Introduction to RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) and its application
REEDS Jeweller Moves to Online Services to Boost Productivity and Cut Costs by 90 Percent Case Study
1. Microsoft Online Services
Customer Solution Case Study
Jeweler Moves to Online Services to Boost
Productivity and Cut Costs by 90 Percent
Overview
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Retail—Specialty retail
Customer Profile
REEDS Jewelers is a full-service,
multichannel jewelry retailer with 67
stores in the United States and an
online presence. The Wilmington,
North Carolina-based company
employs 600 people.
Business Situation
REEDS needed to replace phone- and
paper-based communications with
electronic communications to help its
staff be more efficient. It also wanted
to reduce costs and improve uptime.
Solution
REEDS subscribed to Microsoft®
Business Productivity Online Standard
Suite, part of Microsoft Online Services,
to give employees online access to the
latest communications programs.
Benefits
• More time to succeed
• Hosting costs reduced 90 percent
• Support reduced 80 percent
• Training costs reduced
“Online efficiencies have yielded more selling time and
more time for corporate staff to create marketing
campaigns, promotions, training, and other resources
to help stores be successful.”
Rhonda Cobb, Information Technology Manager, REEDS Jewelers
REEDS Jewelers is a full-service jewelry retailer operating online
and in 16 U.S. states. To be successful, REEDS needs fast,
accurate information exchange between corporate staff and the
chain’s 67 stores. Phone and paper-based communications were
time-consuming and difficult to reference, and the company’s e-
mail and collaboration systems were unstable and difficult to
use. REEDS used its Microsoft® Enterprise Client Access License
Suite to deploy the Microsoft Business Productivity Online
Standard Suite, part of Microsoft Online Services. REEDS
employees are now more productive, with more time to
strategize and sell. By hosting communications services in a
Microsoft data center, REEDS has reduced infrastructure costs by
90 percent and e-mail support work by 80 percent. It has also
improved the availability of critical messaging systems.
2. Situation
REEDS Jewelers was founded in 1946 by
Bill and Roberta Zimmer and has grown
into a large regional chain with 67 stores
in 16 United States, a regional direct-mail
catalog, and a leading e-commerce Web
site. Still a proud family-run business,
REEDS strives to make every customer
feel like family, with personalized service,
attention to detail, and lasting quality
and style. REEDS is headquartered in
Wilmington, North Carolina, and
employs approximately 600 people.
Phone and Paper-Based
Communications
Only 70 of those employees work in
Wilmington; the others work in the
stores across the eastern U.S. Constant,
prompt, and accurate communication
among corporate departments, store
employees, and between stores is critical
to REEDS’s success. Corporate staff
members in jewelry design, marketing,
finance, human resources, and other
departments routinely distribute policies
and procedures, market alerts, special
promotions, sales figures, sales tips, and
other information to stores. Conversely,
corporate departments depend on
communications from stores to learn
about local market needs and
competitors’ moves. Stores also
communicate with one another to locate
needed stock items, since inventory is
distributed across REEDS’s stores rather
than stored centrally.
REEDS used Microsoft® Exchange Server
2003 for e-mail messaging, but store
staff only had Web access to e-mail
messages, which limited their ability to
archive and search for messages. Also,
staff departures had left the company
without the confidence that its e-mail
policies were controlled and enforced
consistently or its e-mail system reliable
and flexible enough to meet its needs.
Much communication took place over
the telephone and the postal mail. This
slowed communication and made it
difficult for store staff to locate
information. “Many of the bulletins,
alerts, and policies that we mailed out
disappeared into binders, never to be
seen again,” says Rhonda Cobb,
Information Technology Manager for
REEDS Jewelers.
REEDS also used Microsoft Office
SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 to post
some documents, but the software had
not been installed correctly so it was
unstable and difficult to use. Even
though only a few departments posted
information to SharePoint sites, stores
depended on the sites to stay up-to-date
on company business. Also, REEDS felt
that it was not using the software to its
full potential.
Corporate trainers periodically traveled
to stores to deliver sales and other types
of training or sent packages of
paperwork. However, paper-based
training did not always deliver consistent
message delivery. It also left store staff
with additional notebooks of reference
materials, which were difficult to search.
REEDS wanted to deliver more frequent,
more personalized, and less expensive
training.
To minimize paper, time lags,
information searches, and costs, REEDS
“We wanted to give our
corporate operational
staff more time to devise
winning jewelry
strategies and marketing
campaigns and free our
store people to sell.”
