Read up on how SADA Systems has helped small businesses, enterprises, government agencies, educational institutions and non-profits all "go Google"!
Z Gallerie is a Southern California-based home furnishing, home accessories and framed art retailer with 55 stores in 19 states. The company started as a poster shop by 3 siblings in 1979, and has grown into a national furnishings store with over 1,000 employees.
Z Gallerie was looking to upgrade their entire store network's email and productivity applications and bring them to the cloud, but had concerns about security since the only computers located on premise were also cash registers. Because Google Apps would be deployed in all 55 stores across 19 states, there was a need to minimize software installation and maintenance efforts as well as train employees to get them up to speed on Google Apps. In addition to assisting with migration and deployment, Z Gallerie engaged SADA Systems to help train its administrators and end-users on the Google Apps suite.
SADA coordinated on-site and remote Google Docs and Gmail training for 150 users. Utilizing a classroom setting, SADA was able to helpe Z Gallerie employees them hit the ground running on day one with Google Apps. SADA helped ensure a high adoption rate by:
As a result of Z Gallerie's collaboration with SADA, the stores were deployed on schedule with no productivity down time due to effective change management. Z Gallerie Vice President of IT Howard Kolodny notes that the company has "been pleasantly surprised by how easy the adoption process was. Many of our employees were already Google users at home and so already know how to use the new applications. The employees particularly appreciate how many paper based processes can now be moved online improving efficiency and communication at each store."
The stores are now preparing for Black Friday and the busy Holiday shopping season. With Google Apps deployed, the company anticipates seeing a big boost in productivity as tasks such as supply orders, stockroom reports and other manual tasks are now streamlined in the cloud.
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Virgin Mobile USA is a mobile telephone company that is a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel. The service operates on Sprint's CDMA-based Personal Communications Service (PCS) network. As of year-end 2007, Virgin Mobile USA has over five million subscribers. Virgin Mobile selected SADA Systems as their partner of choice for their Google Apps needs.
Virgin Mobile users, dispersed across the U.S., were already power Google Apps users. Virgin Mobile's corporate office had highly customized the Google Start Page and deployed it as a central and important communication portal for all employees. They required an SSO capable, custom log-in page which not only would simplify user management, but would also protect 100% of Start Page content from all anonymous and non-authenticated users.
With only minimal help required from any Virgin Mobile IT resources, SADA was able to provide the entire solution from discovery to design, testing, and full deployment. Now, when someone attempts to access any Google Apps related links, they are directed to the custom log-in page. Nothing is visible to the public without authentication. "The SADA guys were terrific. The project price was reasonable and the turn-around time was only 2 weeks," says Lisa Freeman, Director of Virgin Mobile USA's HR & Communications. "When we ran into a minor snag, the whole team was all over it and on the horn with Google in no time flat to problem solve. We got great service and attention, and they definitely displayed a sense of urgency when it was required. It definitely felt like we were an important client that they were driving to please and that our project, though small, was still one that they wanted to put a lot of attention behind. Their follow-up was also solid and we had updates every step of the way. We had what felt like a highly personalized level of service. We had a great experience with SADA and would definitely use them again."
King, Krebs, and Jurgens is a New Orleans, Louisiana based law firm that was founded with a mission to provide their clients with high quality legal services while remaining cost efficient.
Before switching to Google Apps, King, Krebs, and Jurgens were providing email to their employees through Microsoft Exchange 2003. The firm requires email accounts for over 100 employees, email delivered to two domains, and dual-delivery support for both domains to their existing Microsoft Exchange Server and Google Apps. As with most law firms, retention of correspondence and email was mission critical due to compliance laws and other regulatory requirements. Migration of old email messages to Google Apps was an essential component of the project for King, Krebs, and Jurgens.
King, Krebs, and Jurgens opted to deploy Google Apps Premier Edition. SADA worked with King, Krebs, and Jurgens to develop a strategy for an Enterprise level deployment that would address the specific needs of their organization, including:
After implementation of Google Apps for the Enterprise, King, Krebs, and Jurgens have a cost-effective and efficient dual-delivery solution that will allow them to gradually transition away from Microsoft Exchange completely. Increases to email efficiency while streamlining administration have made big improvements to productivity, and freed up King, Krebs, and Jurgens internal IT to focus on other mission-critical projects. Additionally, considering that King, Krebs, and Jurgens is located in a region where weather often turns into natural disasters, Google Apps is a robust business continuity/disaster recovery solution provided at a fraction of the cost of other alternatives.
