Volkswagen Group of America Rolls Out Microsoft Lync to Employees

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 12, 2011 — Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) has announced the companywide rollout of Microsoft Lync 2010. With this deployment, VWGoA eliminates the distance between its 33 offices located around the country and expects to achieve cost-savings benefits by moving employees to a unified communications platform that increases their options for interaction, collaboration and training.

“We have seen Lync increase efficiencies in our communication process and increase collaboration among teams,” said Greggory Garrett, chief strategy officer, IT & Innovation for VWGoA. “Working with Microsoft was also an easy choice because of the relationship we have and Microsoft’s ability to work with us through the upgrade process. The rollout started in May 2011 and is expected to be complete in 2012, and the cost-saving benefits are greater than anticipated.”

VWGoA had a legacy telephony solution as its foundational communications platform. Over time, other tools were added to increase the ways in which employees could communicate. Too many disconnected systems, however, began to create complexity issues. The company began looking for a solution that offered robust features and a single solution that unites voice, instant messaging, audio, video and webconferencing into a more simplified experience for end users to integrate seamlessly into their current work station.

Among the available options, Lync communications software offered all of the capabilities VWGoA was looking for at a cost the company found advantageous. As a result of the deployment, the company is cutting costs and bringing employees together on a consistent platform to increase efficiency and revolutionize the way they work together.

“Lync is a versatile platform, and we love seeing organizations such as Volkswagen make moves to foster the broad range of communication channels that modern businesses look for,” said Kirk Gregersen, general manager for Lync at Microsoft. “We are pleased to see Volkswagen roll out Lync, in an effort to invest in employees’ ability to collaborate through a system that is consistent and reliable.”

Those interested in learning more about how Volkswagen is using Lync can read the case study at http://www.testdrivinglync.com.

More information about Lync is available at http://lync.microsoft.com/en-us/Pages/default.aspx.

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