Roland Krähenbühl,
Head of marketing and communication, Chrischona international
For more than 170 years, Chrischona international has been leading people in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. The NPO is based in St.Chrischona above Bettingens (BS). To make communication easier, it uses the Microsoft Office 365 service from Swisscom.
«A Hydra with many heads» – that is how Roland Krähenbühl, head of marketing and communication at Chrischona international, describes the previous e-mail infrastructure. What went wrong? Because the existing mail solution failed to work properly, many employees started using their personal e-mail accounts for communication within the mission organisation. Roland Krähenbühl describes the results: «E-mails simply disappeared or personal addresses ended up on blacklists. The situation couldn’t be sustained – after all communication is crucial for our organisation, with various bodies and around 200 churches in five countries! It was clear that the head office had to provide a reliable solution.»
Swisscom convinced the management of the merits of a solution tailored exactly to the different needs of three user groups. The basic Microsoft Office 365 package – for more than 200 users – offers Exchange Online and calendar functions. More than 50 users have the E1 package (with Lync, Exchange and SharePoint), and around 10 users also have the E3 package with Microsoft Office applications. The integrated Exchange Online service means that e-mail traffic reaches its intended destination and the new standardised calendar makes collaboration much easier. Another plus point is the easy central service management by the organisation’s IT specialists using online access.
«This is exactly what we need!» That was the reaction of those in charge at Chrischona international to the Microsoft Office 365 offering from Swisscom, says Roland Krähenbühl. «The value for money is excellent, the solution is reliable and it offers lots of options. E-mails arrive safely and the calendar in Exchange makes planning and organisation a lot easier. The migration and switch were smooth and fast. We are convinced that the solution from Swisscom will give us an excellent foundation for future collaboration.»