Microsoft Office 365
Customer Solution Case Study
Billboard Media Company Saves $250,000 on
Startup with Cloud-Based Solution
Overview
Country or Region: Czech Republic
Industry: Media and Entertainment
“With top of the line security and mobility, Office 365 has
vastly better functionality than Google.”
―Jiří Pavlik, Owner and Managing Director, Flashboard Media
Customer Profile
Flashboard Media develops and operates
outdoor LCD billboards for advertisers in
the Czech Republic. With a growing client
base, the firm wanted to increase
business without stretching its IT budget.
Business Situation
Flashboard Media needed the capability
to securely share files between remote
employees and with its customers. As a
rapidly growing company, the need was
great, but cost was also a factor.
Solution
Office 365 provides Flashboard Media
with the security features to keep its data
protected in the cloud. It also enables the
company to easily integrate new users as
its workforce grows, and manage
permissions to keep information private.
Benefits

Saved $250K on hosted
solution

Saved 27% on IT support

Employees regain 1 hour daily
Launched in 2010, advertising company Flashboard Media develops
and operates high-visibility outdoor digital billboards for small and
mid-sized advertisers in the Czech Republic. With a staff of seven
employees, each working in different cities, the company needed to
improve productivity and security while keeping startup costs low.
The company needed a cost-effective way to share and exchange
files between its employees and with its customers while ensuring
that its confidential data was protected. With Microsoft Office 365,
Flashboard employees can access documents on the go and manage
graphic-intensive client files through a larger mailbox—and the
growing company can feel confident that its data is secure in the
cloud.
“We can’t afford to
waste time and effort
producing poor quality
documentation for our
customers. SharePoint
Online helps us avoid
that.”
―Jiří Pavlik, Owner and Managing
Director, Flashboard Media
Situation
As a startup, Flashboard wanted a low-cost
yet powerful IT solution that enabled it to
dedicate its limited budget toward digital
signage technology and expansion efforts.
Flashboard Owner Jiří Pavlik wanted a
cloud-based IT solution from day one to
avoid buying costly servers and hardware
to store important documents and handle
large emails from customers. The company
tested Google’s cloud-based IT solution
and found it cumbersome to use and
lacking in functionality.
Flashboard’s small staff works from
different locations across the Czech
Republic, and employees rely extensively
on mobile devices to stay connected.
Workers needed the ability to share
documents and access them from any
location, often on a smart phone or iPad.
Customers and employees frequently
exchanged video and graphic-intensive files
through email, which quickly filled up
mailbox storage and slowed productivity.
“A customer will send a 15-second video
spot in an email and that file can be
16MB—and they don’t know it until there’s
a problem,” says Pavlik. “This locks up email
on our end and slows our processes.”
Because its technology is still developing,
Flashboard needed reliable and secure
storage for its confidential data without
adding costly hardware and memory on
site. The company also needed to tightly
control who could access certain
documents and financial information, and it
wanted flexibility for future growth built
into its IT solution as Flashboard gained
momentum and grew its staff.
Solution
When Flashboard Media examined its
storage needs, it decided that Microsoft
Office 365 most closely aligned with its
goals. The company wanted to spend its
money on digital signage technology, not
servers and hardware. Pavlik said he would
have had to spend $250,000 upon startup
with an on-site IT solution. “A cloud-based
solution is attractive to a startup like
Flashboard. There was never any question
about whether we would work in the
cloud—just which cloud would better fit
our needs,” recalls Pavlik.
Flashboard considered using Google Apps
and Google Docs, but employees found the
Google applications difficult to use.
“Google Cloud Connect is an online storage
solution like Microsoft SharePoint Online,
but it’s a totally different service. With top
of the line security and mobility, Office 365
has vastly better functionality than Google,”
adds Pavlik. Flashboard also eliminates the
need to hire one additional IT professional
with Office 365.
Employees use SharePoint Online to share
and access documents remotely, and they
have been testing processes to see how the
application increases productivity.
Employees create documents and store
them in a SharePoint Online library that
enables workers to collaborate on versions
and replicate documents that can be
published on Flashboard’s website. In
addition, employees can exchange graphicintensive files with Microsoft Exchange
Online, which provides 25GB of mailbox
storage and the ability send files up to
25MB in size—even on mobile devices.
“These applications enable us to avoid
overhead costs—by not investing in a
physical office location—because
employees can connect and collaborate
from anywhere,” notes Pavlik.
Office 365 provides Flashboard with the
security features it sought to keep its data
protected in the cloud. It also enables the
company to easily integrate new users as
its workforce grows and manage
permissions to keep information private.
Benefits
Flashboard Media expects to increase
productivity with Office 365 while keeping
costs low and relying on Microsoft to
protect its data in the cloud. Specifically,
Flashboard is excited about:
Saving Cash Upfront
Office 365 provides cloud-based storage
for Flashboard’s documents, eliminating
the need to buy servers and host a solution
on site. The company avoided $250,000 in
startup costs and expects to save 27
percent on IT support each year by
choosing Office 365 over competitive
solutions. It also considered Google’s
cloud-based service, but decided Office 365
more closely aligned with its business
needs.
Increasing Productivity Through
Mobility
With SharePoint Online, Flashboard’s
mobile workforce can now share and
collaborate on documents on almost any
mobile device, which keeps employees
connected no matter where they are
located. “We can’t afford to waste time and
effort producing poor quality
documentation for our customers.
SharePoint Online helps us avoid that,” says
Pavlik. Exchange Online—with its large
capacity for email storage—enables
employees to exchange large video files for
faster review and feedback. “With these
new capabilities, employees save an hour a
day on file management,” says Pavlik.
Security and Room to Grow
The company chose Office 365 for its
reliable, powerful, and cost-effective
security features. “The level of security that
Office 365 provides is unmatched. If I had
to provide that same service myself, I would
have to sell my house!” exclaims Pavlik. The
cloud also enables Flashboard to tightly
control access to documents and integrate
new users as they join the company.
“Microsoft made it easy for me to invest in
this product. Office 365 is so easy to use
and there’s almost no learning curve. Now I
can spend less time training employees on
the basics and more time connecting with
customers—and growing my business,”
adds Pavlik.
For More Information
Microsoft Office 365
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 in the United States and
Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
can reach Microsoft text telephone
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234.
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 365 brings together cloud
versions of our most trusted
communications and collaboration
products—Microsoft SharePoint Online,
Exchange Online, and Lync Online—with
the latest version of our Office desktop
suite and companion web applications for
businesses of all sizes.
For more information about Flashboard
Media products and services, visit the
website at: www.flashboard.cz.
Office 365 helps save time and money, and
it frees up valued resources. Simple to use
and easy to administer, it is financially
backed by a service level agreement that
guarantee 99 percent reliability. Office 365
features robust security, IT-level phone
support, geo-redundancy, disaster
recovery, and the business-class privacy
controls and standards that you expect
from a world-class service provider.
For more information about Microsoft
Office 365, go to:
www.office365.com
Software and Services
Microsoft Office 365
 Microsoft Exchange Online
 Microsoft SharePoint
Online
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published October 2011