HDR builds collaboration environment for dispersed employees and clients.
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With more than 7,500 professionals in more than 160 locations worldwide, HDR relies on the new portal to deliver an efficient and easy-to-use collaboration environment with advanced security features for its people, intellectual property and client relationships. The Omaha, Neb.-based HDR has grown substantially over the past decade. With Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, the firm is able to provide its expanding work force with quick, authorized access to documents regardless of where they are stored and enable real-time communication and collaboration across departments, disciplines and geographic locations.
"As we grow, we're acquiring other companies and blending different Web sites and locations. We're also addressing cultural and physical differences between teams and organizations," said Angelo Privetera, vice president and chief information officer, HDR. "We needed an integrated collaboration solution to achieve our goal of building one great, sustainable company. With its real-time capabilities and business data search functionality, Office SharePoint Server 2007 enables us to improve work sharing for our geographically dispersed teams and puts the power back into the hands of individuals."
"More than ever, professional service firms like HDR are using innovative tools to help their employees deliver their very best on each client engagement," said Brian D. Zeve, managing director, U.S. Professional Services Group, Microsoft. "Using SharePoint Server as a collaborative enterprise portal, HDR is empowering its professionals to foster teamwork, share knowledge, and access information and data so everyone can do their jobs with greater efficiency, independence, speed and risk control."
HDR has realized significant outcomes following a four-month implementation:
-- Empowered mobile information work force. HDR workers, who frequently manage multiple projects in multiple worldwide locations, can access essential design and project information at any time from anywhere they are online to easily collaborate.
-- Increased competitive advantage. Workers responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) can do so more quickly and with the knowledge that the information is current, thus eliminating potential for rework.
-- Achieved cost savings. Building on its SharePoint success, HDR expanded its work-sharing capabilities by investing in the Microsoft Enterprise Client Access License (CAL) Suite for business intelligence, collaboration, content management and security, under a single license. CAL has saved HDR about 60 percent of the cost of acquiring individual product licenses and has reduced integration costs, eased license management and limited third-party software.
-- Preserved existing investments. With the easy integration capabilities of SharePoint, HDR was able to preserve its existing investments in computer-aided design (CAD) and project management software. HDR will be integrating its Bentley ProjectWise CAD collaboration system with the portal so that project teams can access the new search and indexing, through Bentley's Web Parts, in SharePoint Server 2007 at the design and review stages.
"We have made it easier to share files, find information and access useful materials with fewer clicks from virtually anywhere in the world, while enhancing security and performance," Privetera said. "By streamlining the flow of information between people, systems and processes, we have transformed the way that people use information to drive informed, creative decision-making."
In addition to Office SharePoint Server 2007, HDR uses a number of additional Microsoft technologies in its operations, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; Microsoft Office Professional 2007; and Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services. HDR also plans to implement Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Enterprise Edition, to take advantage of the unified messaging functionality that combines voice mail, e-mail, faxes and calendaring in the same inbox.
About Microsoft in Professional Services
Microsoft's U.S. Professional Services Group provides an integrated set of solutions that empower a firm's biggest assets -- its people -- to make better decisions in all areas of its business. Microsoft software enables the firms' employees to achieve operational excellence, improve practice management, build and sustain customer connections, develop and retain top talent, and consistently deliver a distinctive client experience -- ultimately leading to higher revenue, profit and growth. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-provided solutions, professional services firms can address current and emerging trends in a rapidly changing marketplace by turning data into insight, transforming ideas into action and turning change into opportunity.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/
