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How a UK retail giant saved a LOT of time and money with CloudM

A UK based high street retail giant with over 500 stores across the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and a global online presence, employing nearly 50,000 staff worldwide. With over a century and a half of retail experience, they cater for 5 million+ active customers globally in 70 countries, specializing in Clothing, Footwear, Accessories and Home products.
Even after 150 years, this retailer actively researches and invests in the latest technologies, including eCommerce, digital transformation and security, to keep their processes moving forward and continue to offer greater value to their customers.
 

The Issue

The retailer wanted to cut down license cost as their VFE licenses were due to be renewed as costly Google AU licenses, whilst also retaining the data in accordance to data regulation laws.

Offboarding was also taking them too long with an average of 1000 offboarding processes a month eating up the valuable time of their IT team. They also wanted to be able to standardize the process across all departments to speed up offboardings and avoid costly human error.

 

The Process

The retailer had spoken to us several years previously about our user management software before ultimately, and unsuccessfully, choosing a competitor. Upon reengaging with CloudM, they were pleasantly surprised by not only the growth and maturity of the product modules and features, but the attentive, professional and knowledgeable service they received throughout.

Being a company of their size, they wanted to make sure that CloudM would be a good fit for them long term. Our Sales Architects quickly allayed any fears that they had with a series of product demos with senior members from their IT team, explaining how CloudM Automate and CloudM Archive modules would combine to deliver a seamless process for their administrators, as well as scoping out potential issues.

As soon as the customer started to use CloudM, our Customer Success Team was on hand to guide them through the initial stages, helping them to set up their roles, groups and offboarding policies and archive storage buckets.

Offboarding workflow 2

Claire Robinson, Customer Success Manager at CloudM, explained “The enablement process is crucial with every customer. Helping them start on the right track means that they can get the very best out of CloudM as quickly as possible. We want our customers to succeed so we are always on hand to help, listen and resolve, whether it’s day one or year 10 of their journey with us”.

It’s this cycle of communication and collaboration that encouraged the retail giant to suggest several software improvements that would make their experience easier. This feedback has helped us to develop and add several new features to the suite, benefiting all of our CloudM Automate and Archive customers. We also looked for new and innovative ways to use our current features to solve some of these issues.

 

The Result

As far as returns on investment go, few are as quick and evident as the saving the retailer made by simply using CloudM Archive and Google Cloud Storage as an alternative to transitioning to Google Archive User (AU) licenses.

“CloudM pay for themselves – We saved so much in license costs and the amount of time and resource needed to do really quite simple tasks.”

With almost 3000 free VFE accounts due to transition to paid AU licenses at their next renewal, the business was looking at an eye watering bill of nearly $350,000 over the next two years alone. CloudM helped to eliminate that need with CloudM Archive, allowing them to keep all their user data, securely and totally compliant, at a fraction of the cost. CloudM Archive has been proven to save customers as much as 75% compared to renewing to AU licenses.

But ROI shouldn’t be counted in purely financial terms alone. Time can be equally as valuable as money. Our offboarding features allowed the retailer’s IT team to easily build bespoke workflows, customizable for each Organizational Unit and Smart Team, so the entire offboarding process is automated and triggered with one button. As they routinely offboarded around 1000 users a month, we worked out that CloudM would save them an incredible 21 full days on manual offboarding tasks…every single month. Even better, with CloudM Automate, they no longer have to rely on GAM scripts or continually accessing the Google Admin Console.

Now, their IT teams can get on with the important tasks, assured that we are taking good care of the monotonous offboarding work in the background.

 

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

Setting your office to autopilot

How do you want your IT team to spend their valuable time?

Do you want them to prioritize the big ticket, business critical projects such as keeping your business secure and optimizing your internal systems, continuing to add value to your company?

Or do you want them to spend hour after hour (after hour) responding to the backlog of little time sync tasks that stack up through the day? The “can you add my new job title to my email?” or the “John’s just joined but he can’t access…”

With CloudM Automate, you can put thousands of tasks a year on autopilot, saving days worth of work hours and allowing your team to concentrate on the important, interesting challenges keeping your organization moving forward.

Onboarding

When a new employee joins the business, or an employee moves to a new role, we want them to hit the ground running. Nothing stalls this enthusiasm more than having to wait for access to the resources that they need.

With CloudM Automate, you can make sure that they have access to all the shared documents, drives and calendars required for their role and department, on day one. All you have to do is make sure they are added to the correct dynamic user group.

You don’t need to go into each resource that they need and share it with the new starter. A 30 minute slog is now down to 2 minutes, at most!

Offboarding

When it comes time to say goodbye to an employee, a lot of individual tasks land in your IT team’s inbox. For example, you need to secure the user’s account (including changing passwords), transfer the ownership of Docs, Sites, Calendars and Groups, migrate emails, and claim back licenses. Even a simple manual offboarding process can take up roughly 30 minutes of your IT team’s valuable time.

CloudM Automate allows you to craft bespoke offboarding workflows of up to 30 individual tasks, automatically assigned to users based on group membership, all triggered with the press of a single button. No more delays, no more errors, no more manual tasks.

