timesavers. I don’t

think I could live without these now!”

“The shared calendar view is brilliant,” adds

Ross Beazley, a Senior Developer at Trader

Media Group. “My calendar includes my

team members, so I can quickly see what

the others are up to, and the inline view of

my calendar in meeting requests has

proved invaluable. To sum up, I can just do

things quicker with Microsoft Office 2010.”

Workers noted improvements in other

Microsoft Office 2010 products as well,

including Paste Preview, which allows users

to see what formatted text will look like

after pasting in Word 2010, or how

formulas will be applied in Excel 2010.

Other frequently cited benefits include the

ability to more easily embed audio and

video into PowerPoint 2010 presentations,

and Sparklines in Excel 2010 for easily

displaying trending based on spreadsheet

data.

Employees have also been pleased by the

improved layout and consistency of the

Microsoft Office Fluent Ribbon and the

introduction of the Backstage View for

working with features that fall outside the

functionality of the Ribbon. “The new

layout is impressive,” notes Stefan Lutener,

Field Support Manager at Trader Media

Group. “And with the Backstage View, the

user experience is greatly improved from

"Something as simple as

grouping messages into

conversation views can

have a profound effect

on the way people

interact with email. This

release is a genuine leap

forward.”

Alison Ross, Head of Service Support,

Trader Media Group

prior versions of Office. It feels more simple

and methodical with this new feature.”

At the same time as its Microsoft Office

2010 rollout, Trader Media Group has also

deployed Microsoft Office Communications

Server 2007. Users found that the

integration of Microsoft Office

Communicator with Microsoft Office 2010

is a great combination. “We like the way

the tools fit together, with Microsoft Office

2010 very much at the centre” says Ross.

“We haven’t used Microsoft Office

SharePoint very much up to now, but we

plan to unleash its full power after our

Office upgrade, and we expect Office Web

Apps will be great for remote workers.

Overall, we believe that the sum of the

Microsoft products is very much more than

their individual parts.”

Benefits Trader Media Group evaluated competing

solutions for communication and

collaboration, and chose the solution it felt

would best meet the needs of its

employees and its business. By deploying

Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft Office

Communications Server 2007, Trader Media

Group has provided its employees with a

robust set of tools for doing their jobs. The

company has also strengthened its

investment in a proven technology

architecture in a way that lays the

groundwork for future upgrades and that is

cost-effective for the company.

The Right Tools for Employees

The IT staff at Trader Media Group believes

that it is extremely important that the

company’s employees have access to the

latest technology to do their jobs. Not only

does this improve business workflow, but it

also increases employee satisfaction. “It’s

important to us that employees of Trader

Media Group understand we’re happy to

invest in the best possible tools for them,

and we believe Microsoft Office 2010 is the

best choice out there,” says Ross.

“Employees generally see software

upgrades as an inconvenience, but the

word of mouth around this upgrade has

been remarkable, and I’ve been fielding

requests from all over the company for

people to be upgraded. It’s absolutely

going to help people do their jobs better.”

An Investment in the Future

After its evaluation of products, Trader

Media Group determined that it made the

best sense for the company to continue the

investment it had made in Microsoft

products over the years. Not only does the

maturity of the Microsoft solution provide

the company with technological stability

and consistency, it also makes the company

a more attractive place to work. “When

we’re trying to attract people to work here,

it’s great that we’re always working with the

latest technology,” says Ross. “We’re a

technology company, and we really want to

take advantage of the possibilities of our

Microsoft licensing agreement.”

Trader Media Group also appreciates the

options provided by its Microsoft

investment, including the possibility of

eventually moving to a hosted application

solution. “We’re not yet ready to move our

applications into the cloud,” explains Ross.

“It’s something we’ll absolutely consider in

the future, but it needs to be thought out

carefully. Microsoft gives us the flexibility to

stay on-premise for now, but move to the

Microsoft Business Productivity Online

Suite when we’re ready to move to a

hosted solution.”

A Cost-Effective Solution

Trader Media Group feels that maintaining

its end-to-end Microsoft architecture

provides the best value for money.

Although alternative solutions like Google

Apps may seem to be less expensive up

"The word of mouth

around this upgrade has

been remarkable, and

I’ve been fielding

requests from all over

the company for people

to be upgraded. It’s

absolutely going to help

people do their jobs

better.”

Alison Ross, Head of Service Support, Trader Media Group

front, Trader Media Group believes the

long-term advantages of an integrated

Microsoft solution make the most sense for

the business. “Microsoft was very

supportive in helping us put together a

licensing arrangement that really made

sense and helped us build on our existing

investment, which brings down the cost of

our desktops by more than 16% on a year-

to-year basis.”

As Trader Media Group moves from its

initial deployment to a production

deployment, the company believes that the

success of the project will attract the

attention of other companies in the

Guardian Group. “We work closely with

other companies in the group for

technology procurement,” says Ross. “So I

think that our choice of a Microsoft

solution will definitely trickle out to other

divisions.”

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 gives your people

powerful, timesaving tools to do their best

work from more places. With new

capabilities and insightful updates to Excel,

PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook, Office

2010 offers the complete package—with

familiar, intuitive tools. Now you can

express ideas, solve problems, connect with

people, and create amazing results—in the

office, at home, or on the go.

For more information about Microsoft

Office, go to:

www.office.com

For More Information For more information about Microsoft

products and services, call the Microsoft

Sales Information Center at (800) 426-

9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft

Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-

2495. Customers in the United States and

Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing

can reach Microsoft text telephone

(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234.

Outside the 50 United States and

Canada, please contact your local

Microsoft subsidiary. To access

information using the World Wide Web,

go to:

www.microsoft.com

For more information about Trader

Media Group products and services, call

(44) (0) 208-544-700 or visit the website

at:

www.tradermediagroup.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published June 2010

Software and Services Microsoft Office

− Microsoft Office 2010

− Microsoft Office Communications

Server 2007

− Microsoft Office Communicator 2007

− Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

2007

−

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio

− Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise

− Windows Server 2008 Enterprise