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Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Customer Solution Brief

Commodity logistics company enhances collaboration with Microsoft SharePoint 2010

“SharePoint 2010 is not meant to be a rip and- -replace technology. There was no major programming to be done. Most of the capabilities are available out of the box. We just had to set up the user interface, and that was easily done. ” Mr Mark Lui, Direc tor of IT and Business Process, CWT Limited

The secure collaboration platform with integrated search capabilities enables sta� to share information and work together more e�ectively. A wholly-owned subsidiary of global logistics player CWT Limited, CWT Commodities specialises in the handling and storage of ferrous and non ferrous metals, soft commodities, plastics and petrochemical products. Listed as an o�cial London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouse operator, CWT Commodities has LME -approved facili ties in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. The Company o�ers LIFFE -approved and EKO -licensed warehouse facilities through its subsidiary CWT Sitos. CWT Commodities' full array of integrated commodity services include general and LME warehousing, collateral management in bonded, non-bonded and on-site warehouses, stock monitoring, freight forwarding, shipping, surveying, sampling and testing. Situation Since it was established in Singapore in 1983, CWT Commodities has grown

organically as well as through acquisitions. With o�ces spread across Singapore, China, Belgium and The Netherlands, e�ective communications was a key challenge. The sta� relied primarily on email for collaboration, augmented with telephone conversations and video conferencing. However, this presented challenges in locating the most recent versions of documents, document retrieval, and in ensuring that content was secure as sensitive documents were often communicated to foreign o�ces via email. Searching for do cuments and other information was also an issue. Contact lists were individually held and maintained. The company already had a �le server, but it lacked a search function and employees had to conduct manual searches for documents.

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Customer: CWT Commodities Pte Ltd Web Site: www.cwtcommodities.com Customer Size: 100 Country or Region: Singapore Industry: Commodity logistics Partners: Amnet Technology Pte Ltd, Synergy Corporate Technologies Customer Pro�le A wholly owned subsidiary of global logistics player CWT Limited, CWT Commodities specialises in the handling and storage of ferrous and non -ferrous metals, soft commodities, plastics and petrochemical products. Softwar e and Services Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

Edition SharePoint 2010 Enterprise SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition Microsoft O�ce 2010 Hardware HP DL380 servers EMC clarion CX4

© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Mic rosoft, [list other trademarks referenced] are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.. Document published 05/20/10

What CWT Commodities needed was a single open platform for communications and collaboration, especially because employees in di�erent o�ces often work together across borders on reports and contracts. Solution As a subscriber to Microsoft’s Enterprise Agreement, it was natural for CWT to turn to Microsoft for a solution. Together with its IT partners Synergy Corporate Technologies and Amnet Techonology, CWT evaluated SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft O�ce 2010, and realised that the combination would provide an immediate boost to document collaboration, enterprise content management, search, contact management and information sharing. Another key selling point was the improved business intelligence dashboard in SharePoint 2010, which enables users to access and analyse bu siness data in order to make better business decisions. Features aside, the ease of implementation and the savings in terms of licensing fees under the Enterprise Agreement helped sealed the deal for CWT. It took just two weeks for CWT to deploy the Sha rePoint 2010 solution to 60 users. “With SharePoint, document collaboration is available out-of-the-box. We didn’t have to do any tweaking, ” said Mr Mark Lui, Director of IT and Business Process for CWT Limited. “Search is also integrated and we are very happy with that. We already had an internal �le server, and SharePoint allowed us to index it so that we can do search. All we have to do now is to type in a key word to �nd the relevant documents. ”

He added, “SharePoint 2010 is not meant to be a rip -and-replace technology. There was no major programming to be done. Most of the capabilities are available out of the box. We just had to set up the user interface, and that was easily done. ” CWT also opted to run SharePoint 2010 on Windows Server 2008 R2 to take advantage of the virtualisation capabilities provided by Hyper-V R2. The move enabled CWT to speed up IT provisioning, save on hardware costs and improve server utilisation. “Hardware takes four weeks to purchase but with Hyper-V, it just took four days to set up a virtual machine, ” said Mr Lui. Bene�ts Enhanced collaboration SharePoint 2010 provides CWT with a powerful tool for collaboration and knowledge sharing. For example, tasks such as the preparation of tender documents can be broken up into �ve or six parts, each of which is pushed to the relevant department for action before the whole document is consolidated on SharePoint. With SharePoint ’s Enterprise Wiki portal, up -to-date information can also be shared securely on the corporate int ranet. Workers can freely create or edit content, and this facilitates the sharing of knowledge, business insights and tactical tips. An authoritative SharePoint contact list has also been created to ensure that relevant information reaches its target aud ience. For example, once reports are completed and published, SharePoint ’s Business Intelligence Dashboard disseminates the information throughout the organisation, providing updates in the form of summaries and detailed reports.

CWT’s collaboration and co mmunication e�orts extend beyond company itself. As Mr Lui pointed out, “CWT is about Connecting World Trade. SharePoint provides us with the platform to enable connectivity in world trade through e�ective communications and collaboration. ” Cost savings “By providing CWT with a platform for document collaboration and knowledge management, SharePoint allows the company to share useful lessons across the organisation without having to incur costs in travelling, video conferencing and overseas calls, ” sai d Mr Lui. More e�cient search capabilities The integration of search capabilities into SharePoint 2010 is another big plus for CWT. SharePoint enables the company to index its internal �le server to support search – something it was not able to do previously. “In the past, our employees would have to know where to start searching and if the person left the company, things would be even more di�cult to �nd, ” said Mr Lui. Future Plans With SharePoint 2010 deployed for its commodity logistics bus iness unit, CWT is planning to adopt the content management system across the Group over the next few months. There are also plans for CWT Commodities to integrate Microsoft ’s O�ce Communications Server into SharePoint as protection against information l eakage and attacks via Skype or other messaging systems.