Farsighted Specsavers Goes Google

To remain competitive, businesses of all sizes need to grow and evolve quickly. Web based solutions such as Google Apps for Business offer unprecedented flexibility and deliver constant innovation, with new products and updates introduced instantly and seamlessly to all users.

That’s why Specsavers, the world’s largest privately owned chain of opticians, decided to switch to Google Apps for 2,500 employees worldwide.

The company’s CIO, John Lister, believed the service would best support Specsaver’s global expansion plans: “Over the last two years our company has experienced fantastic growth, opening more than 200 stores in different locations. Google Apps is an excellent set of tools for our email and collaboration requirements because of its capability, technology, and ease of management. Google Apps allows us to scale and deploy easily and quickly, without having to invest heavily in buying software and licenses we may not use. We are now also able to support mobile working by letting staff access mail, calendaring and sites from any Internet enabled device”,

Specsavers is currently rolling out Google Apps to head office staff in Australia and New Zealand. The roll out to the remaining head office, laboratory and manufacturing operations in the UK, Nordics and Netherlands will be completed in the first half of 2011.

Ancoris, a UK based Google Enterprise Reseller and specialist provider of cloud computing and enterprise security solutions, assisted Specsavers with its evaluation of Google Apps versus Microsoft Exchange and helped the company make the switch. As cloud computing has become mainstream and the demand for Google Apps accelerates, working with professional and skilled partners continues to be key to growth.


Posted by Malgosia Rigoli, Google Apps team