MELINDA STEEL SRL

Melinda Steel logo

MELINDA STEEL SRL

MELINDA STEEL SRL

A COST-EFFECTIVE AND SECURE CLOUD MAIL SOLUTION

Konica minolta takes the stress and expenseout of it transformation with a single point of contact for office 365 and optimized print services with y soft safeq.

Romanian steel products specialists, Melinda Steel SRL, has grown to become a leader in the country’s construction market since its foundation 20 years ago. Its core focus is the commercialisation and distribution of steel products and cut-to-length steel coil services. Its portfolio includes a large and diverse range of both domestic and internationally sourced metal products. Having outgrown the capabilities and limitations of their legacy email system, Konica Minolta has set up a cloud-based model, Office 365 mail server solution – and provides a single point of contact for all printing service needs.


A leap forward with no strings attached

Melinda was using an outdated mailing solution based on Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Microsoft Server 2003. Not only had the company long outgrown the capabilities of this legacy system, but the lack of ongoing updates and support for the
software was exposing the company to potential security vulnerabilities. At the start of the process, Melinda had realised that there was no simple way to update email alone. In order to migrate to Exchange Online, the versions of Microsoft Office running on workstations would need updating. However, before this could be done, all Windows operating systems would need updating first. As a result, upgrading the legacy systems would prove to be costly project that would have a major impact on the business. It was therefore desirable to seek external support. For this purpose, Melinda turned to a trusted partner that was able to meet the scale of the broader company-wide transformation: as an existing customer of Konica Minolta’s Optimised Print Services (OPS), the company had been impressed by the professionalism and expertise of Konica Minolta’s team. When the existing OPS contract was due for renewal, Melinda invited Konica Minolta to also assess their wider IT infrastructure challenge. Konica Minolta impressed the team at Melinda Steel with their holistic solution analysis approach. The agreed proposal included a complete portfolio that combined both managed print and Office 365 services and support, as well as further information management solutions.


quotation marks

The solution proposed by Konica Minolta met all our business needs and we adopted it very quickly. We appreciated the professionalism of the whole Konica Minolta team and their attention to our specific needs and requests

Toth Karoly

Controlling Director, Melinda Steel SRL

Cloud-based flexibility thanks to Office 365

With its flexible, cloud-based model, Office 365 seemed to provide an excellent path forward. The solution had already
proved its capabilities, as it was already in use by one of the companies within the Melinda group – although this implementation was limited to 17 users. Konica Minolta recommended a mix of Office 365 subscriptions (approximately 200 in total), which would cover the scope of user requirements, while avoiding a large initial investment  thanks to an affordable and predictable monthly payment model. The subscriptions helped meet the needs of users accessing emails by a web browser, those using other Office applications and downloading emails to Outlook, as well as those users requiring BI capabilities. The range of subscriptions would also help address the varying degrees of administration rights via the Office 365 console.


Whereas the various companies within the Melinda Group had previously used a variety of disparate email systems, Konica Minolta introduced a single solution that brought the company together like never before. Furthermore, the Office 365 subscription also introduced all the benefits of modern video conferencing powered by Skype for Business. As a solution that can be used across PCs, smartphones or via web browsers, this not only enhanced the company’s ability to collaborate internally and with its customers, but also generated significant cost savings. “The solution proposed by Konica Minolta met all our business needs and we adopted it very quickly,” explained Melinda Steel SRL’s Controlling Director Toth Karoly. With regard to the cooperation with the Konica Minolta team, he added: “We appreciated the professionalism of the whole Konica Minolta team and their attention to our specific needs and requests.”


A trusted and reliable single point of contact

As well as enhancing the company’s communications, Konica Minolta has also helped Melinda Steel improve its document workflow with innovative Y Soft SafeQ document capture and print management as well as user authentication solution. Seamless integration, support and management were assured Melinda Steel with a secure and sophisticated process. For the customer, the ability to source everything from mail services to document workflows and printing solutions from a trusted partner serving as a single point of contact has simplified its IT strategy while significantly increasing efficiency.


Challenge

  • Melinda Steel needed to comprehensively update its end-of-support legacy email infrastructure and desktop operating systems as well as office suite software.
  • The breadth and complexity of this proved prohibitive in terms of cost.

Solution

  • Microsoft Office 365 (approx. 200 licenses) was implemented to provide secure, enterprise-grade communication and collaboration capabilities on a predictable and flexible pay-per-use basis.

Advantages

  • By building on a successful Optimized Print Services relationship with Konica Minolta, Melinda Steel is able to source a comprehensive IT solution from a single point of contact, delivering greater efficiency.