A particular concern of the Bavarian Academy of Advertising and Marketing (BAW) was to be equipped with a good network and the use of the latest IT technologies. With the transition to a more modular training programme, the software infrastructure and the intranet landscape were also to be expanded and brought up to date.
BAW wanted a platform that would improve both the internal and external processes of the academy. This was to include a new administration system for students and a new CRM system. To ensure that all requirements were implemented with the latest and best systems, it was decided to use various standard systems that only required minor customisation.
It was important for BAW to find a cost-effective solution that connects the different software systems to a server system, is flexibly scalable and offers good communication between the systems.
Our team has grown together considerably as a result of the project and we are already realising how significantly the everyday lives of our students and lecturers have been improved. This good networking forms the decisive building block for the future of us all.
Matthias Holz
BAW Director of Studies
A first and important step towards the cloud was the selection of the CRM system. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online was chosen due to its flexible payment system. This quickly gave rise to the idea of implementing the other systems in the cloud as well. It turned out that Microsoft Azure was the best solution for integrating various software systems in the cloud.
In a second step, a software system from a local provider was selected for the student administration. It proved to be a great advantage that the hosting costs of the system comprising SQL server, application server, terminal server and domain controller remained very manageable and scalable in Microsoft Azure.
The most important aspect for BAW was the networking of all IT systems. This connection was realised via a dedicated Azure server (DataHub), which represents an active interface to the systems involved.
As a small provider without a large IT department, the reliability and scalability of all solutions on Azure was ideal and at significantly lower costs compared to other dedicated hosting offers. By opting for different software systems connected by an active interface, BAW now has an integrated, virtually maintenance-free and reliable system.