Archive

You need to keep your leavers data – It’s as simple as that. Whether it’s to comply with domestic or global data regulations such as GDPR, or just so you can recall a piece of crucial evidence as part of a legal or HR issue.

CloudM Archive allows you to make sure you are always sending your user’s data to a secure cloud storage bucket, 100% owned and managed by you, as part of an offboarding workflow. When it comes time to delete archived data, in accordance with data retention laws, CloudM Archive automatically purges it based on retention policies.

You will be 100% compliant with none of the manual hassle.

***Added Bonus*** Storing your data in the cloud with CloudM Archive is up to 75% cheaper than using Google Archive User licenses so you will save time AND money.

Integrations

CloudM Automate plays well with a host of other SaaS applications including Slack, Box, Dropbox, Bamboo HR and ADP, giving you even more ways to put menial tasks on autopilot.

 

The first way we do this is to allow you to secure and delete SaaS licenses assigned to a leaver as a simple, single step in your offboarding workflows. This is great for making sure that leavers no longer have access to your company data, but will also save you money on used SaaS licenses.

Then, secondly, we have integrations that allow you to make changes to a user’s profile in one SaaS application and have them automatically sync to CloudM Automate. Even better, these changes can automatically trigger onboarding and offboarding workflows, and email signature changes.

Email Signature Management

Any recently promoted or hired employee needs to update their email signature, but instead of hassling the IT department with a ticket, what if it was all done automatically? We use “variable” labels in our templates that take the latest synced information from a user’s CloudM profile or your organization profile.

In fact, with the integrations mentioned in the section above, your HR team can even change the details directly in Bamboo HR or ADP (as they would have to do normally), with the changes syncing over to CloudM Automate, and triggering changes to the user’s email signature. With ZERO interaction from your IT team required.

Also, our role permissions means you can give the right people the right access to our platform. IT admins can give a Marketing or HR team the permissions to create and assign email signatures, without allowing access to any other administrative features, such as onboarding, offboarding and archive.

Streamline your business with CloudM Automate, the award-winning platform that gives you the ability to automate your office, saving you time, stress and money. 

Contact us today and discover for yourself just how valuable office automation can be.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

Great Minds Make Great Tech with Claude Morings Jr

It’s been an exciting month for us here at CloudM as we get set to officially launch our US subsidiary, CloudM Inc. With over 10 years of experience in the US market already, this natural evolution promises to deliver an even better customer experience for our amazing North American customers.

What better time to celebrate the staff that have supported our US market and made this next step possible. And, who better to speak to than US employee no.1 – Claude Morings Jr.

Hi Claude – Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hey! I’m the Global Product Support Manager here at CloudM. I joined 4 years ago (this month to be exact) as CloudM’s very first US employee.

Wow! And now we have 13 US based employees and growing, with a US subsidiary being established. You must’ve seen some changes in the past 4 years

Absolutely. Personally, I’ve been able to grow the Support Team out from a solely UK based operation to a truly global department, with dedicated, knowledgeable staff located around the globe (including APAC), delivering true 24 / 7 support.

None of this was in place, and to have that set on my shoulders as a deliverable when accepting the role was a lot of pressure. But, it has created the amazing support team we have now, which I’m extremely proud of.

In the US, helping the business get the right people in place and seeing the business grow to generate the revenue to get here, establishing CloudM Inc., has been so rewarding. In the last year alone, the number of US based employees has skyrocketed and it’s only set to continue. That can only be good for our customers.

So, what do you enjoy about working at CloudM?

Firstly, my team. My favorite parts of the week are when someone within the team achieves a goal, receives good feedback, or puts a process in place that benefits them and their colleagues. I was given the opportunity to build the team and put people in those positions to showcase their talents so it feels like validation.

I really like how we make remote working work, even across multiple time zones and regions. It’s great to feel like one team with colleagues across APAC, Europe and North America (from sea to shining sea).

Saying that, getting the opportunity to meet up in person is amazing. I’m from a small town in North Carolina, and while I have traveled across the world during my 12 years in the Army, my family is amazed when I tell them I’m visiting the head office based in the UK or that I get to go to Spain for a company kickoff meeting.

What is your favorite CloudM value?

My favorite value is to appreciate others. I can crack on, try new things, and get involved, but showing others that they’re appreciated (and feeling appreciated) makes the other values easier to achieve.

Any advice for someone looking to join the CloudM team?

It will be challenging, but we will have fun and you will feel supported. At CloudM, you will only fail if you choose to. The team here is pretty good at circling the wagons around someone who needs extra assistance, sharing their own experiences and knowledge.

It’s a great time to get involved. The CloudM team, globally and in the US, is growing and there are so many opportunities for personal and career growth. If you are hard working, eager to learn and challenge yourself, CloudM is a great place to work.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

Claude Morings Jr, Global Product Support Manager

It’s been an exciting month for us here at CloudM as we get set to officially launch our US subsidiary, CloudM Inc. With over 10 years of experience in the US market already, this natural evolution promises to deliver an even better customer experience for our amazing North American customers.

What better time to celebrate the staff that have supported our US market and made this next step possible. And, who better to speak to than US employee no.1 – Claude Morings Jr.

