“With Office 2010, staff will have access to powerful new tools for solving problems and communicating ideas. The Office Ribbon interface makes interacting with these tools quite intuitive.”

Julian Martin, Head of ICT, London Fire Brigade

The London Fire Brigade wanted to boost employee productivity and increase opportunities for collaboration. To take advantage of enhancements to applications in the Microsoft Office system, the organisation initially deployed Microsoft Office 2010 to a pilot group of 60 employees. Based on the success of this initiative, the organisation looks forward to bolstering employee productivity and maximising the value of its technology investment. Business NeedsFormed in 1710, the London Fire Brigade has evolved into the largest fire and rescue service in the United Kingdom. It has 7,000 staff, including 5,800 firefighters and officers. Its firefighters staff four different shifts to support an around-the clock service schedule.

In addition to its headquarters in London, the organisation has a network of 120 stations throughout the London metropolitan area. For several years, the employees at

these locations used the productivity applications in Microsoft Office 2003, alongside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, to complete daily tasks and collaborate across departments.

Leaders at the London Fire Brigade had evaluated upgrading to Microsoft Office 2010 to take advantage of the expanded feature set, improved security capabilities, and simplified user interface of the software. But the organisation’s

Customer: London Fire BrigadeWebsite: www.london-fire.gov.ukCustomer Size: 7,000Country or Region: United KingdomIndustry: Government services

Customer ProfileThe London Fire Brigade provides fire response and rescue, and fire prevention and training services through its network of 120 stations.

Software and Services Microsoft Office SharePoint

Server2007

Microsoft Office 2010− Microsoft Outlook 2010− Microsoft Excel 2010− Microsoft PowerPoint 2010

For more information about Microsoft Office, go to:www.office.com

Microsoft Office 2010Customer Solution Case Study

Fire and Rescue Service Boosts Productivity with Upgrade of Existing Tools

multiple locations and frequent shift changes posed challenges for employee training.

“Because of our uniquely complex physical environment and staffing requirements, the benefits of any upgrade would need to be extremely compelling to justify the move,” says Julian Martin, Head of Information and Communication Technologies at the London Fire Brigade.

SolutionIn February of 2010, the London Fire Brigade decided it was time to thoroughly evaluate Office 2010. In order to test a variety of usage scenarios, it began with an initial deployment to 60 employees across its information management, finance, human resources, procurement, and communication teams.

Employees in the pilot user group have taken advantage of new tools in the Outlook 2010 messaging and collaboration client to quickly consolidate email messages into conversations. Now, they can use Conversation View to quickly file these contextually linked email threads to easily find them when needed. The IT team also plans to use new security features, such as the ability to set alerts to detect messages addressed to large distribution lists, to strengthen protection against malicious software, viruses, and other threats.

Management personnel appreciate the conditional formatting capabilities in Excel 2010 spreadsheet software, which simplify the process of visually representing information. “I really like having the ability to create tables, and then apply the conditional formatting colour scales for fast, easy comparison of data,” says Emma Rice, a member of the pilot group at London Fire Brigade.

In addition, procurement, human resources, and communications staff at the London Fire Brigade can now use new tools in the PowerPoint 2010 presentation graphics program to create more dynamic training presentations and public relations collateral. “The SmartArt layouts are completely intuitive, and it’s helpful to be able to insert and edit graphics directly in the application,” says Michael Chambers, Process Manager for the London Fire Brigade.

BenefitsBy deploying Microsoft Office 2010, the London Fire Brigade has provided staff in the pilot user group with new desktop publishing and data analysis capabilities to support greater productivity. And, as the organisation seeks to expand opportunities for efficient collaboration, its upgrade to Office 2010 will enable it to take full advantage of Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Moreover, as the London Fire Brigade looks ahead to a wider deployment of the software, it expects to further bolster its defence against email-borne threats through the use of innovative features in Outlook 2010.

Increases ProductivityEmployees across the organization will soon be able to take advantage of new capabilities in Office 2010, such as simplified data formatting, the ability to quickly consolidate email messages, and presentation tools, to save time on daily tasks. “With Office 2010, staff will have access to powerful new tools for solving problems and communicating ideas. The Office Ribbon interface makes interacting with these tools quite intuitive,” says Martin.

Enhances IT Security

The enhanced email filtering tools in Outlook 2010 dovetail with the organisation’s defence-in-depth security strategy. “With so many different locations and shift patterns, we’re constantly looking for new ways to bolster the protection of our IT assets,” Martin says. “It will be useful to have additional flexibility and control in configuring security around our email client,” says Martin.

Strengthens Platform for Growth The London Fire Brigade has enjoyed rapid uptake of Office 2010 within its pilot user group. Now, the organisation plans to expand its rollout in conjunction with greater use of other Microsoft technologies, including SharePoint Server. “Our experience with the pilot assured us that Office 2010 definitely helps our people do their jobs more effectively within our existing SharePoint environment,” says Martin. “We’re keen to deploy the solution broadly because it will help us maximise the value of our investment across the entire stack of Microsoft technologies.”

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