“Business continuity is a key factor in our business and we’ve had no downtime with Office 365. We provide IT services to Dawood Hercules group companies and Office 365 has been well received by users.” Zubair Abdullah, IT Head, Dawood Hercules Corporation Investment holding company Dawood Hercules Corporation needed to upgrade its communications and collaboration platform to enhance resilience and lower operating costs. After evaluating available offerings, it chose Microsoft Office 365 in the public cloud and migrated more than 500 users—with the potential to scale up to 2,000 users. Office 365 ensures business continuity and compatibility with existing IT systems with no downtime for users. Business Needs Dawood Hercules Corporation was established in 1948 in Pakistan and is listed on the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges. It has diverse interests ranging from IT and financial services to food, fertilizers, chemical manufacturing and storage, and energy. Hussain Dawood is chairman of the group, and also chairman of the Karachi School for Business and Leadership, a project of the Karachi Education Initiative developed with support from The Dawood Foundation. He is a keen advocate of IT in business, and cloud computing in particular. Based in Karachi, Dawood Hercules has one subsidiary and seven affiliated companies, all of which share centralized IT services. Zubair Abdullah, IT Head, Dawood Hercules Corporation, says: “We wanted to increase IT efficiency and reduce infrastructure operating costs. Until December 2012, we were using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition in an on-premises configuration. Our chairman was supportive of cloud computing, so we spent considerable time researching our options.” Dawood Hercules evaluated another cloud productivity suite for web-based email, calendar, and documents, and one of its affiliated companies implemented it, but with some limitations. Abdullah says: “The experience of our affiliate company didn’t give us confidence. We found that the other productivity suite was far behind the top technological advancements in communication and collaboration infrastructure—both in its products as well as the end-user experience. Microsoft Office 365 has a native document format that’s widely in use globally.” In June 2012, Microsoft announced the commercial launch of Microsoft Office 365 in the Middle East and Africa region, including Pakistan. The next-generation cloud productivity service for businesses of all sizes was made available with local pricing for Pakistan. Solution After a rigorous evaluation period involving assessment of features, functionality, and availability, Dawood Hercules decided to move to the public cloud with Microsoft Office 365. It brings together the latest version of Microsoft Office—as well as Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online, and Customer: Dawood Hercules Corporation Website: www.dawoodhercules.com Customer Size: 100–5,000 Country or Region: Pakistan Industry: Financial services—Investment management and advice Customer Profile Dawood Hercules Corporation is an investment holding company listed on the Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad Stock Exchanges, with highly diversified interests in the national economy. Software and Services Microsoft Office 365 − Microsoft Exchange Online − Microsoft Lync Online − Microsoft SharePoint Online Microsoft Office 2013 For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies Microsoft Office 365 Customer Solution Case Study Pakistani Group Moves IT to the Cloud to Improve Resilience and Cut Operating Costs