Auberge Resorts Collection Switches to Google Workspace With Promevo

Based in Mill Valley, California, Auberge Resorts Collection is comprised of more than a dozen award-winning resorts and hotels in six different countries. Auberge has created a timeless collection of exceptional properties, each with its own distinctive character, so guests have a unique and memorable experience.

Auberge Resorts Collection has been in business for twenty years and has over 2,000 employees. As a global organization, Auberge needed an affordable and efficient technology solution that was fast, easy to maintain, and flexible.

During the company’s first decade, the business used different versions of a hosted email server and an open-source chat system for real-time communication throughout the organization. Auberge relied on local storage and external hard drives. This setup was far from ideal, because it was costly, resource intensive, and difficult to backup. As the company grew, these drawbacks only became more apparent.

In 2010 the Director of Technology, Tim Dickson, decided it was time for a change. He needed a solution that would not only substantially increase their storage capacity, but also unify their various domains.

For fourteen years, all of the Auberge resorts and hotels had been running on separate domains in siloed environments. Dickson knew that having all the resorts and hotel websites under a single domain would create better brand recognition and make it easier to manage. If Auberge decided to do this in-house with legacy technology, it would require a server scale-up that the IT team was not prepared to support.

Another challenge the organization faced was onboarding new employees and migrating existing employees to a new device. It was a lengthy and complicated process whenever a new employee joined Auberge, or when a new device was deployed. Dickson explained that he was backing up everything to a second drive and then migrating all the data over manually. He knew that in order to grow successfully, Auberge needed to find a streamlined process for onboarding employees, and a simpler way to upgrade devices.

“At the time, we transitioned to Google Workspace to get rid of our old email solution. What we didn’t realize was that everything else that came with Google Workspace was going to transform the way we did business.”

Choosing Google Workspace to Centralize Files & Unify their Domains

Dickson decided that transitioning Auberge Resorts Collection to a cloud-based solution would be his best option. He reached out to Google to learn about possible solutions with Google Workspace.

Google referred Dickson to Promevo, a Premier Partner and expert in Google change management, to walk Auberge through the transition to Google Workspace. With Promevo’s help, Dickson saw the benefits of Google Workspace, especially how Cloud-based storage and Google Drive were huge improvements over their current solution. The real-time collaboration afforded by Google Docs, Sheets, and Hangouts also fit in perfectly with Auberge’s international business needs.

Dickson also learned about gPanel®, Promevo's proprietary Google Admin Console management tool. gPanel® provides administrators with granular visibility and control over all their users’ data and settings. With gPanel®, Dickson’s small IT team could manage a large scale operation and protect digital assets simply and effectively.

“gPanel® was the final piece that allowed our successful transition to Google Workspace. Without it we would have struggled to perform the administrative tasks we needed, such as centralized [email] signature management, group management policies, automated onboarding policies, etc.”

Best of all, since Auberge purchased their Google Workspace licenses through Promevo, they received gPanel® for free!

With the combination of gPanel® and Google Workspace, Auberge Resorts Collection was able to unify all of their domains through the cloud’s vast servers. They dropped their open-source chat system, exchanging it with Google Hangouts, and switched their email to Gmail.

With Google Workspace, their previously complicated onboarding process became extremely simple. Everything is stored in Google Drive and all the user has to do is login and the device is ready to go.

Promevo Provides Hardware & Software Solutions

Promevo also helped Auberge move from their previous hardware to Chrome solutions. Auberge purchases all their Chrome devices from Promevo, who had been named Google’s top device partner in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This includes Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, and Chromebox for meetings, as well as management licenses for the hardware.

Hangouts Meet Hardware and Google Meet have also completely changed the way Auberge communicates. Dickson explained that before their switch to Google Workspace and Chrome, a call from the main office in California to the Nanuku Auberge Resort in Fiji could cost $3 per minute. Now, everyone can join a Google Hangout and enjoy a high quality video conference call without the extra cost.

Google Workspace & Chrome Help Auberge IT Focus on Support Over Maintenance

Auberge Resorts Collection has now been using Google Workspace for more than six years. During that time, their tech processes have been totally transformed.

Google Workspace’s cloud environment lets Auberge employees access anything, anywhere, at anytime. Google Workspace has made it easy for Auberge teams to work collaboratively and  in real time, no matter where in the world employees or files are.

With more than 14TB of storage, the IT team now has far more insight, control and visibility than they did with their previous solutions. They’re able to search all their data, regardless of physical location, instantly.

By switching to Google Workspace, Auberge has saved a tremendous amount of time and money. Google Workspace licenses are three times cheaper than an equivalent enterprise license. Dickson estimates that any other solution would have easily cost five or six times as much.

In addition to the licenses, they also cut costs and time on acquiring and maintaining new servers as well as onboarding new employees. New Auberge employees instantly have access to the folders and documents they need to begin working when they log into their account for the first time,, thanks to Google Workspace’s convenient organizational units and file sharing settings.

“Working with Promevo has been great. We have stayed with them for six years because of their fast response time and knowledgeable customer service. When we have questions, they reach out personally and show us that they’re eager to help right away. Working with a Promevo account manager is much better than working with a computer, it’s much more personalized and we have a relationship,” said Dickson

Thanks to Promevo, Auberge Resorts Collection now has an adaptable Google Workspace and Chrome tech environment. For an organization with over two thousand employees and an expanding number of hotels and resorts, this type of scalable solution was especially crucial.

Google Workspace is reliable and flexible and has allowed Auberge Resorts Collection to have a solution that works around them and will support them well into the future.

Dickson says that “the full suite provided a huge platform for innovation and efficiencies.”

What the problem was:

• All hotel and resort locations were under separate domains
• Insufficient amount of server space to store and backup their important data
• Onboarding process for new employees was lengthy and complicated
• Existing solution was not affordable or scalable
• Redundant patching of Servers/Software - increased security risk footprint

What Auberge Resorts Collection did:

• Transitioned to Google Workspace with the help of Promevo
• Replaced local servers with Cloud-based solution
• Migrated all resorts under one central domain

What Auberge Resorts Collection accomplished:

• Streamlined management and increased brand recognition with all resorts now under one single domain name
• 14TB of data stored in the cloud at an affordable price
• Simplified onboarding process for new employees
• Spent 1/5 the cost of comparable solution
• Eased security footprint with centralized scanning/access to all data sets