After a slow start some years ago, French-speaking countries across Africa are accelerating their adoption of Google Workspace to secure and modernise mission-critical business processes.

This is according to Achille Kombat, co-founder of US-based wEquipu – a Digicloud Africa Google partner for Africa.

Kombat says: “For years, the continent has tended to use Microsoft by default. There was a misconception that Google was simply a search engine, and those who were aware of Google Workspace capabilities had concerns about data sovereignty.”

However, now that Google has a region in the continent and more people have discovered the advantages of free Google services, organisations across French speaking Africa are starting to take Google seriously, he says. “No other products compare with Google’s Workspace and cloud. The ease of use and integration of all applications people need in one place makes it a compelling solution.”

wEquipu is driving adoption, raising awareness of the advantages, helping organisations in Africa migrate to Google Workspace and offering support and cost benefits.

Kombat notes there are several benefits to procuring Google Workspace through the Digicloud Africa Google partner network: “Many people think because it’s cloud based, they should just go online and create their own accounts. But Google has a two-tier model whereby they guide a partner who can offer rebates and support. When working with a local partner, customers also benefit from local currency, and in-country expertise to assist with migration and enablement.”

wEquipu also helps its customer IT teams to achieve the Google certifications they need to optimise and manage their environments.

Kombat says adoption is growing as organisations experience the benefits of Workspace through their professional networks and supply chains: “Now that they are being exposed, and IT directors are discovering it, organisations are moving to Google. Around 80% of our business now involves helping organisations migrate to Google Workspace.”

Transforming local business

wEquipu highlights the example of an accounting firm that recently moved to Google Workspace to improve efficiency, security and customer experience. Having seen Workspace’s capabilities, two of the accounting firm’s clients quickly followed suit and migrated to Workspace too.

The tax and accounting firm, Togo-based CRI & Partners, had been a highly paper-based operation prior to making the move. With support from wEquipu, the company began trialling free Gmail and Google Drive tools, and quickly discovered the benefits of going digital.

Kombat says: “They faced a few key challenges – they were overwhelmed by paperwork and the MD was concerned about what would happen to the documents in the event of seasonal floods or fire. It was also time-consuming for team members to find and collaborate on documents, and mailing documents back and forth presented business and compliance risks.”

CRI & Partners quickly found they required more storage than they had available on the free Drive offering, and opted to move to the Google Business Starter package, with 30GB storage.

wEquipu implemented the Google Workspace upgrade and established cloud server hosting to enhance their storage capabilities and file management system.

Using professional Google Workspace has transformed the business’s operations, delivering a 60% improvement in file sharing and accessibility, significantly enhanced productivity and better security.

Thierry Batchassi, Google project manager at wEquipu, says CRI & Partners now depends on Google Workspace collaboration tools: “They now leverage Google Meet, Chat, Sheets and Docs, collaborating on the same invoices with comments and tracked edits. This allows them to avoid back-and-forth e-mails and version control challenges.”

Moving away from paper to digital also gives the client an edge in the market and makes it easier for them to align with OHADA West and Central Africa Financial Reporting standards, wEquipu notes.

Yves Ditorga Koumassi, Managing Partner at CRI & Partners, said: "Discovering Google Workspace through the support of the wEquipu International team was a revelation. We were unaware of the potential efficiencies and time savings it offered. The transition has been a game-changer for our team, significantly enhancing our productivity and data management capabilities."

Gregory MacLennan, CEO of Digicloud Africa, Google's reseller enablement partner in Africa, believes adoption will pick up in the region as the Google partner network raises awareness of the benefits of Workspace.

He notes that Google Workspace offers a range of productivity tools such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Chat and Meet, all within a zero trust cloud-native environment.

He says: “A recent Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact (TEI) study found that Google Workspace’s stable, secure and collaborative environment can result in a 336% return on investment.”

The Forrester report found that Workspace enabled faster searching for and finding information, more efficient workflows and application development, security tool cost savings and IT productivity, increased incremental profit and a more connected and inclusive work community.

“Among its other benefits, Workspace saves IT teams a significant amount of time – as much as 90% less time to configure new workstations, and a reduction of up to 20% in IT support tickets. The AI embedded in Workspace also offers task automation and time saving for all users,” MacLennan says.