Andela is solving the technical talent shortage by building distributed engineering teams with Africa's top software developers. In four years, Andela has hired 1,000 developers and become known as the "Best Place to Work in Africa," with tech campuses in Lagos, Nairobi, Kampala, and Kigali. Andela developers work as full-time engineers with companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to high-growth startups like Gusto and Cloudflare. Backed by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, and Spark Capital, Andela is powering global engineering teams while catalyzing the growth of tech ecosystems across Africa.
Andela scales high-performing engineering teams with Africa's best software developers, emphasizing technical qualifications alongside personal values in its talent search process. Collaboration is at the heart of Andela and as the company faced significant annual employee growth, it sought a productivity solution that encourages teamwork at a global scale.
Google Workspace Results
Cloud file management saves 15% of employee time
• Facilitates easier workflows between Andela staff globally with Google Workspace cloud collaboration
• Simplifies platform file management with Team Drives enterprise features designed to work at scale
• Increases internal data retention with Vault features that help maintain industry compliance
Enabling Change
Solutions: Work Transformation
“Deploying Google Workspace has been a great experience for Andela. Our mission is fueled by fostering a collaborative community and Google Workspace has been a natural extension of this goal.” – Nicholas Musau, Global Director of Information Technology, Andela
With 1,500 employees across five countries and two continents, Andela relies on Google Workspace tools such as Sheets and Docs, to help bring global teams together. As the company prepares to double employee growth over the next year, Google Workspace provides a highly scalable and cost-effective solution that doesn't require expensive on-premises investments.
Daily work is bolstered by Google Workspace cloud editing and file features, which expedites tasks ranging from meeting preparation to budget planning. Google Workspace compatibility with standard third-party file formats, group calendar management, and integration with video conferencing apps add to the solution's versatility for Andela team members. Andela needs minimal onboarding for Google Workspace thanks to its intuitive design and employees' existing familiarity from their personal Gmail and Google accounts. For Andela, Google Workspace and its cloud environment emphasizes ease of use, encouraging team members to work from any location on any device.
Beyond 24 x 7 collaboration in a global setting, Andela leverages multiple Google Workspace features to simplify platform management on an enterprise scale. Advanced Team Drives features such as domain-based permissions and simple user data management support Andela storage administration needs. "Team Drives has completely revamped how Andela approaches cloud file storage," says Nicholas Musau, Global Director of Information Technology at Andela. "Simpler file management makes collaborative document creation easier, and we've seen a 10 percent increase in remote work as a result."
Vault provides extensive data retention features that include file and document archiving to help maintain industry data history compliance. Early gains from Google Workspace have spurred Andela to explore single-sign-on application integrations.
"With the deeper layer of control provided by Vault and Team Drives, we've seen improved security from stronger permissions and data retention features," adds Nicholas. "Streamlined file management on Team Drives makes it easier for teams to remotely collaborate and access documents, boosting team productivity by 20 percent."
