By Referral Only, based in Carlsbad, Calif., provides training and coaching to real estate agents throughout the U.S. and Canada. While its programs, community and tools serve a wide range of professionals, the small business’s employees often have to wear multiple hats to take care of their customers. Through migrating to Microsoft Office 365 with the help of Agile IT, the organization was able to efficiently upgrade its employees’ email and software programs, and save money by virtualizing many of its servers.
By Referral Only’s employees were running on multiple operating systems and programs, ranging from Windows XP to Windows 7 and from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2010. The company’s IT staff was looking to bring everyone up to speed with a platform that would be easy to manage. “We’re a small company that moves slowly and carefully,” said Toby Seward, IT systems analyst for By Referral Only. “But we were behind the times and needed to catch up.”
The company also wanted to move its data storage to the Cloud, virtualizing many of its servers located across San Diego County. Cutting down on equipment and the time required to maintain that equipment would help the small business significantly cut costs.
Moving its employees to Microsoft Office 365 enabled By Referral Only to update its systems, respond to its customers in real-time and get rid of some of its servers. Once the company migrated its users to Office 365, it was able to drop its Exchange and Sharepoint servers, and was also in line to drop its terminal and file servers, saving the company both time and money.
To help with the migration, By Referral Only’s IT team was looking for a technology partner they could count on to make the transition as seamless as possible. Agile IT didn’t just provide the company with technical expertise, documentation and easy-to-understand advice, it also was flexible in letting By Referral Only’s IT team handle what it could to keep the overall price tag of the migration very minimal. “We researched a lot of companies around our area and I just felt really comfortable with the plan Agile IT had,” said Seward. “We were looking for them to be an extension of our team and, from beginning to end, it was a great experience.”
Moving to Microsoft Office 365 has helped By Referral Only get closer to reaching its goal of having only five servers – after previously having 20 – allowing the small business to reallocate money previously spent on hardware and equipment. Not only is the new web portal’s user interface easy to use for the IT team, By Referral Only’s employees continue to enjoy working in the Cloud and love the new version of Microsoft Outlook.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of Microsoft Office 365 for By Referral Only is peace of mind. “I feel more at ease as an administrator because I don’t have to worry about my server crashing or how good the backups are,” said Seward. “I sleep better at night.”
For more information about By Referral Only, visit ByReferralOnly.com.
“…from beginning to end, it was a great experience”
Sales@AgileIT.com