Avanade Helps Microsoft Office System Early Adopters Boost End-user Productivity and Collaboration.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2003

Integrator Brings Product Expertise, Experience to Companies

Choosing the Microsoft Office System Technologies

Customers worldwide are turning to Avanade(R) Inc., a premier technology integrator for Microsoft solutions in the enterprise, to plan and deploy solutions using the Microsoft Office System technology. For these early adopters, Avanade has designed and built systems to help them take advantage of new capabilities in the Microsoft Office System that enhance productivity - whether through automated business activity or greater access to documents and data that fosters collaboration.

"Our customers are seeing particular benefit from the Microsoft Office System with products such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003," said Ashish Kumar, Avanade chief technology officer. "We help customers assess the impact of the Microsoft Office System, and architect and implement the IT infrastructure necessary for efficient, effective communication that accelerates business collaboration."

"Avanade is designing and building great solutions that help our customers get the most out of the Microsoft Office System," said Joe Eschbach, corporate vice president of the Information Worker Product Management Group at Microsoft Corp. "Not only do Avanade consultants acquire and apply best practices and proven techniques, but they deliver effective and reliable solutions based on the Microsoft Office System and its elements so customers can start being more productive right away."

Microsoft Office System Expertise

Avanade is helping APS Energy Services streamline various business operations with a combination of products including Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, a part of the Microsoft Office System, as well as Microsoft SQL Server and Web services. A leading supplier of direct access energy in the West, APS Energy Services worked closely with Avanade to develop an automated system which makes it faster and easier for energy analysts to obtain and manage data necessary for contracting, pricing, and scheduling activities. Accessible through a graphical dashboard interface and voice commands, the Avanade solution eliminates manual processing, giving employees more time in which to better analyze meter data and performance.

"The Avanade Graphical Analysis Solution is expected to have an enormous impact on our ability to compete on price, and better serve our customers. The solution automates data processing, reducing analysis time from an hour-and-a-half to just minutes," said Robert Anderson, managing director of commodity, APS Energy Services. "With Avanade as our partner, we have ventured to change the way we interact with the computer. Using voice recognition, text-to-speech, and increased graphics for analysis, our business processes and analytical skills will be revolutionized."

Avanade also has worked with Microsoft to architect and implement the eSupport system at Kinko's, Inc. Faced with increasing internal technical support costs associated with distributed branch location operations, and seeking to improve on its knowledge management system, Kinko's wanted to enable field self-service and content authoring efficiency. Avanade created the custom eSupport help desk portal with Microsoft Office System programs including Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Microsoft Office Visio 2003 and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003, as well as Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and the Microsoft .NET Framework. The eSupport portal allows Kinko's branch team members to diagnose and solve software and hardware problems. In addition, Kinko's now has in place a consistent and standard knowledge management platform for tech support content aggregation.

"We expect the eSupport system and underlying Microsoft Office System technology to cut support call volume and duration, for savings in related expenses, not to mention time savings that allow Kinko's personnel to focus on other priorities," said Dawn Graham, vice president of technology infrastructure, Kinko's Inc. "Our 'Level One' tech support calls should decrease by more than 15 percent in the first year alone, along with a corresponding decrease in 'Level One' to 'Level Two' escalations."

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Rapid Deployment

Avanade helped the University of Houston upgrade to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 from Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, to consolidate and simplify a formerly complex infrastructure for collaboration. One of ten companies invited to participate in the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Rapid Deployment Program, the University of Houston enlisted Avanade to design and implement the migration to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, incorporating mobile capabilities and Outlook Web Access that ensures pervasive, consistent access to e-mail through Pocket PCs, cell phones and other mobile devices. University of Houston faculty and students now have greater flexibility in using information remotely and wirelessly, with confidence that scheduling and other functions are synchronized for effective collaboration.

"We sought a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 solution that would improve University of Houston faculty and students' ability to work together, and just as important, a seamless transition to the new system," said Dr. Dennis Fouty, associate vice chancellor, University of Houston System and associate vice president, University of Houston. "Through a strong implementation relationship with Avanade and Microsoft, we achieved our goal of rapid migration with virtually no down-time or lost productivity."

About Avanade

Avanade is the world's premier technology integrator for Microsoft solutions. The certified technologists at Avanade help customers use Microsoft technology to realize a lower total cost of ownership for their infrastructure and application investments. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com.

Avanade, the Avanade logo, Avanade Connected Architecture, and ACA .NET are registered trademarks or trademarks of Avanade Inc. Other product, service, or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.