Windows 7 Professional Helps IT Firm to Solve Customer Problems More Efficiently and Attract Sales

1. Windows 7
Customer Solution Case Study
Windows 7 Helps IT Firm More Efficiently
Solve Customer Problems and Attract Sales
Overview “I demonstrated the Location Aware Printing function
Country or Region: United States
Industry: IT Consulting, Professional
to a client that had mobile users moving between five
Services locations. They wanted to skip the Windows 7 beta
Customer Profile
and instantly purchase the full version.”
An IT consulting firm delivering powerful J. Alejandro Rosado, Chief Executive Officer, 12:34 MicroTechnologies
technology solutions to small and mid-size
customers in the greater Philadelphia area.
The company has seven employees and
over $1M in annual sales. With a name as unique as 12:34 MicroTechnologies—12:34 refers
to the “cooles” time of the day, when a clock‟s digits are
Business Situation
12:34 MicroTechnologies is always sequential—this IT consultant delivers its own special brand of
searching for more efficient ways to deliver service to over 100 small and mid-sized customers in the greater
consulting services and accelerate sales.
Philadelphia area. The firm‟s main challenges revolve around being
Solution more efficient while quickly solving technology problems for its
Windows 7 features such as Snap, Peek,
Jump Lists, Pinning and Network customers. 12:34 MicroTechnologies is a Microsoft® Gold Certified
Connection Wizard are helping the IT firm Partner and Small Business Specialist. The firm is one of 50
become more productive and attract more
business. partners worldwide that have been invited to be part of the
Windows® 7 Professional pre-launch program called Ignite.
Benefits
 Powerful Navigation Speeds Workflow--
Saves Up To $40,000
 Customer Tutorials Created 80 Percent
Faster
 More Efficient Printer Connections
 Network Connection Process Sped Up: 3
minutes vs. 60 minutes
 Windows 7 Features Aid Sales

2. Situation competitors are going out of business, we‟re
With a winning business built on the motto of delving deeper into business by winning their
“No IT Department, No Problem,” 12:34 accounts. We don‟t wish anyone ill, but we
MicroTechnologies specializes in helping don‟t miss opportunities either.”
small mid-size business owners integrate the
latest technology into their businesses. This “We‟re in the pain management business,”
maximizes their efficiency and productivity. In observed Rosado. “We fix our customer‟s
short, 12:34 MicroTechnologies becomes the grief with great technology.”
default IT for its customers.
Solution
“We‟re an IT consulting firm driven by new Snap, Shake, Peek
products,” noted J. Alejandro Rosado, CEO of Windows Aero® Snap allows side-by-side
12:34 MicroTechnologies. “As a result we‟re viewing of windows by dragging windows to
early adopters of the most innovative borders, left and right. Grab and shake the
technology. We think that translates into foremost screen to make all other screens
delivering the best solutions to our disappear. Shake again to make all open
customers.” screens reappear. Peek is invoked by clicking
on the lower right hand Show Desktop
The IT firm opened its doors in 1998 and rectangle. The desktop is immediately visible
currently has seven employees and seven- to view gadgets. These new Windows 7
figure annual sales—60 percent product/VAR features are allowing 12:34
related revenue and 40 percent service MicroTechnologies staff to navigate through
revenue. Most of its current book-of-business documents and projects more efficiently, thus
customers have been with the IT expert for saving valuable time.
over four years, a testament to the quality of .
the service and solutions it continually Network Connection Wizard
delivers. The Network Connection Wizard eases
desktop connection to wireless, VPN and LAN
“We are responsible for over 100 customer networks. For 12:34 MicroTechnologies, this
networks,” continued Rosado. “Any tools or translates into technicians that can more
technology that can help us do our job better quickly identify all network connection
are instantly embraced.” options within a single window.
12:34 MicroTechnologies‟ main business Location Aware Printing
challenge is perennial: How can 12:34 The Location Aware Printing feature
MicroTechnologies be more efficient and automatically recognizes and remembers
provide greater value to its customers? default printers as technicians move from
one network to another.
“Becoming more efficient is our ever-present
goal,” said Rosado. “When you sell your Taskbar Customization
services by the hour, the constant business Jump Lists allow users to see the most
challenge is to deliver your expertise faster recently used files by right clicking on the
and better.” taskbar. Also, right-clicking on application
icons, such as Microsoft Word, will show the
“We‟ve been around long enough that we‟re most recently opened documents.
no longer in jeopardy of becoming a business-
failure statistic,” noted Rosado. “While

