Roche is a leading research-focused pharmaceutical company, surpassing the competition in biotechnologies.
Deployment of Google Apps has made our mail system faster and more flexible. Infinity’s support enabled our users to continue performing their work without interruption and to easily familiarize themselves with the new functionalities of the cloud service.
Petr Polívka, CIO Roche
Task
To replace the existing mail solutions with a more up-to-date and flexible cloud service.
Specifically, the company switched from an outdated Microsoft Exchange system to a comprehensive Google Apps cloud solution. The whole process of migration and Google Apps deployment was planned on the basis of a model that had been previously used at Roche branches in other countries. Several key users, “Google Leads”, were identified and trained in the company in advance. After the switch to Google Apps was completed, they provided basic assistance to the newer users, their colleagues.
Of course, the whole procedure was supervised by the IT Department of Roche s.r.o. However, in the first phase the IT department requested additional cooperation with specialists from Infinity a.s., their long-term partner in the IT field, with cloud service competence.
Solutions
The first phase, which lasted for about two weeks, included a series of user trainings, data migration to new mailboxes, and the actual transition of users from the original e-mail system to the Google Apps environment. Users had to get acquainted with the different logic of Google Apps (working solely through a web browser window) as distinct from Microsoft Exchange (and the Microsoft Outlook application) and to learn how Google Mail, Google Calendar, and Google Chrome function and how they can be managed.
After the training materials had been prepared, all of the users attended a half-day training session, divided into smaller groups for greater efficiency. The whole solution and its principles as well as the differences from the original system were explained, and basic scenarios for working with Google Apps and managing the Apps in specific cases were presented during the training. In conjunction with this training, data – specifically e-mail archives and calendars – were migrated to Google Apps.
Immediately after that, a one-time switch to the new solution was performed and users had to start using Google Mail for their communications. While the company’s internal IT department worked on the data migration, fixing errors and problems in cooperation with the Google support centre, consultants from Infinity provided support directly to users in their offices. This included additional training of users who had been unable to attend the initial training session due to work or other reasons. The personalized approach enabled running typical scenarios for a specific user, paying attention to details, and answering specific questions. Because the migration process was not fully completed for some users, it was necessary to resolve some complaints about missing data. When major problems appeared, the incident was recorded and turned over to the IT Department, who dealt with the problem with support from Google.
Over the course of two weeks, users were visited at their workplaces and had the opportunity to call specialists about any doubts or problems. The purpose of this support was to retrain the users and help solve their problems, but also to calm the atmosphere, which had been tense as a result of the fast transition to a completely new solution, different from the previous system that had been in place for a long time.
Achievements
The migration was successfully completed during the first week when all users still could access their old e-mails, continue working with them, and archive them for the new e-mail system. Fears about the new and unknown solution were successfully dispelled, and users subsequently sought constructive solutions to specific issues concerning the management of individual applications.
Google Mail and Google Calendar eventually held all of the users’ original data and were
interconnected with the other applications with success. After training, users were able to continue performing their work and started gradually using the new functionality that Google Apps brought to them.
Business Impacts
The comprehensive up-to-date cloud solution for corporate e-mail system from Google enables more flexible administration and utilization of all the possibilities offered by Google Apps.
