Results with G Suite
- Project executed in 90 days, ensuring success with change management from technical preparation to training for more than 800 employees in 20 states.
- More than 11,000 videoconferences in the last six months.
- Almost 3 million files generated in Google Drive.
- Greater efficiency and collaboration in company processes.
Farmacias del Ahorro is a Mexican chain dedicated to the sale of medications, personal care products, free home delivery, prevention and wellness programs. The company began operations in 1991 in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, with only two stores and 30 workers. Today, it has 1,600 branches, more than 20,000 collaborators (customers and distributors), and has a presence in 90% of the Mexican territory.
“The change to G suite went from a technological innovation project to an impact project on the company culture that excited our employees, because we discovered that they like Google and now we offer them a fresher, more youthful way and simple to work with, increasing operational efficiency.”
The evolution of the company over the years led to seeking the well-being of its end customers, beyond the marketing of products. Farmacias del Ahorro became a specialist and as such, required that all levels of the company collaborate more efficiently and that everyone work aligned under the general objective of the business. However, the work tools used in pharmacies, distribution centers, offices and corporate offices were not up to the collaborative and production needs expressed by all work teams.
Improving collaboration: key to transforming
The perception that some tools they used until now did not respond to current needs led them to work with Xertica, a Premier Partner specialized in services and consulting on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
In April 2018, the company began the migration to G Suite services. The Xertica and Google teams analyzed needs to help improve the efficiency of their communication and collaboration processes.
It was a three-month process, during which around 800 early adopters in more than 20 states of Mexico were trained, who supported the deployment and the first months of the project to ensure the adoption of the platform.
6,000 Gmail accounts were activated, a change that implied improvements in information security and made communication in pharmacies, distribution centers and offices more efficient. Hangouts, a tool that allows video conferencing from anywhere and on any device, also produced a profound change.
In the last six months, 11,000 videoconferences have been held, which reflects the practicality that work teams have found to hold frictionless meetings. Likewise, almost 3 million files have been generated in Google Drive, which demonstrates the use of these tools in a relatively short period. They have now stopped sending and forwarding documents by email, as changes are made in real time and Gmail is used more efficiently.
Triggering a change in work culture
The use of G Suite tools, such as Google Calendar and Sites, caused a change in the work culture of the teams in the various locations in a few months.
Day-to-day operations have been simplified thanks to adoption, which was relatively rapid because all the tools were quite intuitive for workers.
“In addition to the positive numbers in the company's finances that we can register after the migration, G Suite tools have also had an external impact, due above all to video calls with external collaborators and suppliers, elemental players in the day. “to the company day”
A year later, after a successful adoption of G Suite and with the challenge of extending its coverage to all the states of Mexico, Farmacias del Ahorro is evaluating the need to carry out actions in the cloud using other Google Cloud Platform tools to infrastructure and data warehouse migration projects.
