• Automates processes and workflows to increase compliance and standardize ways of working

• Easily handles multi-year project files that can range into the terabytes

• Improve analysis of performance due to better data insights and workflows

• Freedom to design and develop new systems that help every project member better leverage information

• Breaks down communication and collaboration barriers due to the large geographical spread of the company operations

Before using Google Workspace, MMP used to collaborate across different platforms and channels. Teams across the organization would rely on emails, WhatsApp groups, phone calls, even traveling to in-person meetings, which greatly impacted the company’s productivity and costs. Mailing or hand-delivering USB sticks and hard drives filled with large, sensitive files was also common practice, but became increasingly risky for the company as they continued to grow.

“We never set up Exchange servers because we are geographically so spread that hardware maintenance costs in different regions, and the infrastructure that goes along with it, would have been impossible to manage,” says Kamran Rafique, Technical Account Leader at MMP.

Collaboration challenges and issues continued to mount, and came to a tipping point as the company doubled in size from 2017 to 2021, meaning that traditional ways of working and its old culture would be unsustainable.

Rafique explains, “In 2021, we embarked on a business process improvement program and chose Google Workspace to create a unified culture and work environment in the company. Given our plans to venture out of Pakistan and become an international company, we needed a new, more sustainable work culture at MMP.”

After deciding to integrate with Google Workspace in October 2021, MMP began integration by first migrating all their emails from a different provider to Gmail.

With that first step, MMP’s teams realized that their jobs were becoming easier because Gmail simplified how project teams could set up and manage any number of email addresses to coordinate with clients in all its projects.

The next step was to build a data repository to speed up learning via easy access to past project deliverables.

“Drive serves as a reference point for solutions from all our past projects so that our teams won’t feel like they need to reinvent the wheel when they start a new project,” says Rafique.

MMP’s teams can now collaborate on the same documents in Drive using structured portfolios for different projects with standardized folders, simplifying how information can be located and acted upon.

Drive also ensures that every MMP team member is working on the latest version of the document, relieving another challenge for MMP. According to Rafique, document version control was a huge factor for consideration when deciding on a cloud platform, given a large number of documents and data that goes into each development megaproject.

“We’ve also encouraged our staff to streamline communication through Google Workspace using the Spaces function in Chat to share files, assign tasks and stay connected, and use Meet for team calls and general communication. We also heavily use Google Groups to create what we call ’Communities of Practice.’ These bring together those with similar expertise, like all our structural engineers, to exchange ideas about particular aspects of their discipline,” Rafique elaborates.

MMP aims to improve performance management by automating internal reporting workflows from an annual to monthly cadence. Rafique explains that MMP is in the process of setting up standard templates using Docs and Sheets to help staff deliver standard deliverables, making it easier to automate internal quality assurance so that management can quickly nip any quality issues in the bud before their annual audit.

According to Rafique, Google Workspace has opened MMP’s view to leverage its engineering and project management expertise to provide software-as-a-service (SaaS) with the new technology enablers it discovered on Google Cloud.

It aims to build on its position as a key management support consultant, particularly in the water resource management, renewable energy and social development sectors.

“The true potential of Google solutions is not just what we’re trying to do for ourselves in our company, but as a provider of project management SaaS to our customers to independently monitor and evaluate projects in real time,” Rafique explains.

Rafique says this is a perfect example of how a technology enabler can help experts in the field and innovate the business side of things with minimal effort, and MMP is looking forward to exploring more solutions on Google Workspace and Google Cloud.