The Background
Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Falls Church, VA, Efficiency3 (E3) is a performance management company that provides energy and facility management programs for commercial, governmental, and institutional organizations. E3 helps organizations quickly identify, quantify, and monetize hidden operating and financial savings opportunities enabling them to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of facility management and operations staff.
The Challenge
Disaster planning was on Joseph Zaloom’s mind. E3’s President was concerned about the safety of his company’s valuable data in the event of fire or any disruptive event. In addition, Zaloom wanted to enable his employees to work remotely easily and more securely. “We needed more security for our data and more flexibility to work remotely,” says Zaloom. “A cloud solution seemed to be the answer for us.”
E3 is a small business and although technically savvy, Zaloom knew he needed expert help for the cloud migration. “I felt it was economically smarter – a better use of my time and company resources – to use Nortec for a project like this,” says Zaloom.
The Solution
As a performance management company, the firm has many users accessing large files at one time. E3 needed a solution that could enable multiple users to share files quickly and easily. “We needed to be able to share and collaborate internally, but also be able to send files to our clients,” says Zaloom. After consulting with Zaloom on his goals, budget and timeline, Nortec recommended Office 365. “The implementation went perfectly,” says Zaloom. “The workflow was flawless.”
The SharePoint component of Office 365 enables E3 to share the files and apps easily with workgroups and clients, facilitating collaboration and information sharing. Zaloom says that the SharePoint upgrade alone would have been enough of an advantage to move to Office 365. “We’d had SharePoint 2010,” says Zaloom. “But Office 365 gave us the latest version and it is remarkably better and faster than the old one.”
Benefits
“Our business moves so much and so fast, Office 365 really was a game-changer for us,” says Zaloom. Office 365’s integrated solutions and built-in management tools have allowed E3 to move well beyond its former capabilities. “We’ve taken what we’re able to provide our clients to a whole new level,” says Zaloom. “And we’ve improved our delivery time by a factor of 10 at least.” The economic impact of a cloud solution is also a benefit to E3. The firm’s Office 365 subscription provides all the latest upgrades and licenses. “We don’t have to purchase upgrade licenses or spend time upgrading users. We just have it automatically,” says Zaloom. “And I didn’t have to spend thousands up front – I can amortize the fees over time, which is much more cost effective for my business.”