Challenges

  • Too many manual steps to save mails in SharePoint cut down productivity
  • Low user acceptance of SharePoint due to the complicated way of working
  • Setting metadata is a cumbersome process with high control effort

Solutions

  • Intuitive and easy-to-use Outlook plugin that seamlessly connects SharePoint with Outlook
  • Easy drag & drop functionality for storing and transferring data
  • Metadata is already inserted when uploading via the plugin
  • High-quality reading preview

Benefits

  • Low training and education effort for the users
  • High acceptance of SharePoint when working with O2S-Plugin
  • Significant boost of productivity

The REWE Group has been working successfully with SharePoint in many areas for years and uses the benefits that SharePoint offers, especially in the area of enterprise document management. One problem in the past was the gap between Outlook and SharePoint: the annoying interim saving of mails and file attachments. There was an urgent need to improve usability. REWE Group did start an intensive market research in 2007 and made its own development efforts to close this gap. One of the plugins that REWE Group took a close look at in 2007 was the “Office 2 SharePoint“ plugin, O2S for short. The end of the story is quickly reported: O2S has been used successfully by the REWE Group for more than 10 years now.

 

 

O2S closes the gap between SharePoint and Outlook

The Outlook plugin is currently being used throughout the Group in all central areas and has over 3,500 users who work with it every day. O2S closes the gap between Outlook and SharePoint. Without O2S, the mail must first be saved locally before it is uploaded via SharePoint to the corresponding library. The plugin puts an end to this: e-mails can be uploaded from Outlook to the corresponding SharePoint library in the O2S menu using drag & drop. File attachments are also transferred easily and without intermediate steps. Even the assignment of metadata is simple and self-evident. Bernadette Griessler, IT organizer of IT portal systems, confirms: „The seamless document and mail storing with the simple filling of metadata fields makes O2S a well-accepted tool in our company‘s central departments”.

 

Transfer e-mails, files and folders via drag & drop

O2S is able to transfer data or entire folder structures via simple drag & drop functions. In the latest version, O2S behaves to SharePoint like Exchange behaves to Outlook – it is seamlessly integrated. The user opens an e-mail in SharePoint and has the same functionalities as if the mail had been opened in Outlook.

Low training effort required

O2S does meet the needs of huge corporations in an exemplary way – especially with regard to configuration and administration. Many settings are already preset during installation and users hardly need to make any adjustments. The related SharePoint areas are linked once by the employee in O2S and then remain saved. It is precisely this simple and pragmatic use that makes O2S so successful at REWE Group. Bernadette Griessler: „O2S is intuitive to use, the training effort is low. We only support it with an eLearning module and video tutorials”.

REWE Group

Founded in 1927 in Cologne am Rhein, the cooperative REWE Group is one of the leading trading and travel and tourism groups in Germany and Europe. Around 345,000 employees in 21 European countries work in more than 15,000 stores. In 2017, REWE Group achieved a total external turnover of 58 billion euros. Its international business is bundled under the holding REWE International in Austria.