Case Study | Google Apps for Business

Laser Group reaps 87.5% cost savings after successful migration to Google Apps Business Laser Group is one of the leading electrical and plumbing contracting networks across Australia and New Zealand. Established in 1999 in New Zealand, the business has grown over the years and today offers its own systems as well as tools and management processes to other electrical & plumbing contractors as a franchisor. In 2004, Laser Group ventured into Australia. It currently has 110 companies in Australia and 95 in New Zealand representing the Laser brand in electrical and plumbing contracts.

At a Glance What they wanted to do: • Achieve a cost-effective cloud environment What they did: • Utilised Google Docs to increase collaboration and information sharing among employees • Increased internal communication through Chat and Hangout+ What they accomplished: • 87.5% cost savings from not needing to renew their software licenses and to replace hardware such as servers • 30% increase in productivity due to improved time efficiency • Improved workplace mobility, being able to work from anywhere, on any device

Challenge The business’ IT processes are outsourced to external IT consultants and vendors, and this relationship is managed by one dedicated IT staff for both the Australia and New Zealand offices. Group CEO of Laser Group, Steve Keil, shared that the previous solution the business used worked effectively but came at a high cost. The company had to make payments to regularly maintain its email server, provision licences for software and purchase new hardware. As the company continues to grow, and with the limited resources allocated to IT management, Laser Group decided that a move to a cloud environment would be a cost-effective step in the right direction.

"We appreciate Google Docs’ ability to stay open yet secure, with the proper mechanisms in place to allow us to share the information only with the right people. We’ve seen a 30% increase in productivity due to improved time efficiency." —Mr Keil, Group CEO of Laser Group

Solution Laser Group came up with a set of criteria that they wanted the new solution to commit to, including ease of use and seamless deployment. The business compared several cloud solutions and eventually decided on Google Apps as it was the only solution that did not require them to install additional hardware or software. Result Mr Keil is particularly impressed with Google Docs. “The best part of using Google Docs is that it has taken away the hierarchy of having to go to different line managers to look at one document. Instead, we are now able to access and edit the document simultaneously. We appreciate Google Docs’ ability to stay open yet secure, with the proper mechanisms in place to allow us to share the information only with the right people. We’ve seen a 30% increase in productivity due to improved time efficiency,” said Mr Keil. While Laser Group was keen to move to the cloud, they were also sceptical towards how it would differ from the server environment.However, the ease of accessibility and increased mobility with information housed on the cloud

About Google Apps

Google Apps is a cloud-based productivity suite that helps you and your team connect and get work done from anywhere on any device. Google Apps includes Gmail, Google Calendar (shared calendaring), Google Drive (online content storage and sharing), and Google Docs, Sheets & Slides (document creation and collaboration). For more information, visit www.google.com.au/apps

has won employees over. Mr Keil elaborated: “I found it quite liberating to be able to access all the information that I needed through the cloud. It’s so easy and convenient and I don’t have to bring my work laptop back home. I can even open my wife’s personal laptop and all my work is ready for me.” Laser Group has been able to achieve significant cost savings of up to 87.5% since the business no longer needs to renew software licenses, invest in high cost hardware and outsource IT maintenance. Travelling has also been minimised as employees take to Hangout+ for their meetings instead of shuttling between their state or national offices. The use of communication tools such as Google Hangout+ and Chat has increased collaboration and communication among employees and franchisees. Where previously, employees would need to time their phone calls to each other appropriately, they can now see who is online and drop the person a question on Chat to get an answer immediately. Plans are underway to rebuild Laser Group’s intranet via Google Sites in the future to store files and documents that will enable its franchisees to easily access the information whenever they need it. “Employees definitely love the idea of being able to collaborate simultaneously, share and access files easily and reach out to team members more effectively. We find that the more we utilise Google Apps, the greater the benefits we reap,” concluded Mr Keil.

© 2013 Google Inc. All rights reserved. Google and the Google logo are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.