Manufacturing

Cloud Conversion Enables Seamless Global Collaboration

2 min read

Feb 10, 2022 6:32:36 AM

Albemarle maintains leading positions in lithium, bromine, and refining catalysts, and powers the potential of companies in many of the world's largest and most critical industries, from energy and communications to transportation and electronics. Seeking to unify global communications and transition to a more agile cloud-based solution—with no productivity disruptions— Albemarle partnered with Sparkhound to perform a full Office 365 conversion.

Challenge

A Legacy System Hindered Collaboration and Growth

Acquisitions are a key component of Albemarle’s growth strategy. Having traditionally operated with an IT stack consisting of Lotus Notes and WebEx, the IT assimilation process began to pose flexibility and collaboration challenges as many of the companies being acquired used the cloud and Microsoft services. These challenges caused costly delays and frustrating disruptions.

As a global company, Albemarle needed to modernize and take advantage of a cloud platform for single sign-on authentication, collaborating across one platform to share data and conducting online meetings. Additionally, the company needed to implement a new email system, maintain a high degree of security to protect intellectual property passing through emails, migrate business transportation or ERP systems, and coordinate with all internal stakeholders and third-party vendors to ensure a smooth, digital transformation.

Solution

Cloud Migration and Full Office 365 Conversion

Sparkhound became a seamless extension to Albemarle's skilled IT team, working collaboratively to implement Office 365’s email, SharePoint and Skype across their global locations. In total, the teams converted 6,000 users and 40 Domino servers to Office 365 in only 30 days while also meeting the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements by identifying the data, where it's going and how it's being managed.

The cloud conversion ushered in a new, seamless method of collaboration, where global employees leverage Skype to conduct SAP and other training while also sharing desktops and assisting with change management procedures.

Transformation

Seamless Global Collaboration

The integration timeline for future acquisitions will be significantly improved. The cloud conversion allows for faster assimilation, enhanced security, greater cost savings to protect intellectual property, and seamless global communications.