• Enables rapid expansion with Google Workspace and Google Compute Engine scalability

• Mobilizes workforce by providing real-time, more secure access to data and documents

• Reduces the burden of DevOps and maintenance with easy to manage cloud-based servers

Over the last five years, Liu Jo UOMO has expanded into dozens of retail stores across its native Italy, but also across France and Spain, as well as Eastern Europe and the Middle East, selling a million articles of clothing each season. By 2015, as the company’s expansion was accelerating, the strain on its IT infrastructure was starting to show. CO.CA.MA. knew that it was time to review its entire IT infrastructure. It looked for a cloud-based solution and turned to specialists, power2Cloud, to deliver it with Google Workspace and Google Cloud Platform.

Meanwhile, the company’s employees could communicate instantly through Google Meet, reducing their dependency on email. Live editing features in Google Docs allowed them to collaborate without clogging inboxes with email attachments. With Google Drive as an easy-to-use, more secure storage and backup solution, Liu Jo UOMO knows that its personnel can keep working at full capacity, even in the event of a lost laptop or an equipment failure.

As well as helping with the technical implementation, power2Cloud provided a change management plan to help CO.CA.MA. employees adapt to the new system. In addition, power2Cloud helped migrate the company’s infrastructure from its on-premises servers to Google Compute Engine instances for easier, faster scalability, and to decrease latency across the company’s network by taking advantage of Google Cloud Platform Regions and Zones.

For Vincenzo, the shift to Google has helped “improve interaction between departments and helped provide information in an easy, clear way. Google Drive was the highlight for us. Having the ability to access documents from anywhere, anytime while keeping information more secure has made it crucial for everyone.”

Google and power2Cloud helped accelerate Liu Jo UOMO’s remarkable expansion even further. Within the last two years, Liu Jo UOMO has added approximately 30 stores to its existing network, bringing its total to over 50 retail stores in Italy.

“This has been made possible,” says Vincenzo, “because of the ease of setting up new stores in the Liu Jo UOMO network and signing them up with Google accounts. It used to take more than three hours to set up new store managers with the software platform and email but now we can get it all done in ten minutes. With just a browser, Google Chrome, we can access the software platform and all the Google Workspace apps”.

In addition, the IT department, freed from a heavy maintenance load, built an intranet in a matter of days using Google Sites. This intranet helps the company distribute internal communications and marketing materials much more quickly, efficiently, and cheaply. As Liu JO UOMO continues to expand, it keeps looking for ways to improve its processes. The company will take full advantage of Google Workspace Mobile Management when it starts distributing tablets to its employees in late 2017, mobilizing its workforce even further. With power2Cloud and Google, the company’s IT infrastructure can continue evolving as the company grows.

“Google and power2Cloud helped make our strategic vision a reality,” says Vincenzo. “My colleagues are now empowered to leave headquarters, solve problems on the ground, and still have more secure access to all the data they need in real time.”