"Due to a dependence on our legacy email system, I did not think our migration to Google Apps was going to be easy. SADA systems proved me wrong. Using a well planned, detailed process, they were able to move our legacy accounts and maintain dual delivery of email to Google Apps and our legacy mail server. They accomplished this with no loss of communications within our business or with our clients. SADA's thorough engineers and project managers left us with no surprises or downtime. SADA systems explained each step and allowed me a greater understanding and confidence during and after our migration to Google Apps" - says Johnston Smith, IT Director for King, Krebs, and Jurgens.
IKANO Communications is an IP solutions provider of aggregated networks and private-labeled services to ISPs, organizations, and businesses, with over 1000 domains and 350,000 subscribers. IKANO decided to implement Google Apps Partner Edition in order to achieve significant cost savings, reduce administration overhead related to managing similar systems, and provide best-of-breed email and collaboration tools to their subscribers. IKANO plans to offer Google Apps Partner Edition as well as Tier 1 Customer Support for their subscribers and organizations.
IKANO Communications needed assistance in building a bridge between Google Apps and their current billing platform to provide value-add services such as email to their subscriber base while reducing administrative costs to manage infrastructure. Additionally, IKANO required a system which would seamlessly integrate with their existing provisioning and account management systems, and decrease the risk of customer churn by migrating as much of their existing data as possible over to Google Apps. It was critical that IKANO provide users a near seamless migration experience during the transition period of email dual delivery - to both the old platform and to Google Apps.
SADA worked with IKANO Communications on a project to migrate 6 of their key domains, and 20,000+ users to Google Apps. SADA developed a strategy to address:
The methodical approach to implementing Google Apps at IKANO resulted in lower than expected impact on their call centers during the migration process. The Google Apps solution implemented by SADA will help IKANO Communications save 25% in overall infrastructure maintenance and management costs of providing Google Apps services to their subscribers.
"We are extremely pleased with the development and project management services SADA Systems, Inc. provided to IKANO. They listened to our needs and delivered on their statement of work. We look forward to our continued collaboration and partnership with SADA regarding future ISP business developed on the Google Apps Partner Edition, " says Douglas Pollei, VP Internet Strategy and Corporate Development, IKANO Communications Inc.
The Bakersfield Californian is an independent, family-owned newspaper and media company. Originally published in 1866 as The Weekly Courier, it was the county's first newspaper. Today, The Bakersfield Californian is a recognized innovator in incorporating user-generated content into its media.
SADA Systems, Inc. (http://www.sadasystems.com) is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing and development firm founded in 2000. SADA started as a Google Partner for its search technology, and is proud to be one of the world's first 10 Google Apps partners, having participated in the Google Apps official launch campaign in February of 2007. SADA is highly experienced in Google Apps migration, implementation and deployment for the enterprise, education, non profit and government sectors.
The Bakersfield Californian had hardware that was at its end of life. The newspaper publisher had been running a "bare bones" set up for both employees and users - each had approximately 18 gigabyte archives of mail per inbox, with the overall size of Exchange storage being 300 gigabytes. The Bakersfield Californian approached SADA for assistance in developing a more cost-effective solution that would provide more inbox space and reduce their administrative overhead.
Many employees of The Bakersfield Californian were already using Gmail as their personal emailing system, and were familiar with its features. The SADA team and The Bakersfield Californian staff decided that the transition from their former messaging system to Google Apps have the least migration impact. The SADA team's goal for the Google Apps migration was for it to go as smoothly as possible, to allow The Bakersfield Californian to continue to meet critical deadlines. Additionally, the decision to "go Google" would be cost-efficient for the publication, a persuasive point that prompted employees to be open-minded as the prospect of the move. Another compelling point for The Bakersfield Californian was SADA's referral via Google. SADA deployed Google Apps and held numerous training seminars to assist The Bakersfield Californian employees in using Google Apps efficiently and to its full advantage.
Following SADA's assistance with the Google Apps deployment and follow-up training, The Bakersfield Californian reported their usage of the suite was smooth. The Bakersfield Californian employees now have the option to utilize various functions in Google Apps to finish their work remotely. Although The Bakersfield Californian is focused on the benefits of emailing within the Google Apps suite, they perceive the convenience and possibility for innovative use within Google Docs. Given the ability to share documents and hold conversation through options within the document itself is an invaluable tool in a community where heavy collaboration and real-time edits are tantamount to success . Users in the advertising department at The Bakersfield Californian also find Google Apps very productive. The fact that they are now able to work whenever they'd like, from wherever they wish makes responding to customers in a timely matter a much simpler task.
