Today’s post was written by Jens Hartmann, CIO and group vice president at Grundfos Holding.
About eight years ago, Grundfos began its globalization journey. To address the demands of our expanding markets and the increasing numbers of global customers, we opened offices and cost-effective production sites around the world. Today, the Grundfos Group consists of 83 companies in 56 countries, and our annual production of more than 16 million pump units makes us one of the world’s leading pump manufacturers in the world.
That we have reached this point is testament to the talents of our people. At Grundfos, we believe everyone has passion and potential. And it’s the job of IT to provide productivity tools for employees to use to increase their influence and their voice within the company—especially during our global growth phase. That’s why we chose Office 365 to be the foundation of a modern, connected workplace for more than 18,652 employees around the world. We all use Office 365 applications now to connect with each other.
One of our core values is that we say what we do, and we do what we say. Today, we have Yammer at our fingertips to express ourselves in spontaneous ways that drive connections. So, it’s not unusual for someone working on the shop floor to use a mobile phone to join a Yammer conversation started by our CEO and provide feedback about a new company strategy. Our Yammer network is building organically, with many interest groups discussing product design and driving innovation. Engineers reach out through Yammer to the entire organization to ask for suggestions on issues like product development, such as fine-tuning the optimal pressure in a certain kind of pump. And answers come back from all over the world. This means we can solve issues faster, expedite design innovation and provide a better product to the market.
An essential element of a modern, connected workplace is being able to work where and when you need to. With Office 365, Grundfos can function seamlessly as a global workplace. We use business productivity tools, such as Skype Meetings, to maintain collaboration among mobile, dispersed employees. In fact, we have seen a drop in travel costs. We are also using SharePoint Online to support virtual teamwork through collaboration sites that people can access anytime, in any time zone, to manage projects.
Looking back on this journey, I think in IT we are most proud of delivering on our promise to Grundfos that we would provide a new workplace—more connected, more agile, more mobile—which enables a paradigm shift in how our employees can deliver the kind of productivity that we need to compete in today’s marketplace. Today, we are excited about delivering on the promise of Office 365 to accelerate the pace of global business.
—Jans Hartmann
Read the complete business productivity case study for more information about the Grundfos move to Office 365.
The post Grundfos makes global business happen with
Office 365 appeared first on Office Blogs.