Microsoft Online ServicesCustomer Solution Case Study

Top Malaysian Islamic finance provider increases productivity with Online Services

OverviewCountry or Region: MalaysiaIndustry: Financial Services - Insurance

Customer ProfileSince 1984, Takaful Malaysia has been the leading provider of Islamic financial services in Malaysia, managing over MYR 4.67 billion (U.S.$1.9 billion) in funds with a headcount of 955 employees.

Business SituationAs part of a business revamp, Takaful Malaysia wanted to provide email accounts and a shared file server for its top 200 insurance agents in the shortest time possible.

SolutionThe company outsourced their mail, file server and communications to the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite.

Benefits Rapid deployment combined with

reduced costs Increased security of data Simplified management and access of

accounts Excellent support services

“By outsourcing to Microsoft Online services we removed the need for additional hardware and technical staff. In turn this has helped us decrease our operational costs.”

Patrick Wong, Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Division, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad

Founded in 1984, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia is Malaysia’s leading provider of Islamic insurance with 955 employees, managing over MYR 4.67 billion (U.S.$1.9 billion) in assets. As part of a company-wide business revamp, Takaful Malaysia wanted to deploy hosted email services for its top insurance agents in the shortest timeframe possible. To reduce implementation time, the organization deployed Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) to establish remote access and email accounts for 200 of its top agents in less than two weeks, and at a lower cost than traditional email.

SituationFor over two decades Syarikat Takaful Malaysia has been the leading provider of Islamic financial services in Malaysia, with a permanent staff count of 955 and thousands of agents marketing their services. Managing assets worth over MYR 4.67 billion (U.S.$1.5billion), the company is unlike conventional financial services organizations. Takaful operates under Islamic (or muamalat) law which states that the fees paid for services such as insurance are for sharing the burden rather than personal financial safety. However, in recent years Takaful saw the need to make significant changes to its business model in order to continue its position as a market leader.

One of the main changes saw the company consolidate its branches nationwide; and implement a network of trusted external insurance agents to market their products and services. “Historically we made use of branches for sales purposes. However, we took the decision to consolidate our branches, and instead recruit insurance agents. This is part of our strategy to rebrand ourselves as a more modern, energetic company,” says Patrick Wong, Chief Information Officer of the Information Technology Division, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia.

The insurance agents are split into two categories. There are roughly 400 corporate agents, who market Takaful Malaysia’s range of services exclusively and a number of certified Takaful Financial Consultants who market a number of other products and services. Previously, corporate agents and Takaful Financial Consultants alike would use their personal email accounts to

communicate, receiving standard operating procedures and other shared resources through an unreliable system of faxes, calls and email attachments.

Wong comments, “A key issue we were facing was that our corporate agents were registering multiple personal email accounts, which made it difficult for us to communicate with them, and looked unprofessional.” Wong and his team decided to implement a new network of email accounts that would deliver a more consistent brand experience to Takaful customers, along with increased efficiency from shared file access through the Takaful domain. He comments “By moving the corporate agents to our own email domain, we have standardized our communications and implemented stricter security controls.”

To facilitate a quick turnaround time, Takaful Malaysia decided to outsource their email and file servers, removing the need to hire additional staff, purchase hardware, and build up new management procedures.

SolutionTakaful Malaysia initially put the project out to tender and after a review of the options in the market, the company selected a Microsoft solution, becoming the first company in Malaysia to outsource their file and email infrastructure to Microsoft Online Services. Wong comments, “90 percent of the applications across our network are based on Microsoft, and therefore we felt it was a logical step to select Microsoft Online Services from both a compatibility and efficiency perspective.”

The company deployed Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS).

24

“90 percent of the applications across our network are based on Microsoft, and therefore we felt it was a logical step to select Microsoft Online Services from both a compatibility and efficiency perspective.”

Patrick Wong, Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Division, Syarikat

Takaful Malaysia

The system uses Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Online for email, with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 as the file server. In addition the company uses Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Online for presence availability, instant messaging and peer to peer audio calls; and Microsoft Office Live Meeting for web and video conferencing. “As the services are being managed by Microsoft, we did not require any training and we were able to implement the solution within two weeks.”

To make the process easier for their top agents, Takaful Malaysia also set up accounts with local telecommunications provider DiGi, who provided smartphones with 3G access to each of the agents.

BenefitsThrough a seamless and quick integration process, Takaful Malaysia’s agents immediately had access to a unified, secure and convenient communications platform, allowing them to share files and access their new company email accounts.

Outsourcing services leads to rapid deployment and reduced costs One of the immediate benefits of Microsoft Online Services was the plug-and-play nature of the operation, which included outsourcing the helpdesk to Microsoft. “One of the main reasons we chose to outsource hosting was because we needed a solution as soon as possible,” says Wong. “By outsourcing to Microsoft Online services we removed the need for additional hardware and technical staff. In turn this has helped us decrease our operational costs.”

Increased security of data with 99.9 percent uptime and remote-wiping of data Microsoft Online Services provides a reliable service to Takaful Malaysia users by committing to a 99.9 percent scheduled uptime in the Service Level Agreement for its entire BPOS suite of products, which is then secured with a 128 bit encryption. Wong adds, “Email is an important communication tool to our full-time staff and agents. It was important that we found a solution which ensured high availability and the security of our data. Microsoft Online Services ensures we are protected with a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.”

In addition, Microsoft Exchange Online includes functionality to remotely wipe all sensitive data from mobile devices in the event of theft – an important feature given the increasing occurrence of gadget theft, particularly for agents in the field.

Simplified management of accounts and easier access to data through online system With the new Microsoft BPOS system in place, Takaful Malaysia has gained greater control of email accounts, while simplifying the process for the agents, as they can now access files and emails using the same account information.

In addition, agents now have access to important information through SharePoint Server 2010. “We immediately put the most urgent shared documents onto the SharePoint site so that users could access the files from anywhere, to ensure they have the most up-to-date information,” says Wong.

34

Familiar and compatible software environment combined with excellent supportAs Takaful Malaysia was already running on the Microsoft environment, agents required no training, which helped the organization deploy the solution more efficiently.

Wong complimented the outsourced helpdesk for their professional support of the new solution. “We are very impressed with the services that we receive from Microsoft Premier Support. If we have any issues, I can call them and they will respond within a few hours.”Microsoft Online ServicesMicrosoft Online Services are business-class communication and collaboration solutions delivered as a subscription service and hosted by Microsoft. With these offerings, customers can cost-effectively access the most up-to-date technologies and immediately benefit from streamlined communications, simplified management, and business-class reliability and security features. For IT staffers, Microsoft Online Services are backed by strong service level agreements and help reduce the burden of performing routine IT management, freeing up time to focus on core business initiatives.

For more information, visit: www.microsoft.com/online

44

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Takaful Malaysia products and services, call +603 2268 1984 or visit the website at: www.takaful-malaysia.com.my

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published January 2011

Software and Services

Microsoft Office− Microsoft Office Communications

Server 2007 R2− Microsoft Office Live Meeting− Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

2010

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Exchange Server 2007

Services− Microsoft Business Productivity Online

Standard Suite− Microsoft Online Services

“We are very impressed with the services that we receive from Microsoft Premier Support. If we have any issues, I can call them and they will respond within a few hours.”

Patrick Wong, Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Division, Syarikat

Takaful Malaysia