A World of Tile, founded in 1989 in Denver, CO, is a company that specializes in providing tile flooring for your home. World of Tile focuses on providing excellence of service and integrity of product to their customers, to assure that they are completely satisfied with the spaces they construct. World of Tile currently has grown to include 14 different locations in 3 different states, primarily in the Southwest and Mountain regions.
SADA Systems, Inc. (http://www.sadasystems.com) is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing and development firm founded in 2000. SADA started as a Google Partner for its search technology, and is proud to be one of the world's first 10 Google Apps partners, having participated in the Google Apps official launch campaign in February of 2007. SADA is highly experienced in Google Apps migration, implementation and deployment for the enterprise, education, non profit and government sectors.
A World of Tile, as one of the nation's leading tile retailers, was experiencing a steady increase in business. World of Tile sought to enhance their current email capabilities as consumer demand rose, adhering to to the saying that, "In today's economy, you must adapt to the world of change in order to succeed." The company wanted assistance gaining a more robust and reliable emailing system, in order to send and receive emails without any complications.
World of Tile was using Media Temple web host engine for their primary email system before switching 65 employees to Google Apps. Media Temple was convenient, but only able to provide 25 gigabytes of memory space, being primarily a web hosting platform. In light of World of Tile's growth, Media Temple was neither robust nor scalable enough for their needs.With 14 store locations spread out over 3 different states, World of Tile demanded a better way to communicate and collaborate between remote stores and field employees.
SADA Systems collaborated with World of Tile to make the modification to Google Apps as seamless as possible. Google Apps provided a holistic set of tools that incorporates varied methods of real-time communication amongst employees, alongside a platform better suited for their business needs. SADA took on World of Tile's move to Google Apps, making it easy for World of Tile to shift from Media Temple without internal assistance. SADA's competitors had requested that World of Tile execute the switch themselves. SADA made sure World of Tile understood every aspect of the process in a step-by-step manner, ensuring that their daily operations would not be interrupted by the migration.
World of Tile is progressing towards a steady adoption of the entire suite of Google products, while enjoying the reliable and streamlined email storage that originally incited the switch. World of Tile no longer puts use into any third-party applications, solely relying on Google Apps for their company. World of Tile now receives excellent communication within the company's many branches. Google Chat helps employees stay in touch by the minute with ease, while the ability to see and share individual calendars greatly improves organization and coordination of important events amongst corporate employees. Following SADA's assistance, World of Tile experiences increased ease of essential business communication with Google Apps.
Oregon Anesthesiology Group is comprised of over 200 Board Certified/Eligible anesthesiologists, providing a wide spectrum of treatment settings in state-of-the-art anesthesia and peri-operative medical care for over 20 hospitals and surgery centers throughout the state of Oregon.
SADA Systems, Inc. (http://www.sadasystems.com) is a privately held information technology consulting, outsourcing and development firm founded in 2000. SADA started as a Google Partner for its search technology, and is proud to be one of the world's first 10 Google Apps partners, having participated in the Google Apps official launch campaign in February of 2007. SADA is highly experienced in Google Apps migration, implementation and deployment for the enterprise, education, non profit and government sectors.
Oregon Anesthesiology Group struggled to find messaging and collaborative tools to increase efficiency of communication amongst a large staff, where real-time and reliable contact is essential. OAG's staff also required a larger email inbox capacity, and the ability to update and collaborate over documents, in a cost-effective and simple way. Oregon Anesthesiology Group also needed to find ways to be able to archive and discover old email messages.
SADA provided over the phone assistance with data migration and training to help Oregon Anesthesiology Group deploy and implement Google Apps. OAG had bought extensive training in order to aid end-users in discovering the functions of Google Docs in their workplace. SADA also helped guide the implementation process of archiving and discovery, providing step-by-step guidance towards customizing settings that OAG required.
With SADA's assistance, Oregon Anesthesiology Group has successfully migrated their organization to Google Apps. The employees now benefit from a larger email inbox with the real-time collaboration tools they needed to increase efficiency and ease of communication. Administration also now enjoys the ability to monitor and search for emails in a much more streamlined and organized manner.
"We simply cannot imagine going with Google Apps without having SADA there to guide us through the all of the configuration and setup options. As a seasoned IT professional, I can say that SADA made the difference between being frustrated with trying to figure out Google's design vs. quickly getting the answers I needed, from a source that has an excellent understanding of the service Google is offering. SADA Systems professionals are knowledgeable, experienced and responsive to the unique requirements of their customers. I would not hesitate to recommend them as a reseller of Google Apps; in fact SADA made the difference between staying with Google Apps and going with an in house solution."
- Mark Goodman, MS. Sr. Programmer Analyst at Oregon Anesthesiology Group