Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Morgan Keegan & Company, founded in 1969 in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the nation's largest regional investment firms, offering full-service investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth and asset management. Even though the firm has long relied on email and instant messaging to communicate both internally and with customers, it wanted to develop a more integrated solution that would help move it away from disparate legacy technologies. Morgan Keegan decided to deploy Microsoft Lync Server 2010, formerly Microsoft Office Communications Server, to see how this research would integrate with other Microsoft solutions in its network and provide communication capabilities just as presence, instant messaging, ad hoc conferencing and collaboration, and enterprise voice that could help make its workforce more productive.

The financial industry

The financial industry was quick to adopt instant messaging as a communication tool, and Morgan Keegan was no exception, adopting the research as early as 1999. Used primarily as a real-time communication tool, instant messaging has been the most popular form of communication at Morgan Keegan. During its current solution from Reuters Messaging offered strong authentication and the ability for employees to communicate with people using public IM programs, the firm could not integrate this solution with the rest of its communications infrastructure.

Morgan Keegan wanted to create a solid communications infrastructure based around IM, presence, and conferencing, nevertheless it as well wanted a solution that would work so then with its existing Microsoft solutions. Should the contingency arise to Exchange Server for messaging, the firm uses Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 to manage customer service and sales solutions. It as well uses Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 internally to help its financial advisors stay up-to-date on projects by keeping project documents in a central location and network with their colleagues. Dan Evans, Senior Vice President of Messaging and Collaboration at Morgan Keegan, explains, "What we realized is that communication has many points of intersection: instant messaging, conferencing, voice. The focal point for us was how to deliver unified communication to our users on a daily basis."

Enterprise pool for high availability

Along with an enterprise pool for high availability, Morgan Keegan deployed an edge server to support ad hoc collaboration and online meetings and communication over the Internet and with public IM customers. All employees using the Microsoft Lync 2010 client will have access to IM, presence, and conferencing capabilities. Employees can as well continue to communicate with colleagues, partners, and clients who use public IM programs just as Yahoo or even legacy applications like AOL, because Lync Server allows for authentication that ensures the level of security and compliance Morgan Keegan must maintain to meet industry guidelines. The company will as well federate with partners and clients, so employees can see presence and calendar information for federated colleagues and easily connect with them through instant messaging and in the end voice calls.

The firm is evaluating voice hardware designed exactly for Lync Server to replace traditional desk phones as it considers deploying an enterprise voice solution. Individuals can choose between the Polycom CX600 IP desk phone, which provides access to calendar, Outlook contacts, directory search, and presence information, or a Plantronics Voyager PRO headset they can use to place and manage calls and conferences through the Lync client on the desktop. For common areas just as lobbies, break rooms, and smaller conference rooms, the firm is piloting the Polycom CX500 IP phone, which as well provides directory search, presence information, and extended conferencing capabilities.

Morgan Keegan will enable Lync Server to work with its other Microsoft solutions, including Exchange, SharePoint, and Dynamics CRM. Through Outlook and SharePoint sites, employees can view presence information or click to start a chat session or place a phone call to a colleague. Employees can use the Skill Search feature in the Lync client to find subject matter experts and click to view MySites or start a conversation. For Dynamics CRM, the firm wants to use the Lync application programming interfaces to build customer contact cards that will appear when a call comes in to a financial advisor. The cards would include specific customer information, just as customer history and notes from previous calls. It will as well provide presence information, so that clients who log on to the support site can see suddenly if their advisor is available to answer questions.

The IT and engineering staff can more easily multitask, because they can resolve issues for more than one person at a time through Lync instant messaging and desktop sharing sessions, instead of having to take a phone call or walk across the building to help someone. For IT especially, desktop sharing is a key feature, particularly for holding ad hoc meetings. Evans explains, "We can share a Microsoft Visio document and update it, or talk about architecture and design. We can easily pull people into meetings and let them jump right back out again when they have answered a question. No one has to sit through a meeting just to answer one question, which improves productivity."

The new communications hardware will as well positively impact productivity. Employees no longer have to switch between applications to search for contact information and place calls. People using the USB headset in particular have much more freedom to talk and roam. "With the headset, it's easy to walk to a meeting with my laptop and keep talking. It makes the day much more fluid," says Evans.

By taking advantage of interoperation between applications or powerful APIs, Morgan Keegan can provide a more dynamic communications solution for employees. With presence information incorporated into applications people use daily, just as SharePoint, Outlook, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, employees no longer waste time moving between applications to get things accomplished.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 ushers in a new connected user experience transforming every communication into an interaction in other words more collaborative, engaging, and accessible from anywhere. For IT, the benefits are evenly powerful, with a highly secure and reliable system that works with existing tools and systems for easier management, lower cost of ownership, smoother deployment and migration, and greater choice and flexibility.