Carl Fuhr GmbH & Co. KG – More security in the MS Office 365 tenant with Bechtle’s SMART Workplace

Carl Fuhr GmbH & Co. KG – More security in the MS Office 365 tenant with Bechtle’s SMART Workplace.

Future-proof technology for more security and comfort at home. CARL FUHR GmbH & Co. KG has been setting standards with its innovative portfolio of automatic, panic and electronically controlled motorised locking systems for 160 years making the family-run SME one of the industry’s leaders. When FUHR’s Microsoft Office 365 environment needed to be set up and configured for optimum security, the company purchased the Bechtle Office 365 Managed Tenant Managed Service from the Bechtle Clouds Portal, with the service up and running after only 5 days.

Project details.

Services

Managed Services
Cloud
Modern Workplace

Industry

Manufacturing

Manufacturer

Microsoft

Company size

< 250 employees

Challenge.

With its products, CARL FUHR GmbH & Co. KG ensures security and comfort at home. FUHR’s automatic, panic and electronically controlled motor locks plus intelligent access systems deliver the highest levels of comfort, maximum energy savings and comprehensive security. The 240 internationally active employees leverage in-house innovative technologies and follow a cloud-first strategy. FUHR was looking to protect the cloud used and the applications installed there against the increasing threat of cyberattacks. FUHR’s Microsoft Office 365 environment therefore needed to be setup and configured optimally, especially in terms of its security settings. To best protect the existing structures against the growing threat of cyber criminality, FUHR didn’t want the cloud settings to be configured just once. Instead, management of the Microsoft Office 365 tenant was to be permanently handed over to a partner with the aim of improving the Office 365 Tenant Microsoft Secure Score by 400 per cent.

Bechtle leveraged the perfect methodology to collaborate with modern apps such as Microsoft Planner and Teams. The delegation of tasks and responsibilities were always clearly defined during the course of the project. At the same time, we were very impressed by the documenting of all the changes made during operation.

Dr Tobias Trepper, Digitalisation and Process Design, CARL FUHR GmbH & Co. KG

Solution.

After an initial consultation with Bechtle’s cloud experts, FUHR procured the Bechtle Managed Service Office 365 Managed Tenant in the Bechtle Clouds Portal. This service gives FUHR proactive protection against cyber criminality and increases security through modern methods such as login information protection. With the Office 365 Managed Tenant Managed Cloud as a Service (MCaaS) products, the Bechtle cloud experts provided FUHR with even more flexible and targeted support as it optimally protects FUHR’s identities, e-mails and the purchased Office 365 Online Services.

To achieve this, Bechtle initially consolidated all of FUHR’s existing Microsoft Office 365 licences. Bechtle was quickly able to demonstrate which applications and licences were needed and which not based on Microsoft Office 365’s licencing plan. This not only reduced the costs incurred for licences, but also supplier organisation and much more. Thanks to the standardised service specifications for the SMART Workplace, Bechtle were able to tackle all the challenges FUHR threw at them. Even the issue of multi-factor authentication without company smartphones was resolved with a token and landlines. Bechtle presented all of the above to FUHR during an online presentation so that the company could order all the packages they needed directly.

This was followed by an online technical kick-off and Bechtle setting up a schedule in the MS Office 365 Planner. Bechtle documented each step on the Planner so that FUHR were always aware of what had been completed and what was still outstanding. Within 5 working days, FUHR’s tenant was completely setup in such a way that it was both completely flexible and perfectly met the customer’s security requirements.

Bechtle has been monitoring the sales team’s tenant around the clock since then, reacting automatically to threats and errors. Bechtle presents FUHR with new features and recommendations for improvements in monthly security meetings and discusses pending decisions. This Managed Services package is paid for per user and can be changed monthly.

Business benefits.

Thanks to the high levels of standardisation, Bechtle were quickly able to set up a highly complex scenario for FUHR. The project saves costs and generates transparency in terms of profitability and the dashboard enables Office 365 licencing to quickly adjusted as needed. Bechtle Managed Services also reduce the number of errors and support requests while Bechtle security experts’ configurations minimise security risks. Authorised user access is constantly monitored, new Office 365 Services regularly installed and FUHR receives administrative support. This increases the FUHR IT department’s productivity and creates capacities for remote working and collaboration.