GOOGLE APPS CASE STUDY

Indus Valley Partners increase productivity by launching Google Apps as a collaborative solution

AT A GLANCE What they wanted to do: • Provide a means of streamlining communication across the company What they did: • Deployed Google Apps as a hosted collaboration solution • Utilised Docs to share information and make edits in real time What they accomplished: • Increased productivity by allowing their employees to access up to date data and collaborating anytime, anywhere

Business Indus Valley Partners was established nine years ago by two friends bringing together their expertise in technology and business with the aim of creating a niche consultancy focused on Capital Markets. Since then, the company has grown to more than 220 people, with offices in New York, New Delhi and Mumbai. The company is committed to delivering high-quality technology solutions and upholding high standards of excellence. With a globally distributed client base, Indus Valley Partners places communication at the highest level of priority to bring the best in consulting solutions to its clients. Challenge The team at Indus Valley knew that productivity hinged on people having the right documents at the right time. Moving data back and forth as email attachments blocked that productivity. Version control and the need to go into email to find the latest revisions of documents drained efficiency and increased the risk of errors in Indus Valley’s client-focused work. Indus Valley took this problem seriously. As builders of integrated data processing platforms serving hedge fund managers, fund administrators and prime brokers, the firm focused on all levels of technology automation for financial clients. They needed assurance that their in-house technology performed with the same level of professionalism that they delivered to their clients. “We were desperately looking for a collaborative suite to replace our previous traditional office software,” recalls Gautam Misra, the company’s IT Manager. The desire to streamline collaboration – and literally put the company’s globally distributed employees “on the same page” – drove the Indus team to look at Google Apps. Sharing that data online, without compromising security and central control was key. As Misra says, the firm needed a solution that permitted “sharing data online without compromising the security and central control over our users and group policies.”

“Today, we use Gmail as our enterprise email solution. It’s very reliable and offers a host of features enabling faster searches, along with easy mobile accessibility” Solution Misra and his team set out to evaluate a number of vendors who offered collaborative applications. As they zeroed in on Google Apps, Misra led a short trial at the senior management level. The team tested Gmail, along with a new company-branded email address, Google Docs for spreadsheet and document collaboration, and Google Calendar. Within no time, Indus employees were sharing calendars and projects online, and Misra moved to roll Google Apps out across his user base. “We opened it up for the rest of our employees,” he recounts. “Things happened quickly and with a very light learning curve.” “Today,” he adds, “we use Gmail as our enterprise email solution. It’s very reliable and offers a host of features enabling faster searches, along with easy

GOOGLE APPS CASE STUDY

“We’ve had a tremendous increase in productivity since we started using Google Apps.” Gautam Misra IT Manager

ABOUT GOOGLE APPS

mobile accessibility. Calendar helps us set up meetings with the CEO and senior management, and makes it easy to schedule conference calls. Docs and spreadsheets let us share on various topics across teams who have interest in the same content.” The Benefits Misra and the global team at Indus Valley are highly satisfied with the results. “Literally 100% of our employee base now relies on Google Apps,” Misra concludes. “We’ve had a tremendous increase in productivity since we started using it.” In addition to better productivity, the Indus Valley team also enjoys the ongoing innovations that make Google tools even better over time. “We remain very optimistic about the future,” he adds. “We always keep a close eye on the new launches – but we’ve already had a great return as our people have used Google Apps.”

Google Apps offers simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools for enterprises of any size in business, education, or government – all hosted by Google to streamline setup, minimise maintenance, and reduce IT costs. With Gmail, Google Calendar, and integrated IM, users can stay connected and work together with ease, even in private domains. And, using Google Docs, which include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation tools, they can share files and collaborate in real-time, keeping versions organised and available wherever and whenever users work. For more information, visit www.google.com/a

© Copyright 2009. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. SS131-0903