Posted by Bhagwat Patil, Head IT of EMCO Limited
Editor's note: Our guest blogger this week is Bhagwat Patil, Head IT of EMCO Limited. Read more about EMCO’s move to Google Apps here.
As one of the leading players in energy transmission and distribution, EMCO Limited sees immense opportunities in India’s rising power sector. With the country’s energy demand expected to reach over 315 gigawatts by 2017, the industry is currently valued at more than $600 billion. In order to meet this opportunity, we need a digital collaboration strategy that allows us to keep pace with the market.
EMCO Limited’s solutions and products are marketed to over 50 countries worldwide so we interact constantly with our overseas partners and customers to collaborate and innovate across product lines and business segments. We compared various technology solutions and tested them for security and remote access for our employees. Encouraged by the positive results and employee feedback, we decided that
Google Apps for Work would be the best fit for our business.
With Google Apps, employees feel better equipped to run projects across country borders. They can respond to customers faster and collaborate with team members easily. The management is able to access shared information about project timelines and progress to stay on top of multiple projects. Our employees are no longer strapped to their desktops and laptops. With Google Apps available on mobile devices, we can respond to customers and partners, across time zones, from anywhere and at any time. Using
Google Hangouts, our teams can now conduct group video conferences worldwide. Anytime there’s an issue to resolve, we can quickly jump onto a Hangout, regardless of where team members are located. This has reduced our overseas communication costs.
We also share large file-size plans and proposals through
Gmail and
Google Drive. Previously, we were concerned that data sitting on users’ local drives could not be adequately accounted for in the event of computers being compromised or damaged. Google Apps alleviated this concern. With our data stored in the cloud and not on-premise, we feel better prepared to address challenges like hardware failure or even natural disasters. On the backend, Google Apps’ cloud-based model resulted in significant time and cost savings. Previously, the IT team spent a lot of time backing up data for storage and recovery purposes. Google helped take this task off the team, freeing them up for more strategic tasks.
Overall, Google has helped us to communicate better. Google Apps offered us a single, cost-effective platform to stay connected with employees, partners and customers anytime, anywhere. With Google Apps powering our business, we at EMCO are confident about strengthening our business in India and across the globe.
