Global System Services Corporation (GSS) - The leading provider of email and messaging, directory services, and groupware consulting and professional services

Success Stories > Harcourt

4.1.1

Harcourt, Inc.

Developing and Implementing a Messaging Strategy for the Next Millennium
Harcourt, a premier publishing company, provides lifelong learning solutions for all people, all ages, and all walks of life. The mission is to develop products that inspire and get people excited about learning through Harcourt’s six divisions— Harcourt Classroom Education, Harcourt Higher Learning, Harcourt Professional & Corporate Development, Harcourt Science & Technology, Harcourt Health Sciences, and Harcourt Assessment.

Harcourt Business Challenge

With six different divisions and over 10,000 e-mail users nationwide, it is imperative that Harcourt’s communication is as fast and as easy as it can be. In 1996, Harcourt’s existing e-mail infrastructure, Lotus cc:Mail, was extremely outdated and overrun by the growth of the company, and as a result, delivery was unreliable. To remain competitive in the industry, Harcourt had to strategically upgrade their messaging technology to a platform that provided business-quality messaging with a guaranteed e-mail dial tone (7x24 functionality) and Year 2000 compliance.

“What we needed was to have a professional come in, evaluate our needs, detail each platform, and determine which solution would best fit with our company model,” explained Eric Heimall, Director of New Technology, at Harcourt Inc. “We knew Global System Services Corporation’s (GSS) expertise, knowledge, and skill combined with their highly reliable, thorough and excellent follow through to completion would ensure a successful implementation to a more robust messaging infrastructure.”

Global System Services’ Solution

GSS assessed Harcourt’s situation to determine what made the most sense for them to migrate to given their company model and business processes. GSS weighed the pros and cons of each platform available and suggested the best solution to fit Harcourt’s company model. Then, GSS planned and implemented tactical upgrades from cc:Mail DB6 to DB8 as well as a strategic, enterprise-wide migration from Lotus cc:Mail to Lotus Notes and Domino.

“GSS’ solution helped us accurately develop the direction of which product architecture our company should move toward,” commented Heimall. “In addition, their messaging and product strategy helped with our business justification, and migration and technology infrastructure plans. GSS’ strategy proposed a minimal infrastructure requirement, strategic planning, direction, and the initial implementation.”

GSS provided a range of messaging and groupware-related consulting services to Harcourt: system architecture and design; developing a business case for client/server-based e-mail, capacity planning, e-mail system auditing and architectural review; third-level technical support for Lotus messaging products; and integration of Lotus Notes and cc:Mail for coexistence and migration using LMEF, the Domino MTAs, and 3rd-party e-mail gateways. Other services included transparent integration of the Lotus Notes client with Netscape Navigator through custom application development, and e-mail connectivity to the Internet for both cc:Mail and Domino using an intelligent e-mail hub system designed by GSS.

Business Benefits

Since implementing GSS’ solution, Harcourt has seen a significant improvement in the overall productivity of end-users. The lines of communication are much more efficient and reliable thanks to a guaranteed e-mail dial tone seven days a week, 24 hours a day. When end-users send e-mail, the messages are delivered quickly and not delayed for days as they were with the old cc:Mail system. Furthermore, with a standardized, business-quality messaging backbone, administration functions can be centralized resulting in lowered overhead costs.

Harcourt is at a strategic communication advantage now that they have evolved into an e-mail messaging strategy that is both scalable and compatible with the Internet-based messaging trend of the next millennium.

“Harcourt can leverage this strong messaging platform and architecture as an investment that can seamlessly integrate into the enterprising business world of the Internet,” Heimall remarked. “The future of the company is dependent on this robust system and we have no doubts that GSS’ solution was definitely the right one to implement.”