"I'd always dreamed of having a high-tech ad agency," confides Keith Lindbeck, president of the San Francisco, California�based Beginning to End, Inc. (B2e) advertising agency. Lindbeck envisioned employing information technology in innovative ways to enable his new agency to compete with established agencies. With a background in both advertising and information systems, Lindbeck understood how computing tools could reduce the costs of direct response marketing and improve response time. Lindbeck knew that he would need a powerful, flexible server foundation for his company's network and databases, as well as desktop software that would offer his employees the highest productivity and ease of use. Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server and Microsoft Office 2000 deliver the breadth of features and capabilities he needs, plus the integration to ensure everything works together seamlessly. Lindbeck observes, "Small Business Server fits our business model perfectly�we couldn't have found anything more complete. And we love Office 2000. It has a number of marked improvements over Office 97, which I wasn't sure could be improved."

Lindbeck also knew that technology could reduce not only the up-front investment but also the ongoing operational costs of a small business. He envisioned a virtual office environment, where information systems boosted individual and collaborative productivity and ultimately improved customer service. By using Small Business Server and Office 2000 to automate and perform much of the production work in house, B2e maintains a competitive advantage in controlling costs. Lindbeck notes, "Outsourcing data-processing functions can be very expensive and time consuming. Keeping them in house allows us to charge a very reasonable rate and provide our clients with a lot of added value and innovation." Lindbeck's strategy has paid off�less than two years since incorporating, B2e has an impressive client list and is realizing revenues in the millions.

Database-Driven Direct Marketing
Because large-scale direct marketing involves enormous amounts of information, it poses serious challenges for a small company. B2e must not only reliably maintain very large databases, but also quickly and effectively select, analyze, and deliver key data to its clients. For B2e the combination of Microsoft SQL Server� database and Microsoft Excel 2000 offers industrial-strength data management capabilities and fast, flexible reporting and charting. Lindbeck is particularly pleased that Office 2000 users can easily access the SQL Server databases from their desktops. He describes, "The new Data Access Object (DAO) interface provides easy-to-use dialog boxes and select criteria that allow us to get data into Excel in a faster and more usable way, letting us do flexible, on-the-fly reporting anytime we want. If we need to know how many responses we get within a test market, we can run a quick report from our SQL Server data using Excel and [Microsoft] PivotTable� dynamic views. Office has certainly helped us deliver data to our customers in formatted reports that are very professional and rich with business value."

The ability of both its network and desktop tools to handle databases with millions of records is vital to B2e. Lindbeck notes, "Some of our campaigns are particularly database-intensive. One major bank's direct response campaign reaches close to 2,000 bank branches biweekly and mails more than 35 million pieces a year. We process the responses and use the Microsoft Fax Service component of Small Business Server to distribute 4,000 reports twice a month." The scale of this project means that automation can provide tremendous savings. Lindbeck explains, "We've been able to cut about 45 percent of the production budget on a program that was running about $2.5 million." Saving money is not the only benefit for the client or B2e. Lindbeck points out, "We've also enhanced the reporting such that it is more timely, more elegant, and more focused. It's an unusually robust production application that we have been running now for over a year, with almost no maintenance."

Communicating and Collaborating in a Virtual Organization
B2e depends on Office 2000 and BackOffice Small Business Server to support its day-to-day operations. Lindbeck explains, "We consider ourselves to be an agency of tomorrow�a virtual agency. Here at the main offices in San Francisco's financial district, we don't have any creative or media personnel onsite. They all work from their homes or studios. Using Small Business Server's Remote Access Service (RAS), they dial into our network to drop off files and pick up communications."

Keeping its employees in close touch with customers and each other is extremely important to B2e. Lindbeck notes, "We use Microsoft Exchange Server and the Microsoft Outlook� e-mail and personal information manager very aggressively to facilitate communications and correspondence inside and outside of the company. Our marketing materials and invoices are the only pieces of paper that we send out�most everything else goes out through e-mail." Outlook also addresses the challenges of scheduling and task management in a virtual office. Lindbeck continues, "We use Outlook scheduling because having people outside the office makes it particularly important to know when they are available. Also, the capability in Outlook 2000 to associate tasks with a contact record is very helpful in customer management."

