Microsoft Office
Customer Solution Case Study
Healthcare IT Provider Uses Collaboration
Tools to Improve Communication, Save Money
Overview
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Professional Services
Customer Profile
Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Cerner
Corporation is an IT provider that develops
software solutions and applications for
hospitals and medical facilities that want to
digitize their data and images.
Business Situation
Because the company’s business was
expanding, it needed to give its remote
employees a cost-effective way to hold
more interactive meetings and
conferences.
Solution
Cerner implemented Microsoft unified
communication tools, including Microsoft®
Office Live Meeting, Microsoft Office Live
Communications Server 2005, Microsoft
Office Communicator 2005, and Microsoft
Exchange Server 2003.
Benefits
 Better collaboration
 Reduced travel costs
 Reduced training costs
 Better security, reliability
 Simplified management
“[Live Communications Server and Communicator
2005] give us more real-time knowledge of where
people are and how to contact them. That’s definitely
allowed us to be more productive.”
Jared Brown, End-User Computing Architect, Cerner Corporation
Cerner Corporation develops IT solutions for healthcare facilities.
The company’s solutions help hospitals integrate technology and
digitize records. To connect with its dispersed associate base and
train its growing number of clients, Cerner relies on collaborative
technology for training sessions, customer demos, and internal
meetings. The company recently deployed Microsoft® Office Live
Communications Server 2005 and installed Microsoft Office
Communicator 2005. Cerner, which had already been using
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, also subscribed to Microsoft
Office Live Meeting, a hosted multimedia Web-conferencing
solution. Using the familiar interface of these Office family tools,
Cerner associates have become better connected and more
productive. In addition, the company has saved thousands of
dollars in travel costs.
Situation
Cerner, based in Kansas City, Missouri,
develops software solutions and applications
that are used to digitize data and images for
the healthcare industry. Its solutions for
hospitals, health networks, clinics, and
physician practices are designed to integrate
all aspects of healthcare, including radiology,
pharmacy, laboratory, and patient
registration. Cerner clients form a broad
base, from 100-bed community hospitals to
multifacility, multistate medical centers.
Cerner helps these organizations transition
from paper records to automated digital
solutions.
“We’re in a dynamic
business environment
where every minute
counts. The ability to
conduct business
around the world in real
time is important to us.”
Jared Brown, End-User Computing Architect,
Cerner Corporation
Currently, Cerner employs more than 7,000
people in 25 offices worldwide. Because
business has been growing rapidly over the
past several years, the company’s sales,
marketing, and technology associates have
seen an increased need to collaborate on
customer activities such as software demos
and internal meetings. As the need for more
meetings and conferences has grown, the
company has sought to find a cost-effective
method of bringing together its widely
dispersed associate base without having to
increase travel costs to remote locations. “We
wanted the company to become more
virtual,” says Jared Brown, End-User
Computing Architect at Cerner. “We needed
to better connect with our employees and
customers using real-time technology.”
Cerner had been relying on an internal
instant messaging service and the WebEx
Web conferencing solution to bring its
associates together and conduct regular
training events. However, the company was
not satisfied with the integration of WebEx
with its instant messaging service, and it
needed a more reliable Web conferencing
solution to increase internal collaboration.
“We really wanted our people spending more
time in the field helping customers and less
time in the office,” says Brown. Cerner also
wanted a solution that would integrate better
with the company’s existing applications.
Solution
In March 2005, Cerner decided to switch
from WebEx to Microsoft® Office Live
Meeting, a hosted online collaboration Web
conferencing service that helps companies
meet, present, train, and collaborate in real
time. In October 2005, the company
deployed Microsoft Office Live
Communications Server 2005, followed one
month later by Microsoft Office
Communicator 2005. Communicator 2005 is
an enterprise messenger client that
integrates with productivity and other
communications applications.
Cerner also uses Microsoft Exchange Server
2003, the communication and collaboration
server in Microsoft Windows Server System™
integrated server software. Live
Communications Server and Communicator
deeply integrate with the Microsoft Office
Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration
client, which runs on Exchange Server. This
unified communications combination enables
users to see rich-presence indicators
automatically populated with real-time
schedule information and detailed out-ofoffice messages across the Cerner network,
providing associates with greater security,
availability, and reliability.
Together, these technologies connect
associates in real time using instant
messaging, Web conferencing, audio and
video collaboration, and integrated presence.
These capabilities can be accessed from
within Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, the
Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet software, and
Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal Server
2003.
Initially, Cerner deployed Live Meeting to 10
percent of its associates, who quickly learned
how to use the solution. These associates,
part of the company’s internal Cerner Virtual
University training program, often rely on Web
conferencing for collaborative training
sessions.
“They are a group of associates that really
need to use Web conferencing frequently,”
says Brown. “We were able to quickly set up
their accounts, provide them with access,
and send them training materials. We gave
them a few weeks to experiment with it and
transition from WebEx. It was a very smooth
deployment, partly because it integrates well
with the Microsoft Office products.”