Jim Rouse, Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer, REEDS Jewelers
3. knew that it needed to embrace more
electronic communications. “We wanted
to give our corporate operational staff
more time to devise winning jewelry
strategies and marketing campaigns and
free our store people to sell,” says Jim
Rouse, Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer for REEDS Jewelers. “We
wanted to empower people to
disseminate information quickly and
provide a way to locate it later.”
Expensive Communications
Infrastructure
When the U.S. economy began to slow in
2008, REEDS began to investigate how to
reduce its communication and
collaboration costs. REEDS ran Exchange
Server 2003, Office SharePoint Portal
Server 2003, and its Active Directory®
service on three leased servers in a third-
party hosting facility, but the monthly
lease for these servers was U.S.$18,000.
REEDS debated whether to bring the
servers in-house or move them to a less
expensive hosting facility.
Even though the three servers were
hosted externally, the small IT staff at
REEDS co-managed them, along with 15
other servers in the Wilmington data
center. “Our IT staff spent too much time
babysitting servers—resolving problems,
backing up data, and supporting users,”
Rouse says. “Our network administrator
Lora Smith spent two hours a day just
troubleshooting e-mail issues.”
Unstable Collaboration Service
The availability of the company’s Office
SharePoint Portal Server 2003 sites was
another concern. Because of the faulty
implementation, the portal would
sometimes fail. “There were also
availability glitches when server updates
weren’t applied consistently,” Cobb says.
“When this happened during holiday
periods, it caused a lot of frustration and
required several workarounds.”
Solution
To lower costs immediately, REEDS
researched the costs of bringing its
messaging and collaboration servers in-
house, moving them to a different
hosting facility, and moving to an online
software model. In late 2008, Softmart, a
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and
trusted vendor, introduced REEDS to
Microsoft Online Services and the
Microsoft Business Productivity Online
Standard Suite, a subscription-based,
Microsoft-hosted service that includes
Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft
SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office
Communications Online, and Microsoft
Office Live Meeting.
“When we looked at what we gained by
moving software online, and letting
Microsoft host its own software, we saw
that we would gain better uptime, lower
costs, and better disaster recovery,”
Cobb says. “We wanted to keep our
software current, ally with a vendor that
would be around for a long time, and get
a fair price.”
REEDS achieved a good price in part by
taking advantage of its existing Microsoft
Enterprise Client Access License (CAL)
Suite to license the Microsoft Business
Productivity Online Standard Suite. The
Enterprise CAL gives organizations a
cost-effective way to license many
popular Microsoft business programs.
“When we looked at
what we gained by
moving software online,
and letting Microsoft
host its own software, we
saw that we would gain
better uptime, lower
costs, and better disaster
recovery.”
Rhonda Cobb, Information Technology
Manager, REEDS Jewelers
4. “Licensing Microsoft Online Services
through our Enterprise Agreement gave
us a fixed price and an application suite
that grows with us,” Cobb says. “The
software-plus-services approach that
Microsoft has embraced enables our IT
staff to be leaner without letting go of
our business needs. Microsoft does the
daily work of managing servers, and we
essentially extend the capabilities of our
department without hiring additional
people.”
Team Effort
After licensing Microsoft Online Services
through Softmart, REEDS needed
assistance with migrating its e-mail
mailboxes online and connecting its on-
premises Office SharePoint Portal Server
2003 installation with SharePoint Online.
Microsoft introduced REEDS to two
specialized Microsoft Gold Certified
Partners that could help with these tasks.
Azaleos, a Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner based in Seattle, Washington,
had worked closely with the Microsoft
Online Services team in developing an e-
mail migration methodology for
Microsoft Online Services customers. A
week prior to beginning the e-mail
migration, an Azaleos consultant worked
with REEDS to complete a series of
prerequisite tasks focused on application
integration and e-mail configuration. The
first users were migrated online by
lunchtime of the first day of the onsite
engagement.
After the initial pilot, the consultant
shared the Azaleos migration
methodology with Cobb and Smith,
which enabled the REEDS staff to migrate
remaining users themselves. The Azaleos
consultant needed only four days onsite
to complete the engagement, and the
REEDS IT team gained the knowledge
needed to run and maintain the system.
