1. Microsoft Office System
Customer Solution Case Study
Consumer Goods Company Cuts Costs, Boosts
Efficiency with Unified Communications
Overview “The new solution enabled communication and
Country or region: India
Industry: Consumer Goods
collaboration with vendors and partners, thus
achieving faster time-to-market for the company’s
Customer Profile
Marico is a leading Indian group in
products and services.”
consumer products and services in the Vinod Kamath , Chief Finance and Information Technology, Marico Limited
global beauty and wellness space. The
Marico Limited, a consumer goods company, is a leading Indian
group has crossed the milestone of INR
1,500 crore (U.S.$ 375 million) in sales corporation that operates companies in the hair care, health care
revenues and INR 100 crore (U.S.$ 25
and skin care segments of the beauty and wellness consumer
million) in profits.
goods market in India and abroad. Over the past 15 years, Marico
Business Situation
has been continually improvising, building new brands. Every
Being a fast growing firm with a vast
network, Marico needed a larger month, over 70 million consumer packs from Marico reach
communications system that would provide
approximately 130 million consumers in about 23 million
a foundation for integrated communication
and collaboration. households, through a widespread distribution network of more
than 2.5 million outlets in India and overseas. With such a vast
Solution
The company deployed Microsoft Office network, employees were spending a lot of time in travelling. The
Communications Server 2007 as part of a
company wanted to improve communication and collaboration
unified communications solution.
capabilities of its employees. With the help of Microsoft® Consulting
Benefits
Services (MCS), Marico deployed Microsoft Office Communications
 Enhanced productivity
 Improved information sharing Server 2007. The new solution reduced administrative and
 Reduced travel costs
maintenance costs along with improving employee efficiency and
enhancing productivity.

2. Situation constraint. The company wanted an
Marico is a leading Indian Group in Consumer integrated solution that would provide unified
Products and Services in the Global Beauty messaging and communication.
and Wellness space. It markets well known
brands such as Parachute, Saffola, Sweekar,
Hair and Care, Nihar, Shanti, Mediker, Revive, Solution
Manjal, Kaya, Sundari, Aromatic, Fiancee and After looking at several messaging
HairCode. Marico’s brands and their environments such as Skype, GTalk and
extensions occupy leadership positions with Yahoo messenger, Marico chose to
significant market shares in most categories - implement Microsoft Office Communications
coconut oil, hair oils, post wash hair care, Server 2007 because it met all the specific
anti-lice treatment, premium refined edible communication needs of the company.
oils, niche fabric care etc. Marico is present Marico partnered with Microsoft® Consulting
in the skin care solutions segment through Services (MCS) for implementing the new
Kaya Skin Clinics (48 in India and the Middle solution.
East), the Sundari range of Spa skin care
products (in the USA and other countries) and “We selected Microsoft Office
its soap franchise (in India and Bangladesh). Communications Server 2007 for presence,
In India, Marico is headquartered in Mumbai. instant messaging, and Web conferencing,”
says Bhagwant Pai – IT Infrastructure
“Microsoft Office As of today, Marico operates in consumer
products, aesthetic services, and global
Manager, Marico Limited. “This will further
increase productivity, improve information
Communications Server ayurvedic business. Marico's own sharing, and simplify IT management.”
2007 provided manufacturing facilities are located at Goa,
Kanjikode, Jalgaon, Saswad, Pondicherry, Office Communications Server 2007
information workers with Dehradun and Daman supported by incorporates software powered voice over IP
the ability to use OCS subcontracting units. (VoIP), so users can make, receive, and
manage phone calls using Microsoft Office
presence to increase Marico’s focus on sustainable profitable Communicator 2007 running on their
their efficiency thus growth is manifest through its consistent
financial performance – a CAGR of 19
computers. It also offers improvements to
instant messaging and presence, and it
increasing productivity.” percent in revenues and 19 percent in profits provides an on-premise version of Microsoft
over the past 5 years, while setting a record Office Live Meeting for Web conferencing.
Girish Rao, Head IT Solutions, Marico
of several consecutive quarters of year on
Limited
year growth is 31 percent on profits and 27 The new solution delivered the infrastructure
percent for sales and distributing dividends capabilities that support collaboration across
for 26 consecutive quarters. offices in India. It supports the following
means of communication and collaboration:
Being a fast growing company with a vast
network, Marico wanted to enable better  Enterprise wide communication and
communication and collaboration among its collaboration platform
employees. The company wanted to reduce  Group IM
the time and cost on traveling of their  Support for multi party communication
employees for meetings and reviews. Also,  Archival of communication
most of the services available to the
company’s employees were hosted, hence
with the pay per use model, cost was a major

3. Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 Girish Rao, Head IT Solutions Marico Limited.
provided rich presence and instant “This will improve services through
messaging services to enhance collaboration. employees working as productively as
possible.”
The project consisted of three phases,
“The new solution solution architecture, testing, and rollout. Improved Information Sharing
provided Marico with a Solution architecture took 5 days (it started Office Communications Server 2007 will
on 23rd April, 2007 and was completed on make it possible for Marico employees to
competitive advantage by 27th April, 2007). The testing phase was collaborate more easily and through more
providing messaging tools started on 23rd April, 2007 and ended on modes of communication. Employees can use
17th May, 2007. Production rollout was done features such as conferencing and instant
that enable from 20th May, 2007 to 5th June, 2007. messaging from inside the Microsoft Office
communication across applications they work with every day, such
“The new solution provided Marico with a as Microsoft Office Word and Office Excel
multiple vendors / competitive advantage by providing spreadsheet software. “Improved
partners / offices and messaging tools that enable communication collaboration will help our employees to stay
across multiple vendors / partners / offices informed, and foster new ideas,” says
locations.” and locations,” says Vinod Kamath, Chief Bhagwant Pai, IT Infrastructure Manager,
Finance and IT, Marico Limited. Marico Limited.
Vinod Kamath , Chief Finance and IT, Marico
Limited
The OCS server was implemented in the Reduced Travel Costs
Datacenter at the main office at Rang Sharda By using Office Communication Server 2007,
in Bandra Reclamation. Chat, Presence Marico has reduced travel costs for its
awareness, and Audio and Video engineers and IT personnel. With Office
conferencing were the modules Communications Server 2007, IT
implemented. professionals can use presence to find out
who might be available to help and make
contact with that person instantly.
Benefits
By deploying a unified communications
solution, Marico expects to improve
productivity through easy access to
information and collaboration tools.
Enhanced Productivity
The range of communications options
provided by Office Communications Server
2007, will give the mobile work force at
Marico powerful new tools to make their time
on the road more productive.
“With Office Communications Server 2007,
we will gain presence awareness. Employees
can see the availability of their colleagues
and how best to contact them whether by
using phone, email message, instant
messaging, or video conferencing,” says

4. For More Information About Microsoft Services Microsoft Office System
For more information about Microsoft Microsoft Services is the consulting, technical The Microsoft Office System is the business
products and services, call the Microsoft support, and customer service arm of the world’s chosen environment for information
Sales Information Center at (800) world’s leading Software Company. The work, providing the programs, servers, and
426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft organization helps customers and partners services that help you succeed by
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568 discover and implement high value Microsoft transforming information into impact.
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of- solutions that generate rapid, meaningful,
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone and measurable results. For more information about the Microsoft
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in Office System, go to:
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in With its global partner network and support www.microsoft.com/office
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and infrastructure, Microsoft Services enables the
Canada, please contact your local successful adoption, deployment, and use of
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information Microsoft solutions and technologies for all
using the World Wide Web, go to: customers, from the individual to the
www.microsoft.com enterprise. Microsoft Services is designed to
provide the right scope of services at the right
For more information about Marico Limited time, including localized support solutions for
products and services, call (91) (22) 6648 businesses and consumers around the world.
0480 or visit the Web site at:
www.maricoindia.com
Software and Services Hardware
 Products  HP ProLiant DL380 G4
− Microsoft Office Communications  2.80 gigahertz Intel Xeon
Server 2007  16 kilobyte primary memory cache
 2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Partner
 Microsoft Consulting Services
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case
study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published September, 2007