NewMotion uses Google Workspace as a platform to grow its business and maintain the highest regulatory standards as it builds an electric vehicle network across Europe.
Founded in the Netherlands in 2009, NewMotion is on a mission to bring electric vehicles to as many people as possible, with more than 160,000 charge points across Europe and 250,000 drivers registered as users.
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Netherlands
NewMotion uses Google Workspace as a platform to grow its business and maintain the highest regulatory standards as it builds an electric vehicle network across Europe.
Google Workspace Results
Manages 350 employees across 12 countries with Google Workspace
• Complies with the highest standards of information risk management by using advanced security features in Google Workspace
• Reduces onboarding from hours to minutes with Sheets and Google Apps Script
• Aids business continuity, even under lockdown conditions, working with Google Workspace from any device and any location
“We wanted a productivity solution that could scale alongside the business. Google Workspace helped make our employees self-sufficient. They could do their jobs without running into problems that only an IT helpdesk could solve.” - Aurea Geelhuizen, Facilities Manager, NewMotion
is on a mission to make electric vehicles an accessible transport option for everyone. With an app and smart charging card, as well as 160,000 physical charging points across Europe, NewMotion provides the infrastructure needed for businesses and consumers to make electric mobility as convenient and hassle-free as any other form of transport. "What really sets us apart is the scale at which we operate," says David Costa, CTO at NewMotion. "We have more than 160,000 charge points across 35 countries in Europe."
When the company launched in 2009, it consisted of three founders in an office next to an Amsterdam canal. Since then, it has grown to have a presence in more than a dozen countries across Europe and hundreds of employees. Right from the very start, the company began using , initially for its ease of use and simplicity.
"We wanted a productivity solution that could scale alongside the business," says David. "Google Workspace helped to make our employees self-sufficient. They could do their jobs without running into problems that only an IT helpdesk could solve."
Regulatory compliance without compromising performance
“The security features in Google Workspace are very effective. The phishing and spam protection in Gmail and permissions with Google Drive help us stay secure and react to any data privacy threats very quickly.” - Jeroen Aijtink, Security Coordinator, NewMotion
As NewMotion’s technology attracted more partners and customers across Europe, the company began to expand, spreading to Germany, Belgium, then France and the United Kingdom. In 2017, the company joined the group of companies, allowing it to expand its charging points into a vast network of petrol forecourts across Northern Europe.
As part of a globally recognized energy company, NewMotion now had to pass the highest standards of regulatory and security compliance. At the same time, the company still had ambitious plans for growth and had no intention of compromising its way of working. "Mergers and acquisitions can pose myriad challenges, but when we joined Shell, the challenge for us wasn’t technical but regulatory," says David. "We needed to comply with Shell’s Information Risk Management framework, which is about protecting sensitive data and establishing secure protocols. We also wanted to keep using Google Workspace as it was the perfect platform for us, and it has helped us not just keep pace, but thrive."
“Google Workspace helps us do our jobs wherever we are. I can be at home or in another country, yet I can still see colleagues through Meet or work with them on Drive.” - Myriam Slikker-Meuleman, Office IT Manager, NewMotion
NewMotion appointed Google Cloud Partner to help optimize Google Workspace for enterprise-level compliance and continued growth. g-company and NewMotion’s Security Coordinator, Jeroen Aijtink, worked together to build custom security protocols with Google Workspace that would fit the Shell Controls framework and pass any audit of its compliance. For Jeroen, the tools that come with Google Workspace administration helped a great deal, especially within and .
"The security features in Google Workspace are very effective," he says. "The phishing and spam protection in Gmail and permissions with Google Drive help us stay more secure and react to any data privacy threats very quickly."
g-company also helped NewMotion to use Google Workspace as a platform for commercial growth, starting with a training program for new recruits as the company expanded into new regions. NewMotion added training videos and how-to guides to the company intranet, built with . "The intranet we built using Sites has become our one-stop knowledge base," says Jason Gregersen, IT Coordinator at NewMotion. "Whenever we have a question about Google Workspace, we can always find the answer there." The guides show new employees how best to collaborate using , , and , as well as the full range of communication tools in Google Workspace such as Gmail, , and .
As NewMotion continues to expand and add new offices, employees are able to stay connected with Google Meet and work on documents in real time using Drive, no matter where they are or what devices they are using. Company policy is to have no data on the device, but in Drive. This way, any hardware failures can be quickly replaced without impact on the user, minimizing disruption. To make people feel connected from any office, NewMotion standardizes the look and equipment of all of its meeting rooms. Whenever employees are at the headquarters, they can use **, a 4K 55-inch digital whiteboard that delivers a focal point in meetings for teams to unleash their creativity while taking advantage of all the connectivity and reliability of any other Google Workspace app. "We have two Jamboards in the office and they’re always in use," says Jason.
NewMotion has also used Google Workspace to overhaul onboarding and offboarding processes. When new recruits join the company, a Sheet is populated with data about their roles and capabilities. With , NewMotion then matches the new employees to the relevant managers and queries automatically go out, letting them know about the new hires and how their skills can be put to use. The entire onboarding process is more secure, standardized across the company, and can be done with just a few clicks using Google Workspace. "We’re avoiding many emails and manual actions," says Jason. "What used to take hours, we can now do in just a few minutes."
When employees leave the company, they can just as easily be offboarded, ensuring that sensitive information and permissions remain with the company. This process, which is based on Sheets and Apps Script, has helped g-company to achieve the ISO 270001 certification for information security, as it automates the provisioning and deprovisioning of access to business applications. The Google Workspace user directory is the single source of truth for the user accounts. As a result, NewMotion authenticates and controls access to other business applications and can protect sensitive business information in other locations within Google Workspace. Access is further secured with multi-factor authentication.
"The integrations for single sign-on, its logging capabilities, and the fact that Google Workspace is ISO certified, have all helped in the certification," says Jeroen. "The ease of use and ‘always online’ real-time philosophy of Google Workspace helps to reduce risk."
Optimizing for growth with Google Workspace
With the help of Google Workspace and g-company, NewMotion has adapted to a new and exacting regulatory environment within the Shell group, while growing its business at an even faster rate than before. With onboarding and offboarding processes drastically simplified, employees can focus on their work from the moment they join, with minimal IT troubleshooting needed. It’s a transformation that couldn’t have come at a better time, as in the past two years, the company has increased its workforce by more than 50%, and added six new locations to its existing offices. Today, NewMotion manages around 350 employees across 12 countries with its existing IT team.
"Google Workspace helps us do our jobs wherever we are," says Myriam Slikker-Meuleman, Office IT Manager at NewMotion. "I can be at home or in another country, yet I can still see colleagues through Meet or work with them on Drive."
In the early months of 2020, most of Europe went into lockdown due to COVID-19. By using Google Workspace, NewMotion was easily able to pivot to working from home and continue operations. Meet proved especially useful, not just for collaborating on work, but also for helping people to stay socially and culturally connected to the company. "We’ve organized pub quizzes and coffee meetups during the quarantine," says Aurea Geelhuizen, Facilities Manager at NewMotion. "It’s even helped us to connect with colleagues from other countries who we haven’t interacted with before."
The company is currently working with g-company to implement , which will automate and speed up the onboarding and offboarding process even further, while maintaining the strictest standards of security. NewMotion has proven that it can survive and thrive in some of the toughest circumstances, and it continues to keep innovating and evolving.
"We’ve been with Google Workspace for more than 10 years, and our circumstances have changed a lot in that time," says Aurea. "What’s great is that Google Workspace has changed as well, helping us to overcome whatever challenges we’ve faced."
**Jamboard is winding down. .
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