Posted by Warwick Bouwer, CEO of Jachris Hose and Couplings
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger is Warwick Bouwer, CEO of Jachris Hose and Couplings, a South African supplier of specialist industrial equipment.
In mining and heavy industry, the right technology can give you the edge. Founded in 1976, Jachris is now the largest supplier of specialised hose and couplings in Africa, particularly to mining and industry. We’re based in Springs, outside Johannesburg, South Africa, and also operate in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. We offer the most complete range of fluid transfer and fluid power products on the continent and see machine/plant uptime as our key driver. We’re proud to be at the top of our industry, but we’re not resting on our laurels. We’re looking to the future and making sure that our communication within the business is the best it can be, so that our customers get the products they need in the shortest possible time.
Prior to switching to Google, we were dependent on an internal mail server and Microsoft Outlook, with a web portal that functioned intermittently. Receiving emails from outside the company was difficult, with extensive downtime, as we were dependent on two-way internet connections. It was very clear that we needed to look at better solutions, because our below-par software was impacting on our business performance. I’ve always believed that software should make your business better, not harder, and it was time to make a change.
We looked briefly at Office 365 as an alternative, but Google Apps’ cloud-based storage and ease of transition attracted us. We required a single point of contact for all our communications, including email, chat history, documents and spreadsheets, and Google could provide that. We would no longer have to rely on our own hardware and software to receive emails, and regardless of platform or device we could access email. Google’s quality, usability and reliability were selling points for us.
With the help of our Google Apps reseller, OpenNetworks, we were able to migrate 60 users over a 24-hour period at the beginning of last year. It was great to have a partner like OpenNetworks on board who could address questions and concerns and also facilitate our training sessions. People can get anxious when software or work processes are changed, and the training really helped with that.
Since then, our ability to manage and integrate data has improved tremendously. Gmail’s incredible user interface is so easy for new users to grasp, and they need very little training to get up and running. We don’t have to worry about backing up data or losing emails because we can retrieve deleted mail from the Google Vault. We also use the chat function Google Hangouts provides, and it’s very useful to have chat histories embedded in the email management software.
Over time, we’ve been able to migrate all our users to Drive, so that when we’re away from our work computers we still have access to the documents we need. We’re able to share documents between work teams, and it’s really opened up communication between previously separate departments and branches. For instance, with production orders, all the right people are kept up to date and in the know. We can update and maintain Google Spreadsheets between different team members and the latest version is automatically available. We don’t have to email a separate file anymore. This is particularly important with big sales projects, as the entire supply chain is aware of delivery deadlines.
Although uptake on the Google Docs and Spreadsheet side of things has been a little slower we have a number of people who use the tool extensively. We also do have a few users who are finding the change a little bit harder - it’s an old dog, new tricks type of situation - but we are working on getting everyone comfortable with docs and spreadsheets.
The addition of Google Vault to the Jachris Google Apps has provided us with the security that no matter what happens to an email - we can find it. Vault makes sure that we are prepared for the unexpected. The extended management and information governance capabilities proactively archive, retain and preserve Gmail and on-the-record chats. So specific admin users can find and retrieve valuable information from any mail account across the Jachris domain.
We’re very pleased with the results we’ve seen so far. The ability to share files and always have the latest version of a document has been a huge benefit to us. We’re looking forward to seeing how Google Docs and Spreadsheets develop in future, as we believe there is huge potential in these products. We currently have 66 488 document that are shared within our business - and no one has to maintain a server to make this document collaboration work!
Talking about server maintenance - at the moment we have 78 527 emails within our business - with no one spending time maintaining a server to make the magic happen. So document collaboration, massive mailboxes, a host of other advantages and not a day of downtime in sight. What more could we as a business want?
Given Google’s track record, it would be silly to bet against it. It’s worth betting on Google to come up with something equal if not superior to other business applications in the marketplace. At Jachris we have chosen to bet on it, and we haven’t been disappointed.
