Endemol
A new system for larger mailboxes and easier remote access.
When Endemol UK acquired TV production companies Tiger Aspect, Tigress Productions and Darlow Smithson Productions (TADS) it meant that it would need to merge the email infrastructures used by the various companies.
Endemol UK also needed to replace its ageing Exchange 2003 system and was looking to reduce the overhead of running email on its servers to improve its users’ ability to access their emails anywhere without relying on its own core infrastructure.
At a Glance
Endemol UK is the company behind some of TV’s most popular shows, including 8 Out of 10 Cats, Big Brother and Pointless. It is one of the UK’s largest independent production companies and is part of Endemol’s global network of 90 companies in more than 30 countries.
Services Delivered
Technologies Deployed
Industry Sector
Business Driver
Challenge
Endemol UK chose to move to Office 365 to replace its ageing Exchange 2003 infrastructure and smooth the integration of an acquisition. Total Computers handled a complicated, staged migration to merge separate instances of Active Directory and move users to Office 365 from two different editions of Exchange.
Solution
Endemol UK considered an in-house move to Exchange 2013 but decided to migrate its users to Microsoft Office 365 for their email. After comparing the two, Office 365 ticked more boxes and provided better value for money. It seemed the right time to make progress for Endemol and the project just needed the right company to back Endemol through the process.
Office 365 gives users larger mailboxes and improved access to emails away from the office – while Endemol UK has a reliable, easy to manage email solution, with less load on its infrastructure.
Following conversations with multiple suppliers, Endemol UK chose Total Computers to handle the project, based on its approach and its team.
Outcome
Previously, Endemol UK’s users kept their emails stored in the PST folders used by Microsoft Outlook, on the company’s servers. When a user moved to a new office, this meant that Endemol UK had to either move the PST folders to that site’s local servers, or provide a VPN and bandwidth to enable the user to connect remotely.
Taking Care of Technology
There's a greater demand than ever for businesses to utilise technology and we are here to make that process simple.
Mark Cotterel
Head of IT,
Endemol
Having Total on board as a partner with the experience of having done this before, and who knew what they were doing, was a key point for me.
Everything has gone as smoothly as we could have imagined possible. The collaborative approach, in which we rely on Total technically and learn from them, has been a match made in heaven.
We are picky with our suppliers, but Total has done a great job. Our day-to-day contact really understands the production demands of Endemol – it feels like he’s got his own key to the building.
With Total, we can just offload a task, then they will know when to question us, what to ask, and when to push us. They’re responsive and get back to us quickly, and work with us over the weekend when it’s needed.