Benefits
Deploying Microsoft communications
software has given Cerner the ability to share
information more quickly with customers and
associates and to hold last-minute
conferences and meetings about Cerner
software and IT solutions. Being able to
communicate faster and more effectively has
allowed the company to handle its increased
business without adding costs.
Improved Collaboration
Prior to deploying Live Meeting, internal
conferences were more difficult to schedule
due to travel and workload demands placed
on Cerner associates who needed to train
clients. “We’re in a dynamic business
environment where every minute counts. The
ability to conduct business around the world
in real time is important to us,” says Brown.
“Live Meeting, Live Communications Server,
and Office Communicator make us all more
virtual. They don’t require us to be tied down
to devices or locations, or offices or cubicles.
They provide us with more real-time virtual
capability to conduct business around the
world.”
Cerner associates are able to use the
presence features of Communicator to view
co-workers’ schedules to see when they are
free. “The presence functionality is great,
because it tells us if someone is online and
available to communicate,” says Brown. “We
like being able to upgrade a spontaneous
instant messaging session into a full-fledged
meeting. If someone looked at my status right
now, for example, Office Communicator
would show that I’m in a meeting, and I’ll be
available at a certain time. Being able to
know when someone’s going to be available,
and having that integrated with our other
Office System applications, is amazing. It has
definitely made us all feel more connected as
a company.”
Because employees and customers alike can
have instant access to information with no
delays in communication, processes are
more efficient overall. “The combination of
Live Communications Server and Live
Meeting works so well with Microsoft Office
applications like Outlook in terms of
scheduling meetings and sharing data,” says
Brown. “We no longer have to go to another
Web page just to set up a meeting, for
example. Also, most of our users are
somewhat familiar with the interfaces
because they are designed and respond in a
similar way.”
Live Meeting has already helped Cerner
increase the number of meetings with clients,
and communicate better as a group. “Live
Meeting has become a vital component to
our internal and external collaboration
efforts,” says Brown.
Less Training and Travel Time
Using this integrated suite of communications
products has already led to shorter project
times overall. “Because these are familiar
interfaces for our associates, we haven’t had
to do as much training,” says Brown. “The
reduction in the amount of training for our
employees has definitely reduced costs for
the company.”
These real-time solutions let Cerner share
ideas and information faster, enhancing
productivity in the process. “If we wanted to
have a short-notice meeting in the past, a lot
of time and effort was spent trying to hunt
people down,” says Brown. “This shortens
that time and allows us to be more
productive. And we save on travel and
expenses, too.”
In addition, Cerner now has fewer support
vendors it has to negotiate with, because it
can rely on Microsoft directly for assistance
with all three solutions. “There is definitely an
inherent cost savings in that,” says Brown.
More Secure, More Reliable Messaging
Cerner administrators also enjoy the public
instant messaging connectivity features of
Live Communications Server. “It’s so easy to
enhance the security of instant messaging by
running it through Live Communications
Server,” says Brown. “Managing the traffic is
very smooth with this tool. This really helps
with user support because there are fewer
variables involved.”
In addition, Live Communications Server
contains built-in redundancies that make it
easy for administrators and users to operate.
“If for some reason the server goes down, it
automatically reconnects to another server,”
says Brown. “That way, users don’t have to
manually log back in. This saves time and
money for us as well.”
More Failover Protection
Cerner is also experiencing the advantages of
Live Communications Server 2005, which
provides more benefits than the previous
version. “Live Communications Server 2005
has new features that allow even more
failover protection built into the system,” says
Brown. “In the 2003 environment, we actually
had two servers that had users on them, with
half of our users on each server. If one of the
servers went down, we had problems. Live
Communications Server 2005 allows all
users to be on either server, and everyone
can still function even if one server has
problems.”
Simplified Management
For Cerner, choosing Microsoft unified
communications software has advantages
beyond simple technical support. “With
Microsoft, we're leveraging an existing
relationship, along with application
compatibility. That by itself simplifies the
management of the real-time collaboration
tools considerably,” explains Brown.
Now that Cerner has deployed Live Meeting,
Communicator 2005, and Live
Communications Server 2005 to all of its
employees, it can focus on its future. “These
tools give us more real-time knowledge of
where people are and how to contact them.
That’s definitely allowed us to be more
productive,” says Brown. “Going forward, we
expect to take our business to the next level
with the help of these tools.”
For More Information
Microsoft Office
For more information about Microsoft
products and services, call the Microsoft
Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft
Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hard-ofhearing 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
Microsoft Office is the business world’s
chosen environment for information work,
providing the programs, servers, and services
that help you succeed by transforming
information into impact.
For more information about Microsoft Office,
go to:
www.microsoft.com/office
For more information about Cerner
Corporation products and services, call
(866) 221-8877 or visit the Web site at:
www.cerner.com
Software and Services

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case
study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Excel, the Office logo, Outlook, SharePoint, and
Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries. All other trademarks are property of their
respective owners.
Document published April 2006
Microsoft Office System
− Microsoft Office Communicator 2005
− Microsoft Office Live Communications
Server 2005
− Microsoft Office Live Meeting
− Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
− Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Hardware

IBM eServer BladeCenter server
computers