“Even though we are outsourcing e-mail
to Microsoft, we still want to know what
we are doing, and Azaleos helped us
come up to speed,” Cobb says. “We
migrated all 160 e-mail accounts to
Microsoft Online Services in just four
days.” (Even though REEDS has 600
employees, each store has one e-mail
account shared by all employees in the
store, with approximately 100 more
accounts at corporate headquarters.)
Corus360, a Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner in Norcross, Georgia, helped
REEDS upgrade to Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server 2007 and integrate the
on-premises software with SharePoint
Online. “Corus360 archived our
SharePoint sites and helped us make our
portal more functional as we upgraded
to Office SharePoint Server 2007,” Cobb
says. “It also customized the look and
feel of our portal to make it easier to
use.”
REEDS accomplished the complete
migration to Microsoft Online Services in
just three months.
Varied Communications Options
Today, all REEDS employees have access
to the latest version of Exchange Server,
currently Microsoft Exchange Server
2007, and the Microsoft Office Outlook®
2007 messaging and collaboration client.
“Instead of using Outlook Web Access to
“E-mail performance is
much faster, and our
messaging service is
much more stable. We’re
even looking at enabling
employees to send e-
mail outside the
company."
Lora Smith, Network Administrator,
REEDS Jewelers
5. access e-mail messaging, store
employees can use the full Office
Outlook 2007 client, which gives them
richer functionality and an easy ability to
archive mail, and simplifies training,”
Smith says. “E-mail performance is much
faster, and our messaging service is
much more stable. We’re even looking at
enabling stores to send e-mail outside
the company, which they could not do
before, because the system was unstable,
and we did not have the proper controls
in place to encourage effective business
use at the store level.”
Each user is allotted a 1-gigabyte
mailbox quota, expandable if needed,
with easy management of shared
calendars, contacts, and tasks. REEDS
gains thorough virus and spam filtering,
99.9 percent scheduled uptime with
financially backed service-level
agreements, and assured business
continuity and disaster recovery.
By upgrading its on-premises software to
Office SharePoint Server 2007, REEDS
gained richer collaboration capabilities,
integrated workflow, greater
personalization, and greater stability.
Also, Corus360 helped REEDS
understand how to use Office SharePoint
Server 2007 more effectively as a
business-process tool.
For example, REEDS recently posted a
store survey on a SharePoint Online site
rather than mailing and collecting paper
surveys. The visual-display department
now posts store-layout and sales-display
photos online rather than printing and
mailing them. REEDS is also putting
jewelry warranty records on the
SharePoint site, where store personnel
can access them quickly.
“Departments are getting information
out to stores faster, because SharePoint
Online is so easy to use,” Cobb says. “We
are excited to start using workflows to
automate common processes such as
onboarding new employees.”
REEDS is beginning to deploy Microsoft
Office Communicator 2007, the client
software used to access Office
Communications Online. Office
Communications Online provides instant
messaging, Web-based audio and video
conferencing, and presence—the ability
to see if colleagues are online. “We are
using Office Communications Online in
the IT and finance departments and
finding that it helps us multitask much
better,” Cobb says. “When you’re on a
phone call and need information quickly,
you can see who’s online and ask them a
question without waiting on e-mail.”
REEDS is using Office Live Meeting to
deliver store training online, to explain
new operational procedures to all
employees, and to hold impromptu
meetings. “With Office Live Meeting, we
can eliminate the need to print and
distribute paper materials and deliver a
more customized and individualized
training environment for each store,”
Cobb says. When trainers do need to
share reference materials, they store
them on SharePoint Online sites, where
employees can access them any time.
Benefits
By migrating its communications and
collaboration infrastructure to Microsoft
“Online efficiencies have
yielded more selling time
and more time for
corporate staff to create
marketing campaigns,
promotions, trainings,
and other resources to
help stores be
successful.”
Rhonda Cobb, Information Technology
Manager, REEDS Jewelers
6. Online Services, REEDS Jewelers has
boosted corporate and store-employee
productivity, which has freed up time to
improve the business and sell. REEDS has
trimmed hosting costs by 90 percent,
reduced e-mail support work by 80
percent, and reduced training costs. Plus,
REEDS has far higher availability of
critical messaging services, which
contributes to greater credibility for the
IT staff.
