Client Perspective - Michael O'Brien, CIO

“Google Apps is transforming the way our diverse business units collaborate with each other, and how our employees work together more effectively.

Maven Wave has proven to be a great partner in providing us with strategic, over-the-shoulder advice for important elements of this implementation that my team has executed in-house.

The Maven Wave team has provided much needed guidance, on-site support, and instilled confidence in the Journal team for the remaining phases of our rollout.  When necessary, they jumped into the trenches with us, to assist with our more immediate tactical and technical needs.  

This range of collaboration from a technology partner is essential and can be rare.  That’s why we are pleased to be working with Maven Wave as our Google partner.”

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Google Apps Case Study: Journal Communications

The Business Situation
Speed is paramount in the news media industry.  The first to file breaking news wins.  To transform their business into one which enables rapid-fire communication and collaboration, Journal Communications (operator of 33 radio stations, 13 television stations and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) engaged Maven Wave to help deploy Google’s enterprise platform to all employees.  This platform gives employees an edge for a business in the high speed, digital age.

The Deployment Approach
Journal embraced the technical benefits of a cloud offering, and wanted to properly employ change management best practices necessary to prepare more than 2300 employees for a new way of working.   Leadership decided early on that the best approach was a three phase strategy for rollout, based on three primary business units.  Given the diversity of their business, the approach allowed Journal to provide focused attention to unique aspects in each segment of the business, from the highest leadership level to the end-to-end business operations user.  While schedule was not the driving force, Journal’s desire was to complete deployment within a time-frame that allowed the organization to begin realizing the collaborative platform benefits as quickly as possible.

The Partnership
The Journal and Maven Wave teams found they shared a unique chemistry from the very first conversation.  Journal quickly realized that Maven Wave offered a different approach; one defined by a committed management team led by experienced transformation leaders, a value business-driven focus, and an on-site experience for this Milwaukee-based company.  The relationship grew into a meaningful partnership beginning with contract discussions.  Maven Wave provided a tailored financial arrangement to meet near-term Journal requirements to help make Google implementation a reality.  Maven Wave was engaged to lead the first deployment from driving requirements and design through deployment and go-live support.  The purpose was to establish the Google Apps foundation for subsequent releases that Journal’s team would be able to lead.  Journal was indeed able to successfully conduct the remaining user deployments with minimal support from Maven Wave.

As the partnership moves into the next phase, Journal is looking to build value-added solutions on the Google Apps platform.  Maven remains Journal’s strategic Google partner for providing insight, guidance and delivery services across the entire Journal portfolio of businesses.