Quint adopts Google G Suite platform, GeeFirm supports transition

International consulting firm Quint Wellington Redwood is migrating to a new collaboration model for consultants and clients, enabled by Google’s G Suite technology. GeeFirm, a Netherlands-based G Suite preferred supplier, has been tasked with coordinating the implementation.

Founded in 1992, Quint Wellington Redwood (Quint) is a global consulting firm with offices in eight countries. The consultancy provides a range of management consulting and IT consulting services, including offerings in the area of Digital Transformation, Sourcing Advisory, IT Service Management, Lean IT, SIAM, DevOps, IT Governance, Benchmarking and Architecture & Security. The consultancy, headquartered in the Netherlands, in particular enjoys a strong track record in the sourcing domain – the privately-held company was earlier this year named one of the globe’s top 20 outsourcing advisory firms.

The firm’s existing internal operating model builds on a private hosted environment, consisting of a main ERP system and several connected applications, facilitating Quint’s front-office (e.g. business development & account management, engagement delivery) and back-office (e.g. finance, staffing) activities. One of the areas in which the consultancy wants to bolster its effectiveness is in internal/external collaboration and knowledge management.

Frank Grift, CFO of Quint, explains: “Our motto is ‘Dare to Challenge’, which implies that we continuously aim at challenging ourselves and our clients to improve. As part of our own Digital Transformation strategy, we have for reasons of modern consulting models decided to embrace public cloud.” With the transition, Grift says the firm will benefit from a leaner IT footprint, which will also lead to a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). At the same time, Quint’s consultants and clients will, through improved functioning of internal processes, benefit from enhanced engagement delivery.

Quint has selected G Suite, Google’s suite of cloud-based business solutions (formerly Google Apps for Work), as its technology platform. G Suite includes a range of products and solutions, including the likes of Gmail, Agenda, Google Drive, and document solutions such as spreadsheets, forms and presentations, all integrated into one overarching solution. Grift: “G Suite as part of Google Cloud offers a robust and secure environment to support and expedite this change of our collaboration model internally and with our customers.”

The transition to the new way of working will be supported by GeeFirm, a software firm that specialises in G Suite products with a pure focus on the professional services sector. Commenting on the decision to engage the Amsterdam-based firm, Grift states “GeeFirm understands our business and we are confident of a solid transition.”

GeeFirm’s Sales & Marketing Director, Jeroen Hovinga, highlights that Quint is the latest firm to embrace the power of G Suite, a solution which in his view provides users with “significant benefits” vis a vis traditional solutions. “By transitioning to Google for Work, midsize consulting firms can typically save between 40% to 60% on their IT costs,” reflects Hovinga. A study conducted in 2015 by BetterCloud, a US-based cloud specialist, among 1,500 organisations that recently moved towards the cloud, found a similar estimate, with respondents indicating that Google for Work delivered them average cost savings of 41% relative to the baseline – compared to 27% as cited by Office 365 users. “By choosing for G Suite, Quint will benefit from faster outputs, higher customer involvement, and G Suite will in addition contribute to attracting and retaining talented professionals.”

Erik de Muinck Keizer, Country Manager G Suite for the Benelux region, says in a reaction on the news that he is delighted with the addition of Quint Wellington Redwood to G Suite’s community. Once fully rolled out, planned for ultimo 2016, around 220 professionals at Quint will have adopted G Suite and its several solutions.

Globally around 5 million organisations are using Google Apps, with 50 million users spread over the globe, including the likes of well-known corporates, yet the professional services industry is still a relatively greenfield terrain for the US-giant. Google has however drafted serious plans to enter the space – which still is dominated by the traditional larger ERP players (SAP, Oracle) and specialised players – and is across the globe striking partnerships with local suppliers, such as GeeFirm, to ramp up its presence. “Firms like GeeFirm play an important role in helping other Professional Services organisations to benefit from Google Cloud solutions.”