Collaboration between employees and clients is vital for an advertising agency, and Small Business Server and Office 2000 play an important role. Michell Nu�ez, account executive, appreciates the enhanced e-mail support provided by Office 2000. "When I'm working with copywriters, proofreaders, and clients, I don't have to open an e-mail and insert an attachment�I can just send documents from within Microsoft Word or Excel." And she notes how Small Business Server's file-sharing features enable effective collaboration: "Many people work together on any given project�an art director, a copywriter, a production manager, and an account executive. Shared folders let us keep track of our documents and ensure that everyone gets the latest version."

Lindbeck explains the contribution of the Word 2000 collaboration tools, "In the past, our traffic department compiled everyone's changes with different-colored pens. Now with the Track Changes feature, comments, and document routing, compiling changes is a lot easier, particularly because all our clients use Microsoft Office. They can incorporate their changes, and we know who changed what and why. It really works well to resolve differences in opinion. We save time and the customer saves money."

BackOffice Small Business Server has also facilitated using the Internet to conduct virtual meetings with clients. "Today, tight schedules and limited travel budgets prohibit getting a lot of people together, but much gets lost without face-to-face communication. We've found [Microsoft] NetMeeting� conferencing software to be a really cool way to conduct the presentations." Lindbeck continues, "When you can do an online presentation�and make it easy for customers to use�they see the practical benefit of technology. That leaves a lasting impression with clients, reduces our overall cycle time and cost, and betters our product overall."

The Right Resources at the Right Time
Lindbeck values the quality and number of small business resources in Office 2000. He comments, "One of the biggest benefits I see is the important information it contains for structuring and developing my business."

Small Business Customer Manager and Business Planner are two tools that Lindbeck has put to immediate use; he points out, "These tools are very easy to use, right out of the box. They install flawlessly." Customer Manager expands Outlook 2000 contact management and includes Office 2000 templates. Lindbeck explains, "[This tool] lets you easily do things like select customer names by sales and, with a few clicks, send them a preformatted thank-you letter on your letterhead. This helps in streamlining communications and gets information to customers and the internal team faster. We can minimize our overhead while providing a higher level of service."

The wealth of sample documents and templates in Office 2000 have enabled B2e to communicate more effectively and responsively overall. "For example, we had to do a press release recently, and Office has a sample press release in there," Lindbeck relates. "We're also doing more extensive and consistent follow-up with clients. The samples are preformatted and easy to use. The Workgroup templates in Office 2000 let us ensure consistency and version control."

Business Planner has also impressed Lindbeck, "Business Planner is an incredibly resource-rich utility. It addresses the typical issues you encounter in setting up any business; there's a finance section, a marketing section, and a legal section. A very extensive business plan wizard helps you every step of the way." Lindbeck also values the Web links to small business information included in Business Planner: "The Web links are very targeted to small business start-ups. They're a highly refined list of current resources."

As an expert in advertising, Lindbeck recognizes the value of the Marketing component of Business Planner. "It talks about all aspects of marketing, advertising, and promotion, even how to create different types of ads, or why you would do direct mail versus classified or magazine ads. That's a tremendous resource�all the information you need to make a decision in one place."

Affordable Excellence
The affordability of Microsoft products and their ease of maintenance is important to B2e. Lindbeck notes, "As a start-up, we are very concerned about costs. BackOffice Small Business Server provides the power we need to deploy our large direct response programs in house at a price that represents an excellent value." Lindbeck also finds that the Install On Demand feature in Office 2000 helps lower the total cost of ownership. "PC maintenance is a big expense and a big nightmare for most companies, including mine. Office 2000 lets you install the minimum set of applications on a client PC yet still have the full Start menu. Because Office 2000 automatically installs components as they are needed from Small Business Server, I'm seeing less time being spent on installing and upgrading desktop applications."

B2e has found that training and learning times are also minimized with Office 2000. Nu�ez affirms, "I'm totally sold on the integration. Everything works really well together." She also finds that the enhanced Help in Office 2000 lets her get right to work, even on unfamiliar tasks: "You don't have to read a book, you don't even have to type in a question�you can just highlight something and go. It's smart that way, and I take full advantage of it."