• Single cloud storage platform ensures efficient IT management, with appropriate access rights and security measures in place

• More than 400 users easily self-managed migration into Google Drive

• Hardware onboarding time reduced to one hour using Chromebooks

• Teams empowered to build new capabilities using Google Apps Script

Google Workspace was already in Picnic’s mix of productivity and collaboration solutions. In the process of reviewing its need to remove redundant services, the company chose Tryve, a Google Cloud partner, to evaluate the business case for consolidating its needs onto Google Workspace.

Tryve helped Picnic see the total savings made possible by removing double licensing costs, which based on the team’s size in 2019 and the licensing costs at the time boiled down to more than 80,000 Euros per year. Additionally, the company concluded that file management would become simpler, safer, and better controlled within a centralized Google Drive structure, saving time and IT management efforts in the long run as a result. Google Workspace also stood out from the alternative for providing tooling such as Google Sheets, which the operation leadership teams relied on to run prototypes and tests, and which were lacking in the alternative data storage and sharing platforms. 

"Tryve provided the necessary input to assess Google Workspace as a contender, but also supported us in building the business case," says Rozenberg. "Google Workspace was the best solution for our needs—in terms of features, security, and cost."

Moreover, with sustainability at the core of Picnic’s mission, the company recognized aligned views in its choice of working with Google. "It definitely helps that Google Cloud and Workspace have the same ambition," says Rozenberg.

Once the decision was made, Tryve supported the transition through workshops and in-depth training to ensure the team became knowledgeable and self-sufficient in its Google Workspace management.

"The biggest challenge was to convince people of the change and ensure everyone moved the necessary data into the new tooling," says Rozenberg. "By including stakeholders early, selecting early adopters, and providing plenty of information and documentation, the rollout was relatively easy, quick, and pain-free and we transitioned from having data fragmented across multiple storage solutions to a single shared Google Drive."

Over the following three months, with the training and support in place, more than 400 users in central offices self-managed their migration from other cloud storage services into Google Drive. Fast forward to 2023, and the number of Picnic office workers and operational leadership has grown to more than 3,000, all of which are now using Google Workspace.

"Before using Google shared drives, we were a company suffering from ‘split brain,’ sharing and collaborating on different storage tools with no way to switch smoothly between different data sources," says Rozenberg. "New joiners would spend a lot of time wondering what files they need access to and where to find data, and there was always the risk we’d be working on the wrong version of a file. It really was confusing for all colleagues and was just not efficient."

The change has also helped to consolidate day-to-day internal communications. For all Picnic meetings, Google Meet quickly became a default to help keep teams connected, whether between local offices or across different countries. The company lacked a centralized solution where all colleagues could interact with ease and adopt standard protocols for collaborating, and is currently moving to Google Meet to tackle the problem. "Google Meet is added to every meeting, which saves time creating events and makes it easier to stay connected across locations," Rozenberg explains. On the IT administration front things are also now simpler with the centralized management of Google Workspace with just one Admin Center as opposed to multiple.

Alongside the unification of its fragmented environment under Google Workspace, Picnic also shifted its customer service strategy to fully embrace the Google operating environment. To that end, it rolled out Chromebooks to the Customer Success Operations team.

"Before Chromebooks, teams brought their own hardware, which poses a challenge for consistency in quality, productivity, and security because not all devices have the same processing speed and we couldn’t enforce malware protection or properly control the conditions in which external access was granted to our internal systems," says Rozenberg. "Now, we see better productivity, devices work smoothly, and apps are in the right place with improved security controls. We can ensure there is uniformity to our customer services operations, which means we’re empowered to ensure consistently high quality customer support."

The Picnic IT team has also reported that the Chromebooks deliver a highly stable operating environment for Customer Success Operations, reducing the time required to manage devices or fix issues, compared with the previous arrangements.

Onboarding has been reduced to a very simple process where new joiners receive a Chromebook already packed with all the software and access permissions they’ll need in that role. The process is complete within the hour, which means new team members can be productive on their first day in. Meanwhile, changes in staff are easily managed with user management and device reallocation. With all Picnic access and identity already managed through Google Workspace, Chromebooks have integrated seamlessly with the overall operating environment.

"No reimaging or wiping of a Chromebook is needed, so we save at least an hour per device swap which significantly streamlined our onboarding process," says Rozenberg. "If you consider that the company’s central team has grown from 400 to more than 1,000 people within four years, this time saving adds up quickly. Similarly, in terms of licensing costs, we’re saving an estimated €300,000 per year based on how many new employees rely on Google Workspace for all the productivity tools they need instead of paying for additional software."

Next, the company is upgrading its licenses to Google Workspace Enterprise to explore more features that help teams optimize time, prioritize tasks, focus, and work smarter every day. "As the company continues to grow, it remains our priority to ensure customers are satisfied and operations run smoothly. For every new customer we gain, we’re also expanding our customer operations teams and behind-the-scenes efforts to maintain our high-quality standards. But simply expanding the team isn’t a scalable solution for long-term growth and success; we need to work smarter. And that’s where Google Workspace comes into our vision for the future," says Rozenberg. 

With that in mind, Picnic is currently testing how Google Workspace Frontline solutions can help management teams improve routine tasks for warehouse and delivery staff. Generative AI capabilities are also on the company’s radar as a means for moving the business forward, with Gemini for Workspace potentially being applied to multiple use cases to enable self-serve experiences for customers and internal teams alike.   

As Picnic continues to grow, knowing Google Workspace will scale to meet its needs without demanding more management overhead has given the team great confidence in the road ahead.

"We worry significantly less about performance, security, or storage," says Rozenberg. "Google Workspace is easy to manage, well documented, and centralized in one admin center. Easy to use and easy to find what you need—it just works!"