Hi Claude – Tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hey! I’m the Global Product Support Manager here at CloudM. I joined 4 years ago (this month to be exact) as CloudM’s very first US employee.

 

Wow! And now we have 13 US based employees and growing, with a US subsidiary being established. You must’ve seen some changes in the past 4 years

Absolutely. Personally, I’ve been able to grow the Support Team out from a solely UK based operation to a truly global department, with dedicated, knowledgeable staff located around the globe (including APAC), delivering true 24 / 7 support.

None of this was in place, and to have that set on my shoulders as a deliverable when accepting the role was a lot of pressure. But, it has created the amazing support team we have now, which I’m extremely proud of.

In the US, helping the business get the right people in place and seeing the business grow to generate the revenue to get here, establishing CloudM Inc., has been so rewarding. In the last year alone, the number of US based employees has skyrocketed and it’s only set to continue. That can only be good for our customers.

So, what do you enjoy about working at CloudM?

Firstly, my team. My favorite parts of the week are when someone within the team achieves a goal, receives good feedback, or puts a process in place that benefits them and their colleagues. I was given the opportunity to build the team and put people in those positions to showcase their talents so it feels like validation.

I really like how we make remote working work, even across multiple time zones and regions. It’s great to feel like one team with colleagues across APAC, Europe and North America (from sea to shining sea).

Saying that, getting the opportunity to meet up in person is amazing. I’m from a small town in North Carolina, and while I have traveled across the world during my 12 years in the Army, my family is amazed when I tell them I’m visiting the head office based in the UK or that I get to go to Spain for a company kickoff meeting.

What is your favorite CloudM value?

My favorite value is to appreciate others. I can crack on, try new things, and get involved, but showing others that they’re appreciated (and feeling appreciated) makes the other values easier to achieve.

Any advice for someone looking to join the CloudM team?

It will be challenging, but we will have fun and you will feel supported. At CloudM, you will only fail if you choose to. The team here is pretty good at circling the wagons around someone who needs extra assistance, sharing their own experiences and knowledge.

It’s a great time to get involved. The CloudM team, globally and in the US, is growing and there are so many opportunities for personal and career growth. If you are hard working, eager to learn and challenge yourself, CloudM is a great place to work.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

CloudM announces brand new B Corporation certification

CloudM, a cloud migration and management software provider, has announced today its certification as a B Corporation, joining a growing group of companies reinventing business by pursuing purpose as well as profit.

CloudM has been certified by B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, as having met rigorous social and environmental standards which represent its commitment to goals outside of shareholder profit.

CloudM has achieved certification across five key impact areas of Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. Thanks to CloudM’s efforts, the company has been able to reach a score of over 80 while providing evidence of socially and environmentally responsible practices relating to energy supplies, waste and water use, worker compensation, diversity and corporate transparency.

In addition to completing the certification, CloudM also legally commits to a purpose beyond profit in the future as an extension of this brilliant achievement. Further to this, CloudM is also an official Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter supporter which means it takes looking after its people seriously and can evidence this.

The recent certification is all part of CloudM’s “Do Good Plan” which is about encouraging everyone to do the right thing, supporting the people and the planet. As part of this initiative, CloudM has “Culture Champions” with specific specialisms and targeted aims ranging from environmental sustainability to racial equity. From getting the chance to sit on hiring panels to coordinating team events, CloudM’s Culture Champions aim to make a real difference in the lives of employees.

Gary Bennion, Chief Technical and Customer Officer, from CloudM, said:

“We are pleased to have achieved the B Corp certification and to represent the cloud services industry. This was a really important step for the business as we truly believe in the power of doing good as a business and focusing on the environment, people and the planet as much as profit. Beyond the certification we hope to continue to make an impact on the world around us as we all move towards a more sustainable future for everyone.”

Chris Turner, Executive Director of B Lab UK, says “We are delighted to welcome CloudM (and CTS) to the B Corp community. This is a movement of companies who are committed to changing how business operates and believe business really can be a force for good.”

Born out of a UK based Google Partner in 2018, CloudM has grown to become one of the world’s leading data movement and management solutions, with over 40,000 customers in over 107 countries across the globe, including the likes of Netflix, Uber, Booking.com and Spotify. CloudM has performed over 75 million migrations to the cloud and are on a mission to make it easy to manage Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace user data.

About Version 2
Version 2 is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company develops and distributes IT products for Internet and IP-based networks, including communication systems, Internet software, security, network, and media products. Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

About CloudM
CloudM is an award-winning SaaS company whose humble beginnings in Manchester have grown into a global business in just a few short years.

Our team of tech-driven innovators have designed a SaaS data management platform for you to get the most from your digital workspace. Whether it’s Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other SaaS applications, CloudM drives your business through a simple, easy-to-use interface, helping you to work smarter, not harder.

By automating time-consuming tasks like IT admin, onboarding & offboarding, archiving and migrations, the CloudM platform takes care of the day-to-day, allowing you to focus on the big picture.

With over 35,000 customers including the likes of Spotify, Netflix and Uber, our all-in-one platform is putting office life on auto-pilot, saving you time, stress and money.

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