Chemicals supplier likes the taste of Microsoft's 'apple pie'

Stephen Withers
Saturday, 15 May 2010 11:56

Business IT - Technology

An online chemicals supplier finds benefits in using mostly Microsoft software. A case of the whole being more than the sum of the parts?

When chemicals supplier ChemPoint.com was a startup, it didn't have a big IT budget but did want the benefits of integration. It adopted Microsoft's BizTalk for this purpose, because in the words of Edward Lux, vice president technology, it was "a game changer for the future," allowing hub-and-spoke communication between various components.

Then in 2007, the company re-evaluated SharePoint in the light of the then-new version, and found it would allow the creation of a role-based interface that would allow an employee with just a couple of weeks on the job to perform as if they had five years experience. "They know the product, they know the customer, they know where to go when they don't know," said Lux. Consequently, productivity and effectiveness are high.

ChemPoint.com uses Microsoft software extensively. Lux uses a 'apple pie' analogy to describe the benefits of this policy: the whole thing tastes better than the ingredients. But it's not a religious issue, and the company makes each decision on its merits. For example, six years ago it rejected Microsoft's virtualisation software in favour of VMware. Recently, Lux decided to "get the whole apple pie again" by switching to Hyper-V and its supporting software.

That "whole apple pie" helps the company make progress quickly, he said, particularly in terms of growing the business. And migrating to Hyper-V  resulted in cost savings: the company uses its site in the Netherlands as a backup for the US - using VMware involves the payment of license (around $40,000) and maintenance fees, whereas Microsoft doesn't charge for inactive systems.

How does ChemPoint.com benefit from virtualisation? See page 2.