• 25,000+ sheets of paper and 10 working hours saved each month with AppSheet

• 50% reduction in customer response time

• 80% reduction in paper used in sales processes

• 25% growth in sales

• 40% decrease in sales representative turnover

Founded in Mexico and with a presence in more than 12 countries, AKRON has grown from a newcomer in the lubricants and additives industry to a leader in generating reliable, sustainable energy solutions. Despite operating in a traditional industry, AKRON is heavily focused on driving innovation and technological transformation for its five business units in the oil and gas value chain.

However, in order to achieve transformation across its business, the team first needed to examine its internal processes. They quickly realized that outdated systems, siloed infrastructure, and lack of access to technology was holding the company and its people back.

"We believe that people are at the heart of technological innovation," says Macarena Hernández de Obeso, Director of Innovation, Intelligence, and Technology at AKRON. "If our employees are not equipped with the right technology and digital habits, there is no chance of implementing any type of long-term transformation."

With a focus on digital inclusion, AKRON migrated its internal systems to Google Workspace to unify its workforce from the frontlines to the corporate office and empower its people to do more in the world of hybrid work.

For over 10 years, AKRON had been using an alternate communications tool, but only corporate staff had access to the platform, leaving more than half of the company's 811 employees without critical technologies that would make their jobs easier. The company lacked a unified collaboration framework and digital corporate identity, resulting in inefficient processes, sluggish productivity, and a fragmented workforce.

"We needed real-time collaboration, but it wasn't possible within our existing framework," says Maria Jose Palomar Oetling, Innovation and Digital Transformation Manager at AKRON. "All of our administrative processes were done by hand, with no way to integrate information across the organization."

Factory workers had to run all of their production line processes manually from one computer, with a shared user for many employees, causing operational blockers and issues with traceability. To request time off, they had to send printed papers signed by hand through courier services to headquarters. With no company-supported tech or shared collaboration tools, sales people couldn’t access their email history or edit documents from their mobile devices. Instead of making real-time decisions while face to face with a customer, they had to return to the office to obtain approvals or make necessary changes.

"We needed to create digital inclusion in the company to give everyone, regardless of their position, access to tech tools that enable communication, participation, and collaboration," Hernández de Obeso says. "That’s when we decided to rethink the current allocation of resources and to define the ideal tools for AKRON’s future."

AKRON's employees, many of whom had been with the company for 25 years or more, are not inherently tech-literate. Recognizing that digital transformation would cause friction, Hernández de Obeso and her team put simplicity at the top of their criteria list. The new system had to be as intuitive as possible to drive adoption and achieve the cultural change AKRON needed. Additionally, the team sought a cloud-based solution that would enable real-time collaboration, a secure working environment, and easy implementation across the organization.

Hernández de Obeso believed that Google Workspace would lead the company into its next phase of efficiency and growth, and would provide better, equitable support to all its employees. However, only one out of 25 members of the Innovation, Intelligence, and Technology team was willing to switch from the company's existing platform.

"I decided to give my team a challenge: to convince me that the tools we were using were the best ones to scale across the company, to people without any tech skills that have never worked with a computer," Hernández de Obeso says. "They could not convince me, so I had them try Google Workspace for one month as a pilot and the rest is history."

Following the success of the pilot, AKRON migrated all of its internal tools to Google Workspace, including Google Frontline, a set of collaborative productivity apps that provides frontline workers with access to email, secure video conferencing, shared calendars, online document editing, and much more. From Gmail, Google Meet, and Google Drive, to advanced security controls and administrative features, Frontline gives AKRON the integrated solutions it needs to connect its workforce across geographies and roles.

Asking people with little technology experience to learn a new platform is no small task. Asking them to transform their entire way of thinking about their work is monumental. AKRON handled change management with the same mindset that set their entire digital transformation in motion: by putting its people at the center of the process.

To support employees through the implementation, Hernández de Obeso and her team visited all AKRON facilities in person to onboard them to the platform and demonstrate how Workspace tools would transform their daily lives at work. The company continues to share new Workspace features, step-by-step guides, and educational videos on its communication channels to keep employees updated. Each month, they also share a success story about what an AKRON employee has accomplished through the use of Google Workspace.

All of these initiatives are part of AKRON Digital, an internal campaign designed to educate, include, and inspire employees about ongoing digital transformation. By creating connection, enabling fluid collaboration, and empowering people with the right tools, Google Workspace has democratized access to technology and unlocked long-term organizational change.

"We use Workspace as the platform to convey a change of mindset and a new way of working," Palomar Oetling says. "Transformation isn't just technology – it's people with technology that make the change."

AKRON began its transformation with a goal to become a faster, simpler, and more collaborative company, and Google Workspace has delivered on the frontline and corporate level.

Digitizing the quality control process in factories using AppSheet has saved more than 25,000 sheets of paper and 10 working hours each month. Streamlining sales with Gmail has improved customer response time by 50%, and led to an 80% reduction in paper used throughout the sales process. Equipped with the right technology and the right access, sales representatives have grown their sales by 25%, and turnover has decreased by 40%. 

And the impact of Google Workspace goes beyond the tangible improvements to AKRON's bottom line. It has sparked a cultural shift within the company, where employees have the opportunity to get involved with future initiatives. Through programs like Idea Lab, AKRON uses Google Forms and business insights from Looker to encourage employees to propose ideas for process improvement and innovation. A surprising 70% of Idea Lab participants are people who work in AKRON’s factories, proving the long-term value of digital inclusion.

"We knew transformation was imminent, but we couldn't have guessed the impact would be this significant," Hernández de Obeso says. "Everyone has the capacity for innovation and creativity, but they need the right tools to make magic happen. Give your people power, and a voice will surprise you."