Skip to content
Customer Story

Shell Recharge Spurs E-Mobility with Google Workspace

Shell Recharge Solutions was looking for a dedicated and reliable partner to help get the most out of Google Workspace

Related services
Google Workspace

Industry
Transport | Trade | Logistics

Company
Xebia

Shell Recharge Solutions (SRS, previously: NewMotion) is Europe’s largest electric charging partner. It designs, builds, and supports award-winning smart charge services including charge points, a mobile app and charge card, allowing access to over 100,000 of charge points across 28 countries in Europe.

SRS is passionate about people choosing to go electric and charge smart. Since 2009 the company has grown its community to over 40,000 electric vehicle enthusiasts and helped over 3,200 workplaces convert their parking spots to smart charging locations. As the network grows, driving an electric vehicle is becoming more convenient than ever.

Why
To ensure scalability of IT landscape while still complying with Shell's corporate policies
What
To professionalize the setup and use of Google Workspace
How
By finding a reliable external partner to support this 

The Challenges

SRS was challenging both business and IT challenges:

Business Challenges

How can SRS align business processes with the dynamics of SRS's expansion in the exciting new market of electric mobility? The firm realized they had to find a flexible and reliable innovation partner that is able to support the transition of a scale-up into a global corporate environment.

IT Challenge

Enhance the use of Google Workspace to the next level, from a powerful office productivity platform into a business growth enabler that helps to comply with the highest quality standards.

“We rely on Xebia as a forward-thinking partner. We are very happy with the value they provide.”
Shell recharge solutions
David de Oliveira Costa CTO Shell Recharge Solutions

Boosting Productivity with Google Workspace

SRS started off in 2009 as NewMotion, a company operating independently from Shell. The company was mainly focussing on innovative tools to support its growth strategy. Requirements for tools were then and still are: cloud first, outsource what can be outsourced, self-service and ease of use. For office productivity, Google Apps for Business (now Google Workspace) was implemented. The setup, configuration and management of the Google Workspace environment was done by one of the Shell Recharge pioneers who was really passionate about Office IT and working with Google.

Due to the accelerated growth of the company - in business, staff and European locations - professional support was needed. In 2017, Xebia proved to be the partner that offers the right Google Workspace support services. Moreover, Xebia adds value by giving guidance towards further innovation of Shell Recharge's business processes.

Business Context

Shell Recharge Solutions creates the future of electric mobility. No matter the lifestyle, business, car, or budget of the driver, NewMotion is committed to making electric driving as simple and convenient to as many people as possible. With the mission to contribute to a cleaner world, the team has a passion for providing smart solutions that are good for people, the planet and its customer’s wallets.

From the start, the company is convinced that entering partnerships is the best way to create impact in this new market. Shell Recharge managed to build partnerships with Total, Mitsubishi, TenneT, Enel, Nissan Leaf, Jaguar Land Rover, Daimler and many others. To be able to partner with this category of demanding industry leaders, NewMotion must meet their global business best practices and quality assurance procedures.

In 2017, the company joined Shell to accelerate the transition to low-carbon transport. Back then, Shell Recharge Solutions operated as an independent company from Shell. However, they must nevertheless comply with corporate policies, regulations and business practices regarding security, privacy and governance. Since 2019, the company has been ISO9001 and ISO14001 certified.

In ten years time, the company expanded from three founders on one of the Amsterdam canals to 250 staff in 10 locations and presence in 28 countries. This all means that a lot of content is created and shared across the company and with partners. Easy multilingual communication, and time and location independency are essential. The protection of the content, privacy and intellectual property must be of the highest level.

Google Workspace provides the best and most secure platform for seamless collaboration, business communication and content management. It helps Shell Recharge to grow its business without any IT limitations or additions in staff, and improve its security and compliance at the same time. 

With the growing complexity of the organization and business, Google Workspace administration reached the stage that it needed to be professionalized and supported by an external specialist. Xebia proved to offer the best cultural fit as it has an innovative, out-of-the-box mentality in its DNA, just like Shell Recharge. It also understands the needs of a fast-growing startup that must comply with the requirements of its corporate partners and other stakeholders.

“Xebia helps us stay at the forefront of innovation.”
Shell recharge solutions
Aurea Geelhuizen Facility Manager Shell Recharge Solutions

Added Value Xebia

Xebia helps to bring SRS's Office IT to the next level in order to enable further growth and innovation to the business and to enhance the quality of the business processes. “Since the beginning of 2018 we have our Office IT outsourced to Xebia. They help us get the best out of the Google Workspace platform by providing support, user training and advice. We rely on Xebia as a real forward-thinking partner that guides us on how to leverage Google Workspace to streamline business processes, increase efficiency and accelerate our growth,” says Myriam Slikker-Meuleman, Office IT Manager. “Shell Recharge is very happy with the value that Xebia provides.”


Xebia enhanced SRS's Google Workspace environment by creating Groups, setting up a management structure and developing policies for accessing and sharing content. Xebia’s role has evolved from a reactive support provider into a proactive trusted advisor about cloud innovation. Furthermore, Xebia assists with the advice about, and the deployment of other innovations of Google, such as Shared Drives, Meet, Jamboard, Google Voice, Cloud Identity, Chrome Enterprise and Chromebooks.

Aurea Geelhuizen, Facility Manager at Shell Recharge Solutions explains: “The people at Xebia are very bright, amazingly flexible and experienced. They understand our business and our needs.”
As a major Google partner, Xebia knows in an early stage what innovations will come to market. “If they believe we could benefit from a new development, such as Google Voice, they alert us proactively. That way we stay at the forefront of innovation,” says Geelhuizen.
 

Achieved So Far

Shell Recharge and Xebia are continuously investigating next steps in the cloud. So far, the following results have been achieved with Google Cloud:

  • Easy IT Office management - Xebia established a sustainable and flexible management structure of office processes on the Google Workspace platform
  • Safe and secure - content management is compliant to corporate policies
  • Accelerated expansion - international growth is enabled by IT, not limited
  • Standardized office IT - onboarding of new staff and partnerships goes fast and easy
  • Nice to work with and for - Google Meet makes international communication, internally and with partners, very easy
  • Trusted advisor - can rely on Xebia’s vast expertise of Google Workspace and other Google services
  • Cloud innovation - benefits from Xebia’s advanced and deep knowledge of emerging technological innovations and services that will help accelerate business growth

 

Following Google Cloud’s applications are now being used by Shell Recharge Solutions:

  • Drive, Meet, Gmail, Calendar
  • Chromeboxes
  • Jamboards
  • Chrome Enterprise
  • Google Cloud Identity
  • Google Voice Premier

Explore related customer stories