NLKM Europe switched to using Office 365 for email and collaboration. The 1800 PC users now use Exchange Online for email, and 100 managers use Lync Online for video conferences to reduce international travel. This transition was managed by IT partner Virtual and consolidated NLKM's four separate email systems and domains into a single, cloud-based Office 365 system for improved internal communication across Europe.

1. NLKM Europe has switched to Office 365. All 1800 PC
users now mail through the cloud with Exchange
Online. 100 managers are also using Lync Online, espe-
cially for video conferences with international col-
leagues. This means they have to travel abroad less of-
ten, which is delivering substantial cost savings.
NLMK Europe used to work with four different, non-
integrated e-mail systems. So there was no central do-
main and no internationally shared address directory.
This was interfering with the communication between
colleagues at the different branches, even though they
had to work intensively together.
Working in consultation with IT partner Virtual, NLMK
Europe decided to switch to e-mail in the cloud with
Exchange Online, a part of the Microsoft Office 365
suite. Virtual helped the IT department of the steel
company with the migration of the old systems. This
was done in a month. Users can now communicate
much more efficiently. It is also easier for them to check
their mails from home or on the move. Availability is
guaranteed through the Microsoft SLA.
country: Belgium
sector: steel products
profile
NLMK Europe consists of the European operations
of the NLMK Group, including six production sites
and an extensive network for the processing and
distribution of steel products. NLMK Europe em-
ploys more than 3000 staff.
challenge
NLMK Europe did not have a standardised e-mail
system for all its branches. This made it difficult to
communicate efficiently and share address directo-
ries and calendars.
tel. +39 0185 368 005
info@virtual.eu
Microsoft Office 365
NLKM Europe’s international communication
runs more efficiently through the cloud

2. solution
IT partner Virtual supported NLMK Europe with the
switch to Microsoft Office 365 as a central system
for communicating and collaborating through the
cloud. All 1800 PC users now mail through Ex-
change Online. 1OO managers are also using Lync
Online for video conferencing.
benefits
Û Communicate and collaborate more efficiently
Û Rapid return on investment
Û Available at any time and any place
Û Business continuity guaranteed
Û Security and redundancy
Û Easier to work remotely
software&services
Servers
Developer Tools
Windows
Desktop Applications
Business Solutions
Online Services
Office 365
Microsoft Services
Microsoft Technologies
Microsoft Security
IT partner Virtual has helped NLMK Europe with its transi-
tion to Office 365. The 1800 PC users of the international
steel company now e-mail in the cloud with Exchange
Online. There are 100 users who also have meetings in the
cloud with Lync Online. Communication with Office 365
runs much more efficiently. NLMK Europe can rely on
guaranteed redundancy, speed and availability of the soft-
ware, which runs in Microsoft’s data centre. So the IT staff
can focus on other projects with more added value for the
business. The help desk receives 25 percent fewer calls
about e-mail problems.
“We went from four different non-integrated e-mail sys-
tems and four different domains to a central Exchange
server in the cloud,” says Laurent Prevost, CIO at NLMK
Europe. “The Active Directories were integrated, so that
now we have a network that is much more efficient to
manage.”
Streamline everything and to the cloud
The previous mail systems of NLMK Europe operated in
Belgium, France, Italy and Switzerland. The Active Direc-
tory structures each functioned as a separate computer
network with its own rules and settings. The separate do-
mains also meant that the e-mail addresses were not uni-
form at the international level. NLMK Europe called in
Virtual to streamline everything and place it in the cloud.
“The goal was to consolidate everything in one Active
Directory structure with a single domain and user authen-
tication,” says Marco Lanata, system and security architect
at Virtual. “So we had to migrate all 1800 mailboxes to the
new central domain. For NLMK Europe, a cloud approach
was ideal. NLMK Europe has 12 production sites and ser-
vice centers spread across Europe, which makes it very
complicated and time-consuming to take care of the man-
agement of the mail servers itself. Thanks to Office 365,
this is no longer necessary. The software runs in Microsoft’s
data centre and users work through an Internet connec-
tion.”
It used to be anything but straightforward for the staff of
NLMK Europe to communicate with international col-
leagues because there was no common e-mail directory.
“They kept lists on Excel or Word, which obviously was not
efficient. We could not share these address lists or keep
them up to date,” says Laurent Prevost.

3. Guaranteed availability
The selection of Office 365 was made by NLMK
Europe in consultation with Virtual. “We decide to-
gether on our IT strategy,” explains Laurent Prevost.
“We were already using other software from Micro-
soft and this can be perfectly integrated into Office
365. The familiarity for end users is also an asset.
Now they work with an address list that is centrally
available to everyone and kept up to date for every-
one, and they can better manage their calendars
and appointments and share them with each other.
They received an hour-long explanation from Virtual
about these new features. That was enough to get
them started with their new way of working. Equally
important are the speed, robust security and redun-
dancy in Microsoft’s data centre. We established a
Service Level Agreement that guarantees an avail-
ability of 99.9%. We also have continuous support
from their IT specialists.”
Working remotely
The business continuity is vital for NLMK Europe. E-
mail is an essential tool for our internal and external
communication. “You always have to be able to re-
spond quickly,” says Laurent Prevost. “We work very
intensively with the other branches abroad and
that’s why we are constantly communicating by e-
mail. This is much easier now that everyone is work-
ing with Exchange Online. Working through the
cloud also makes it much simpler to check mails re-
motely – from home, on holiday or on the move.”
Immediate return on investment
E-mail alone is not always enough. There are also
regular international meetings. The staff of NLMK
Europe used to travel abroad frequently for these.
This is happening much less since the use of Lync
Online, another part of Office 365. With Lync Online
users can chat, have online meetings and hold video
conferences on their PC.
“Adding images to an online meeting makes the
communication a lot smoother and natural, we have
noticed. This means video conferencing can replace
a physical international meeting. Thanks to the
travel costs saved, we recovered the cost of investing
in Lync after just a few months,” says Laurent
Prevost.
Lync Online is intended for some 100 users at NLMK
Europe. “Most managers now use it and they find it
very useful,” says Laurent Prevost. “Lync is also inte-
grated with Outlook, so that users can for instance
start a video conference from their Outlook inter-
face. A video conference can also be started very
spontaneously, since users just need their PC and no
Laurent Prevost, CIO at NLMK Europe: “An address list is centrally available to all the end users. They can bet-
ter manage their calendars and appointments and share them with each other.”

4. other equipment or separate video conference room. You
see from the presence information if someone is available
and you can directly choose how you want to contact
them.”
Fast migration
The project at NLMK Europe went very smoothly. “The mi-
gration itself, which was done in collaboration with the IT
department of NLMK Europe, took a month. In June Office
365 came on the market and barely a couple of weeks
later the end users were able to work with it,” says Marco
Lanata.
NLMK Europe wants to make further use of the benefits of
Office 365 in the near future. The cloud story is not fin-
ished yet. “Thanks to our cloud strategy we can standard-
ise our IT even more at the international level. So perhaps
in the future we will also use Dynamics CRM Online,” con-
cludes Laurent Prevost.
for more information
For more information about the Microsoft products
and services described, call +32 (0)2 503 31 13 or
visit www.microsoft.be/cases. There you will find
other companies that use similar applications.
For more information about Virtual, call +39 0185
368 005 or visit the site www.virtual.eu
For more information about NLMK Europe, call +
32 64 27 27 11 or visit www.eu.nlmk.com
“NLMK Europe has 12 production sites and
service centers spread across Europe, which
makes it very complicated and time-
consuming to take care of the management
of the mail servers itself. Thanks to Office
365, this is no longer necessary.“