Metalogix Tools & Expertise provide crystal clear results to Hearing Aid Manufacturer

COMPANY OVERVIEW

Starkey is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The company is committed to continually improving the technology of hearing — and creating the best hearing aids possible. To that end, Starkey puts innovation in action every day, constantly seeking ways to better understand the science of hearing loss and its impact on peoples’ lives.

Metalogix products used:

• ControlPoint
• Content Matrix
• Number of SharePoint sites: 1,700
• Number of SharePoint users: 2,000

THE CHALLENGE

Starkey knows that innovation comes through collaboration – so it uses SharePoint to help employees share information, exchange ideas and push the boundaries of hearing technology. However, as Starkey’s content volume and pace of change increased, the company realized that it needed a powerful SharePoint administration solution. Specifically, the company sought a product suite that would help it:

• Manage content and feature administration
• Strengthen SharePoint security
• Control the entire SharePoint environment through one interface
• Make changes across the SharePoint environment, not just at the site level
• Facilitate migration from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010

“Our SharePoint environment houses a ton of content and that content changes constantly,” explains Jay Nebben, SharePoint Architect. “To stay on top of things - and stay flexible - we needed a tool that would help us proactively manage our environment.”

THE SOLUTION

Starkey chose Metalogix’s family of products to manage its SharePoint environment. The company made its selection based on Metalogix’s ability to:

• Increase visibility into the SharePoint environment
• Proactively enforce governance policies
• Provide a user interface that was easy to use
• Improve SharePoint security
• Deliver strong customer and product support

Says Nebben: “We narrowed down our search to Metalogix and a competitor. We really liked how ControlPoint for SharePoint administration integrated directly with SharePoint. That way we didn’t have to get another server. And we liked how Content Matrix helped us identify and resolve problems before migration and reorganize content during migration. Metalogix quickly became the logical choice."

THE RESULTS

With Metalogix's ControlPoint products, Starkey has realized a host of benefits:

• Better visibility and control: Because Starkey has better insight across its SharePoint environment; the company can mitigate the organizational risks that come with collaborative platforms. “We understand our environment much better now,” says Nebben. “And, because we can see everything from the top down, we can manage it consistently.”
• Ease of use and reliability: Metalogix’s solutions helped Starkey get up and running fast. “I was using the products quickly and easily from the install and they keep going strong,” says Nebben. “They are the Toyota of administrative tools: incredibly reliable!”
• Improved administration and security: Improved administration and security: bill for Starkey. As Nebben explains, “Metalogix was a perfect match for what we were looking for: content management, security, visibility and sweeping administrative capabilities.”
• Migration made easy: Migration made easy: The company uses Content Matrix to move and organize documents and simplify its site structure. Says Nebben, “We can consolidate separate SharePoint farms, quickly identify and resolve problems before migration, reorganize content as we migrate and rearchitect our farm from a data base standpoint.”
• Huge time savings:  “Now we have more capabilities and we can work faster,” says Nebben.
• Support on standby: Starkey likes knowing that superior customer and product support is just a phone call or email away. “The support team is excellent,” says Nebben. “When I need something, I get a response very, very quickly. It has been a great experience.”

So, what’s the bottom line? Says Nebben, "Our environment is extremely fluid, and we have to be able to manage it. Before Metalogix, we could only react and respond. Now we have proactive control.”