Materahub, an organization with over ten years of experience in writing and managing European projects, has adopted Google Workspace to overcome operational challenges related to team growth and the management of complex projects involving numerous European partners.
Materahub promotes innovation and inclusion within the cultural and creative industries through European projects and international training activities. It supports female entrepreneurship and is an active participant in important networks and programs such as Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, Creative Business Cup, and EIT Culture & Creativity.
Materahub: rewriting security and collaboration, even remotely, with a focus on sustainability
In the 2000s, the Materahub team consisted of only a few people.
Using personal Gmail accounts to create work folders posed significant risks to data security and corporate data management, especially concerning the loss of control over files created by employees who might leave the company. This was a concrete problem, coupled with the lack of centralized management of sensitive data, as required by GDPR.
As the organization grew and project complexity increased, this solution proved inadequate. This was due to the need to manage a large amount of daily coordination, primarily conducted remotely, both in Italy and abroad, by the administration, communication, reporting, and project management teams.
The need to increase security, establish a corporate standard for work tools and leverage the advantage of the potential of smart working were the main motivations for Materahub to look for a dedicated solution with Google Workspace. Many team members' familiarity with Gmail ensured continuity, promising a smoother transition.
The presence of a Green Coordinator within Materahub highlighted sustainability dynamics often discussed but rarely explored in depth, particularly regarding consumption optimization.
It's interesting to note how even daily digital actions, such as sending numerous emails or creating duplicate and unnecessary files, have an environmental impact that should not be underestimated.
Google Workspace and power2Cloud, effective adoption, seamless collaboration
Google Workspace was adopted as the solution for the company's domain in a structured manner. power2Cloud, as a Google Cloud Partner, played a fundamental role in this process, providing crucial technical assistance for data transfer and environment configuration.
The most significant challenge was migrating the existing archive from old consumer Drives to Google Workspace, specifically for folders created with personal accounts, which Materahub did not own. For all other folders, the transition was instantaneous.
Daily use of Google Workspace in Materahub today focuses on several key features:
- real-time sharing and editing of Docs, Slides, Sheets, to optimize collaboration and manage all workflows;
- comments and Task assignment, also integrated in Docs, have greatly speeded up work dynamics;
- automatic recording and transcription in Meet are used daily for quick and weekly meetings, to take notes even for those who cannot attend;
- centralizing conversations in Chat and Spaces is useful for members of all teams;
- managing tasks in Calendar helps monitor colleagues' availability.
To continue leveraging its full potential, despite the widespread adoption of core functionality, there emerged a need for greater user education on Google applications.
For this reason, power2Cloud supports Materahub in periodic updates, such as Smart Chips in Sheets (allowing users, places directly from Maps, dates from Calendar, files from Drive to be mentioned in a Spreadsheet), as well as App Scripts and Apps Sheets for additional integrations.
Artificial intelligence built into Google Apps, a boost for every user
The integration of artificial intelligence into Google applications immediately showed its benefits for all users.
Gemini is used in Docs to write, transform and translate texts, especially considering that 90% of Materahub's work is done in Having support in translating from one language to another is fundamental, as is the research phase for sources used.
The combined use of Gemini and Notebook has had effective results.
Beyond productivity. The adoption of Google Workspace has led to significant results for Materahub:
- security has been increased, and a corporate standard for managing all files has been established;
- remote collaboration and teamwork has been facilitated;
- the integration of artificial intelligence is helping to speed up many team activities such as writing, translating, and resource research.
The guidance and technical support from power2Cloud were fundamental in optimizing migration times and exploring the potential of Google Workspace, promoting greater digital awareness within the team.
The guidance and technical support from power2Cloud were fundamental in optimizing migration times and exploring the potential of Google Workspace, promoting greater digital awareness within the team.
The guidance and technical support from power2Cloud were fundamental in optimizing migration times and exploring the potential of Google Workspace, promoting greater digital awareness within the team.