Situation

Ethypharm Inc. is the Canadian division of Ethypharm SA of France.  In addition to travelling in Canada, the company’s people frequently visit the US, India, China and other countries.  

The parent company in France managed all e-mail for the Canadian divisionThe time difference often meant long delays in obtaining technical support, as well as access difficulties during routine back-ups and maintenance.

Employees were unable to send and receive e-mail or access corporate files when out of the office.

Approach

Ethypharm and TELUS had been discussing other needs when the difficulties with e-mail were mentioned.  After further consultation, TELUS presented two options and detailed the benefits of each.  Ethypharm chose Microsoft® Exchange managed by TELUS and Microsoft SharePoint managed by TELUS.

Business Benefits

• Travelling employees can send and receive e-mail via a mobile device, Outlook or the Web, anywhere in the world
• Employees share agendas and contact information, making it easy to set up meetings
• Files can be securely shared over the Web, enabling employees to answer customer questions as quickly as possible
• Technical support is available 24x7
• Full management of both solutions means Ethypharm does not have to retain its own technical resources

Solution

Ethypharm is one of the world’s leading creators of drug delivery systems (DDS). The company’s technologies deliver important benefits that include improving the efficacy of a drug, enhancing patient compliance and comfort, extending the life cycles of existing pharmaceutical products and reducing the total cost of treatment.

With its head office in France, the company has divisions around the world, including one near Montreal, Quebec.
Still relatively small, Ethypharm Inc. of Canada has just 30 employees and relied on its French parent company to provide e-mail services. However, this approach had serious limitations. Employees travelling outside the office could not access their e-mail or corporate data, leading to delays in answering customer queries. In addition, the time difference between Canada and France made it difficult to resolve technical issues speedily. Plus, even if the parent company scheduled routine maintenance or upgrades to take place after business hours in France, the Canadian office was often still open.

While discussing other communications needs with TELUS, Ethypharm’s President explained the e-mail situation. TELUS

immediately offered to present solutions. “They gave us two options and carefully explained the different benefits of each,” says Isabelle Johnson, Ethypharm’s VP Finance. After evaluating the options, Ethypharm chose Microsoft Exchange managed by TELUS and Microsoft SharePoint managed by TELUS.

With Microsoft Exchange managed by TELUS, Ethypharm’s people can send and receive e-mail on their handheld devices, via Outlook or Outlook Web Access from any Internet connection anywhere in the world. It also allows employees to share agendas and contact information across the company, enabling them to quickly and easily coordinate meetings. And because the familiar interface is the Microsoft Outlook application Ethypharm’s employees already used, the learning curve was significantly reduced.

Thanks to Microsoft Sharepoint managed by TELUS, Ethypharm employees can now share files and corporate data over a secure Web site. This has significantly reduced delays in answering customer questions. A representative can quickly find research data or other information, even when working with a customer in another country. Both solutions are fully managed and maintained by TELUS, so Ethypharm has no need to employ its own technical resources. The company is also assured of receiving all upgrades at no additional cost.

“TELUS has met all our needs,” says Johnson. “The solution has given us technical independence from our parent company, even though we have no technicians here. And our people on the road now have the access to e-mail and files that they need.”