H-One introduces Office 365, Microsoft premier

For the first time in Sri Lanka,H One (Pvt) Limited, a member of the Hirdaramani Group today launched the new face of Office 365, Microsofts premier cloud offering for enterprises with Office 2013 for the first time in Sri Lanka. The new version of Office 365, which is now based on Office 2013, comes with the added value propositions included in Microsoft's latest office package.

A LAR (Large Account Reseller) partner and full-service vendor of Microsoft, H-One has within a short time become the foremost Office 365 deployer in the country, seamlessly handling the transition of several business organizations such as John Keells Holdings, TKS Securities, Union Assurance, NORLanka and James Finlay.

H-One says that the new version of O_ce365 not only benefits large conglomerates but businesses of all sizes, big and small, can now access enterprise-ready business solutions. Microsoft Office 365 is a cloud-based software that brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online.

A significant feature of the launch, which was the introduction of the new Office 2013, also highlighted that Microsoft Office 2013 is developed on a predominantly cloud platform taking into context the rapid move businesses are making towards cloud.

The new version of Office 2013, which benefits Office 365, includes Word, Excel, Power- Point, Outlook, Lync chat and conferencing client, OneNote, the Access desktop database, Publisher, and InfoPath designer and Filler for creating SharePoint work ows. It also includes SkyDrive Pro, which can connect to SharePoint libraries and personal storage space, synchronizing _les between the cloud and the PC of a user.

All of these features of Office 2013 makes Office 365 that much better. The new software both Office 365 and Office 2013 spells a complete paradigm shift in the way IT operates in a business environment." says Samath Fernando, CEO of H One.

The CEO adds that H-One's success not only in deploying Office 365 but in providing the most up to date IT solutions to their high profile client base, stems from commitment and compatibility backed by the hard work and attention to detail of a strong technical team.

Deployment, he explains, is not an easy process "We need to look into the specific requirements of each and every client. Our team works hand in hand with our clients to familiarize them with our solutions. When we worked with JKH, to take them into Cloud through Microsoft Office 365, it was a long process to transfer such a high volume of users away from their mail system to a completely new application.

We worked for months to tie up the loose ends and make them familiar with the features of Office 365 and the change did not result in a delay in any of their day-to-day operations," Samath said.

Ramesh Shanmuganathan, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of John Keells Holdings commending H-One said "Migrating such a high volume of users away from their legacy mail system to a completely new application is no small feat.

The highly skilled H One team worked with Microsofts Regional Technology team, to manage this project and bring together experience and expertise. Drawing from the regional team's best practices on complex migration projects which include that of the Coca-Cola Company, they set out a detailed project management methodology, with clear strategies for remediation, mitigating risk, support procedures, and getting users trained and ready to transition," He said adding that with the O365 project JKH took yet another landmark step in creating a truly mobile and connected workforce, using next " generation tools to stay ahead.

Apart from H-One's multiple successes with large organisations, the company has also had a number of triumphs with small and medium business. A most significant success was TKS Securities, which Samath Fernando says was an entirely different experience. H One implemented and went live with Office 365 for TKS Securities within 24 hours, an unheard of timeline for any software implementation.

"We have worked with business organizations of many scales and have proved that we can meet demands and requirements of various clients with different institutional structures."

Ralph Weerasinghe, Director of TKS Securities affirming H-One as a partner who helped them take a giant stride towards innovation says, "with the growth of business and sudden increase of activity levels in the market, we noticed that our internal email server was consuming the internet bandwidth, a much needed resource for our online trading system.

We are fortunate to have signed up for Office 365 through H One (Pvt) Ltd. The H-One team seamlessly transferred our emails to Office 365 to gain access to Outlook via the web within a day."

Imran Vilcassim, Director Enterprise Business of Microsoft Sri Lanka, says that H-One has been a valued partner of Microsoft from the outset. "They have invested in the right competencies and with their eagerness to acquire knowledge and expertise on latest technology, have strengthened their position.

In today's highly competitive business environment, H-One has illustrated how an IT solutions provider can grow their business by closely partnering and associating with Microsoft and building local expertise to deliver a world class solution. I am sure they will go on to achieve even greater milestones with Office 2013 and Office 365" he added.

Established in 2008, H One has become the forerunner in providing customized IT solutions to leading enterprises in Sri Lanka. With a reputation for offering the most innovative technology solutions to clients, the Company is affiliated with industry leading partners such as Microsoft, Kaspersky and Adobe. H-One has also made viable.