Grand prize winner Sagar Patel, Mailbox & Photo, Creatingideas.com, AsianFoodCompany.com

Three businesses, two people, no time to waste

Business partners Sagar Patel and Jay Bhatt don't even see each other some days. While Bhatt serves customers at Mailbox & Photo, the pair's shipping and printing store in Sugar Land, Texas, Patel handles Web design and graphic design projects for clients of Creatingideas.com. Patel also recently launched AsianFoodCompany.com, a Web site that sells gourmet food, household products, and unique collectibles from around the world. The two men also find time to sell insurance, provide IT consulting and implementation services, and handle public relations for clients on three continents.

When asked how they keep so many balls in the air, they credit Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 programs and the Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2003 operating system with making them more efficient, productive, and profitable.

"Being small-business entrepreneurs and having to wear every single hat inside our organization at the same time, we depend on this software to be smart enough to handle a lot of the mundane administrative tasks that used to take up our time," said Patel. "Microsoft Office System works like a third employee for us, keeping all our information organized and available in a central location so we can focus on being creative and taking care of our customers."

Disconnected PCs limit access to vital data

Before they deployed Office 2003 on three PCs and linked them by using Windows Small Business Server in late 2003, Patel and Bhatt struggled to keep each other updated as they bounced between tasks. Customer data for the different businesses was stored in programs on several computers. Patel, who often works on projects from his home office, lacked remote access to files at the store. If a drop-in customer had a question about a project Patel was handling, Bhatt didn't have access to information to provide an answer. The partners risked duplicating efforts — or worse, overlooking an important task because each thought the other was handling it.

"We needed to do a better job of gathering, organizing, and sharing information with each other," said Patel. "I never again wanted to be in the position of having to tell a client that I wasn't available to handle their request because I didn't have all the data I needed at my fingertips."

Seeing Office 2003 in action at a Microsoft event convinced Patel that it could help them get better organized and deliver higher-quality customer service. His brother Samit, a Microsoft Certified Software Engineer, helped educate him about the technology and implement it for the businesses, and now administers the system.

Microsoft Office supports information-sharing across business processes

By using Office programs and Windows Small Business Server 2003, Patel and Bhatt can manage order processing, shipment logistics, billing, and account management for their three businesses. They use a secure intranet site to consult and update their shared calendars, task lists, and contacts and to post documents. Windows Small Business Server 2003 hosts the businesses' Web sites and e-mail. The server technology and Office software also give Bhatt and Patel remote access, so they can work on creative projects at odd hours or present ideas and updates at client offices.

E-mail alerts and notification

Integrated programs help Bhatt and Patel to be more responsive to customers. Insurance and mailbox customers can use e-mail alerts for account renewals and monitoring of their physical mailboxes. Alerts and notifications also help Bhatt and Patel keep their client projects on track.

Order tracking and history

By integrating PostalMate retail point-of-sale and shipment tracking software from PC Synergy Inc. with Microsoft Office Access 2003, Bhatt can generate shipment histories simply by entering tracking numbers and quickly track packages in transit. The history files can be exported to other Office programs for reporting and analysis. And because many customers are small-business owners who maintain their own records in Access, exchanging information with them is seamless.

Graphics and creative packaging

Bhatt now offers creative packaging for gift shipments. "I can open Microsoft Office Publisher 2003, click on its library of gift cards and labels, have the customer type in a small note, and print something out within a couple of minutes," he says. "That extra attention to detail and the attractive results are a big part of why people continue to do business with us." Bhatt also uses Publisher to create banners, posters, and flyers promoting Mailbox & Photo products and services.

Patel uses Publisher 2003, Microsoft Office Word 2003, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003 to create many of the graphic design projects and presentations for Creatingideas.com clients. In addition to generating professional-quality documents, Patel can more deeply involve clients in the creative process because most of them are familiar with the programs.



"People will come with a rough draft of a design project that they've started in Publisher or a PowerPoint slide presentation and ask me to clean it up or finish it for them," he says. "I can easily pick up where they left off and deliver results that they're happy with, but at a cost and in a time frame that they can afford."

Taking notes

Throughout the workday, Bhatt and Patel use Microsoft Office OneNote® 2003 to gather notes about projects, customer requests, and reminders. Bhatt says the ability to transfer information from OneNote to other Office programs lets them document and follow up on customers' requests in real time.

Measurable improvements

Within six months of installing Microsoft Office 2003 and Windows Small Business Server 2003, Mailbox & Photo revenues have increased 450% overall. The store's base of shipping customers grew from 400 in mid-2003 to more than 3,500. Mailbox rentals are up by more than 50%. Creatingideas.com is delivering graphic design projects to clients 75% faster on average.

Future projects will take collaboration even further

Bhatt and Patel plan to deploy Microsoft Windows SharePoint® Services technology by the end of 2004 to help them collaborate on documents, share information in workgroups, and facilitate other teamwork-oriented processes. For example, they would like to create a SharePoint site where clients can view portfolios of their graphic design projects in progress, provide direct input in real time, and review their account information.

They also look forward to spreading the good news about their firsthand experiences with Office 2003 and related products. "Through my IT consulting practice, I want to re-create these same successes and experiences for other businesses with Microsoft products," says Patel. "That's probably the biggest compliment I can give to these tools."