Bonduelle

Bonduelle, the family vegetable business founded in 1853, sells in 100 countries. In 2013 its IT department bet early on a full-cloud strategy. Moving to Google Workspace, the company chose AODocs as its company-wide document management layer, piloted it in the agricultural department, then trusted it with migrating its entire Lotus Notes and Plone legacy. CTO Marie-Charlotte Bouchery explains the choice.

Story highlights

Challenges

A cloud strategy, a legacy estate

IT wanted every user on one cloud platform, but years of company knowledge lived in Lotus Notes and Plone databases, a migration no one could improvise.

Two document worlds to serve

The solution had to open through Google accounts and still let teams manage and edit their Microsoft Office documents, Google-native without abandoning Excel.

Solutions

Chosen by pilot, proven by use

After testing the market, Bonduelle launched AODocs with its agricultural department, and the pilot's success earned AODocs the bigger job: migrating the Plone and Lotus Notes databases company-wide.

Google and Office, side by side

Users choose their editor: migrated Excel files stay editable in Microsoft Office, and each save lands instantly in Google Drive and AODocs, the latest version, available to everyone in real time.

Wins and results

One platform, from office to field

Business processes run centralized on a single platform, and information reaches every employee, at a desk or in a field.

Workflows the old tools couldn't do

Beyond replacing Lotus Notes and Plone, Bonduelle built new workflows its previous platforms simply could not support.

Change that moves at cloud speed

Fully integrated with Google Workspace, transformation and change management are quick and easy. The strategy the IT department bet on, delivered.

A family business that was founded in 1853, Bonduelle helps people live well with great vegetables, which are grown on 128,000 hectares of farmland and sold in 100 countries under different brands and through different channels.

Challenge

Bonduelle’s IT department’s strategy was to offer their users a complete cloud solution, but a large amount of legacy information was managed in different platforms, specifically in Lotus Notes and Plone. In 2013, their first step was moving to Google Workspace, and needed a document management solution that would be used throughout the whole company. They required a solution that offered end-users a point of entry through their Google accounts as well as the possibility to manage and edit Microsoft Office documents.

Story

After looking for and testing different products, Bonduelle chose AODocs, and a pilot was launched with its agricultural department.

The possibility to let users choose between editing Google documents or historical Office documents was a major requirement in our search for a solution, said Marie-Charlotte Bouchery, Chief Technology Officer of Bonduelle. It was natural to find a DMS that fit our strategy of offering a collaboration platform based on Google Workspace.

Almost instantly, users appreciated the benefits of Google Workspace and AODocs, especially real-time access to up-to-date information without the loss of any functionality. Another appreciated feature is compatibility with Microsoft Office. Migrated Excel documents are still editable in Microsoft Office, and, when saved, the latest version is instantaneously available in Google Drive and AODocs.

Because of the success of the first project, AODocs was also selected to manage the migration of Bonduelle’s Plone and Lotus Notes databases.

Results

With AODocs, Bonduelle has been able to optimize its business processes and centralize them on a single platform. They have also created new workflows that were not possible with their previous solutions. From the office to the field, information is now always available to all employees. Totally integrated with Google Workspace, transformation and change management is quick and easy with AODocs.

About Bonduelle

A family business founded in 1853, Bonduelle helps people live well with vegetables grown on 128,000 hectares of farmland and sold in 100 countries under multiple brands and channels.