3. Hibernate, Sleep Windows 7 Features Aid Sales
In most instances, Windows 7 starts up, “I demonstrated the Location Aware Printer
shuts down, resumes from standby, and function to a client that had mobile users
responds faster than previous operating moving between five locations,” commented
systems. For 12:34 MicroTechnologies users, Rosado. “They wanted to skip the Windows 7
this means technicians can quickly get back beta and instantly purchase the full version.”
to work as they move from one client or
project to another. “One of the most powerful ways we‟ve
discovered for selling Windows 7 to clients is
Federated Search to use it in front of them,” said Rosado. “Just
When searching within Windows 7, users showing them a few features like Power
have enhanced features that deepen search Management, Federated Search and Taskbar
capabilities, making Windows 7 a giant Personalization make them drool with
search engine that scours local PCs, anticipation.”
HomeGroup, network, external drives, and
the Internet. “We expect to see up to 75 percent of our
customers migrate to Windows 7 in the next
Problem Steps Recorder year,” continued Rosado.
The Problem Steps Recorder enables users to
record their interactions with an application Networks Connection Process Sped Up:
and provide a detailed screen-by-screen view Three minutes vs. 60 minutes
with accompanying information. Problems “Network Connection Wizard did in three
can be more clearly communicated to 12:34 minutes what others had to wait for an hour
MicroTechnologies and reduce help desk to accomplish,” said Rosado. “At a computer
demands. Additionally, Problem Steps conference in Philadelphia, a group of people
Recorder is a power tutorial creation tool, had to struggle for more than an hour to get
enabling the consultant to create customer connected to a local printer. This kind of
How-To instructions for clients to address frustration is now history.”
chronic computer issues.
Deeper Information Searching
“The power of Federated Search is
Benefits impressive,” said Rosado. “It turns Windows
Powerful Navigation Speeds Workflow- 7 into a giant search engine--indexing and
Saves Up To $40,000 scouring data repositories anywhere on the
“Windows 7 delivers some of the best network. The content of emails, Word docs,
navigation tools we‟ve seen,” shared Rosado. presentations and spreadsheets can‟t hide
“Resume, Shake, Pin, Peek and Jump Lists any longer.”
save us each an hour per week. Annualized,
that‟s over $40,000 per year.” “Federated Search inside of Outlook® means
that we find and manage emails more
Rapid Windows 7 ROI efficiently,” continued Rosado. “Since we
“For both our own business and our client‟s average up to 9,000 emails per year, even a
businesses, Windows 7 is so powerful and few seconds of time savings per message
productive that the real ROI happens almost means we save more than the software costs
as fast as you start using the operating each year.”
system.”

4. For More Information Efficient Printer Connections Windows 7
For more information about Microsoft “Location Aware Printing makes our on-site Faster and more reliable: Windows 7 will help
products and services, call the Microsoft technicians more productive. They can now your organization use information technology
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- set up a new printer in seconds rather than to gain a competitive advantage in today‟s
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft consume 15-30 minutes solving the new world of work. Your people will be able to
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- problem,” said Rosado. “This feature also be more productive anyway. You will be able
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of- automatically „remembers‟ to change the to support your mobile work force with better
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone default printer as techs move from one access to shared data and collaboration
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in network to another.” tools. And your IT staff will have better tools
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in and technologies to enhance corporate IT
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Customer Tutorials Created 80 Percent security, data protection, and more efficient
Canada, please contact your local Faster deployment and management.
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information “Besides problem identification, Problem
using the World Wide Web, go to: Steps Recorder is a powerful training tool as For more information about Windows 7, go to:
www.microsoft.com well,” noted Rosado. “For example, we www.microsoft.com/windows/business
created a step-by-step VPN tutorial for a client
For more information about 12:34 in less than 5 minutes versus 60 minutes
MicroTechnologies products and services, with traditional cut and paste methods. That
call 717-396-0600 or visit the Web site at: is more than 80 percent faster.”
www.1234micro.com
 Document Loss Protection
“Restore Previous Version is a convenient
tool that fixes an accidental delete,” said
Rosado. “Working on a customer pitch over
several days is less worrisome because I can
always restore the document with a couple of
mouse clicks.”
Software and Services Hardware
 Products  Lenovo
− Microsoft Windows 7 Professional  HP
− Microsoft Windows Vista Professional
− Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
− Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
− Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007
− Windows Server 2007
− Microsoft Office Communications
Server 2007
− Microsoft ISA Server 2006
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Document published May 2009