Inspired by a family who understood the challenges of finding pediatric services, blueballoon Health Services takes a unique approach to healthcare delivery. “Our business model involves running multiple centers in multiple communities,” says CEO and co-founder Stephen MacEwen. “We want to be in our families’ communities, rather than having them travel long distances.” Thanks to the comprehensive package of cloud-based software that comes with Office 365, blueballoon’s therapists can work nearly anywhere. The company chose Office 365 over Google Apps for its easy-to-manage access to email, calendar sharing, chat, and other collaboration tools. Now, therapists can quickly share information and expert advice with each other. And it’s all simple enough that no IT support is needed for remote workers. MacEwen says that today, Office 365 is core to the way blueballoon works.

Ophthalmologists turn to ifa systems to capture diagnostic information from specialty equipment and create more complete records, so they can focus instead on protecting their patients’ vision. However, ifa itself struggled to maintain secure, remote access to email and important documents for its own employees. Facing the limits of a small IT staff, the software company realized it needed to move infrastructure and administration to the cloud in order to support its remote installation teams. Using a single login, ifa employees can now access Office 365 from a variety of mobile devices for Outlook email, calendars, and contacts. In addition, ifa employees, of which about 80% work remotely, can easily collaborate with desktop sharing and IM through Lync Online. ifa’s IT team no longer works weekends to maintain on-premise hardware, and administration is as simple as sending an invitation.

Aston Martin builds beautiful sports cars. Its employees are passionate about their work and challenge themselves to stretch the limits of automotive performance. Equally passionate about the business, the IT staff at Aston Martin wanted to focus on strategic projects and work more proactively to improve processes and technologies. To free IT resources from routine administration tasks while still providing the latest communications and collaboration capabilities, Aston Martin chose Microsoft Office 365. The cloud-based solution provides employees with familiar Office applications, plus enterprise-grade email, conferencing, and collaboration solutions. By providing easy access to business-critical productivity tools, enhanced security, and reliability through Office 365, Aston Martin is able to foster collaboration and improve business processes while reducing IT administration.

Agheera, a tiny German logistics startup, had shipping giant DHL as its first client. The company saw how valuable Agheera’s real-time shipment tracking and surveillance services were and backed the startup in 2010. Agheera set its sights globally and wanted to grow quickly without spending a bundle on IT at its Bonn headquarters. The company sought out a set of cloud-based services that would easily integrate with its Windows Azure-based software application, Pulse, that is used to track shipments in real time. Agheera chose Microsoft Office 365, which provides employees with anywhere access to emails on almost any mobile device, video conferencing and online meetings, and collaboration spaces.

Growing fast, DB Results was hiring five to 10 new people a week, overloading its ageing and unreliable in-house IT and reducing responsiveness. The company wanted to provide the latest communication technology on desktops, laptops and mobiles so workers could access documents and collaborate anywhere – while avoiding ongoing capital investment in servers and software. National Delivery Manager James Columbine put together a five-year strategy for Microsoft Office 365 after investigating Google Apps. A faster learning curve and richer features guided the decision. “Telstra came to the table with a package deal combining our phones and Office 365 on a single bill, making it very cost effective for us to migrate,” says Columbine. MAIN QUOTE “We now have the modern collaboration platform we need for a predictable monthly cost.” James Columbine, National Delivery Manager, DB Results

V8 Supercars is an international motorsport, media and entertainment company based in Australia. It employs 70 full-time staff with a network of approximately 1600 contractors and volunteers to manage race teams, events and broadcasts to more than 130 countries and online. V8 Supercars had outgrown its current IT infrastructure and wanted a cost-effective and flexible platform to support its expansion plans. With a highly mobile team setting up, delivering and broadcasting race events all over the world, it was critical to provide fast, efficient access to email and company files from virtually any location. V8 Supercars moved to Microsoft Office 365, giving everyone in the business stable, reliable access to their files, email and modern collaboration tools when they’re working in their Gold Coast headquarters, Sydney office or from various trackside locations in Australia and the world.

During difficult and volatile financial market phases, it is enormously important for investors to identify suitable entry and exit points for securities investments. Operated by BörseGo AG, the internet portals GodmodeTrader.de, GodmodeTrader.ch, and BoerseGo.de keep investors up-to-date with transparent financial information. The company also supplies economic news and financial analyses to banks, financial services firms, and operators of other finance portals. In addition, BörseGo AG develops software solutions ranging from simple charts to more complex applications for real-time chart analysis, chart signal calculation, and portfolio management. In addition, BörseGo AG also designs and builds complete web pages.

Founded in 1992, Arte France is a cultural television channel that focuses on programming about the arts and culture. Based near Paris, Arte France broadcasts throughout France and in Germany, and also operates a radio station. Many of Arte France's programs are available in other countries via cable. The company's 450 French employees worked hard to create and broadcast leading-edge programming, yet struggled with an unreliable and outdated email solution that need continual updates. Microsoft Office 365, with its cloud-based Microsoft Exchange email solution, gave Arte France employees a familiar, professional, and reliable platform for all of their communication needs, both internally and with its offices in Germany.

The Herjavec Group (THG) has become one of Canada’s most successful technology companies, thanks to its forward-looking vision and the support of Canada’s largest team of certified security engineers. After its latest acquisition, THG realized that its on-premise email system had reached its limits. Rather than upgrading the hardware and adding a full-time staff member to manage the system, the group decided to stick to what it does best—and move the rest to the cloud. So, what did the company that specializes in IT security select for secure, cloud-based productivity and collaboration? The group chose Microsoft Office 365 over Google Apps for its instant scalability and familiar features. Now, the company can ensure that employees always have quick, easy access to the tools they need—no matter where THG goes next.

Net Balance depends on email for communications and niggling outages on the firm’s Melbourne server were disrupting business. With IT managers also concerned about device security, it was time to investigate a more stable solution. Working with Microsoft partner HubOne, Net Balance deployed Microsoft Office 365 as its company communication and collaboration platform. The firm is up and running with Microsoft Lync, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint for collaboration plus Windows Intune to manage 54 devices centrally. Net Balance Executive Director Terence Jeyaretnam says, “Office 365 makes a lot of sense from a business perspective. It’s easy to budget, easy to deploy and it has all the features we need.” MAIN QUOTE “Office 365 makes our IT more reliable and our business easier to manage. We’ve now got the tools to make a greater impact in business.” Terence Jeyaretnam