Online Efficiencies Create More Time
to Succeed
With access from anywhere to stable e-
mail messaging, an easy-to-use
collaboration system, and a common
user interface across all communications
and collaboration programs, REEDS has
increased employee productivity at
headquarters and in the stores. “With
fast, easy information posting, there is far
less need for corporate staff to print and
mail paper to stores and much less need
for store personnel to copy, distribute,
file, and reference paper forms,” Cobb
says. “Online efficiencies have yielded
more selling time and more time for
corporate staff to create marketing
campaigns, promotions, training, and
other resources to help stores be
successful.” Store personnel can find the
information they need faster and share
ideas with their colleagues in other
stores.
Instead of being buried in three-ring
binders, store-display photos, sales tips,
and company procedures are posted
online where they can be easily located.
“Easy access to sales materials helps
store managers take better advantage of
good ideas so that they can be more
effective at selling and also be more
consistent with the REEDS brand,” Rouse
says. Putting warranty records on the
SharePoint site will also help improve
customer service.
Now that stores have access to rich e-
mail messaging, REEDS wants to use it
more broadly as a marketing tool. Store
salespeople could use customer data to
send personalized e-mail messages to
customers on their birthdays and
anniversaries and before Valentine’s Day
and Christmas.
Hosting Cost Reduced 90 Percent
REEDS has reduced its hosting costs by
90 percent with Microsoft Online
Services. “We previously spent $18,000 a
month to host three servers, and the
least expensive alternative we found was
$12,000 a month,” Cobb says. “With
Microsoft Online Services, we’re paying
less than $1,800 a month.”
Rouse adds, “Plus, Microsoft owns all the
equipment that I don’t need to buy, carry
on my books, or maintain.”
E-mail Support Reduced 80 Percent
Having Microsoft host its communica-
tions and collaboration services enables
the REEDS IT staff to focus on strategic
projects that are more critical to the
business. “The two hours a day that used
to be spent troubleshooting e-mail
problems is down to two hours a week,
mostly responding to users who are so
excited that they want to do more with
the software,” Cobb says. “Without
Microsoft Online Services, I would have
to hire another staff person, and with
7. today’s economy, there is no way that is
going to happen.”
Always-On Availability
REEDS also enjoys greater stability and
reliability of its e-mail and collaboration
systems. “I have an e-mail server that I
know will be available [24 hours a day, 7
days a week],” Cobb says. “We’ve always
been conscious of high security, but by
moving critical business functions to a
Microsoft data center, we have even
greater confidence that our messaging
and collaboration services will always be
available. Not only does Microsoft follow
best practices, but they have experts on
staff that monitor everything. We’ve
actually upgraded our own network
based on what we learned from
Microsoft about setting up a data
center.”
Training Costs Reduced
Conducting training over Office Live
Meeting and posting training materials
on SharePoint Online reduces the
printing, postage, and travel costs
related to training. “We can now deliver
much of our training faster and less
expensively,” Rouse says. “We can also
deliver a more personalized training
environment for our stores. We estimate
that we will save substantially on travel
over time.”
Improved IT Credibility
In 2007, REEDS went through a difficult
attempt to implement another software
program that demoralized the IT staff
and tarnished its credibility with the rest
of the company. “The Microsoft Online
Services rollout restored that credibility,”
Rouse says. “This was a major project
accomplished without a hiccup.”
Cobb echoes the success. “The close
relationship between Microsoft and our
three Microsoft partners enabled us to
pull this off,” she says. “They didn’t just
work for us, they worked with us to be
successful.”
“We can … deliver a
more personalized
training environment for
our stores. We estimate
that we will save
substantially on travel
over time.”
Jim Rouse, Chief Financial Officer and
Treasurer, REEDS Jewelers
8. Microsoft Online Services
Microsoft 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
For More Information
For 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 who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach
Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD)
services at (800) 892-5234 in the
United States or (905) 568-9641 in
Canada. 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 Azaleos
products and services, call (866) 318-
8767 or visit the Web site at:
www.azaleos.com
For more information about Corus360
products and services, call (770) 300-
4700 or visit the Web site at:
www.corus360.com
For more information about Softmart
products and services, call (888) 763-
8627 or visit the Web site at:
www.softmart.com
For more information about REEDS
Jewelers products and services, call
(910) 350-3100 or visit the Web site at:
www.reeds.com
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published September 2009
Software and Services
• Microsoft Online Services
• Microsoft Exchange Online
• Microsoft Office Communications
Online
• Microsoft Office Live Meeting
• Microsoft SharePoint Online
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007
• Solutions
• Software-plus-services
Partners
• Azaleos
• Corus360
• Softmart