"We were glad we found a solution that does what we need, is well documented and stable!”
– Laurent Costantini, Information System Manager at the Groupe Claude Rizzon
Customer: Groupe Claude Rizzon
Country: France
End Customer Activity: Real Estate
Product application: CB Exchange Server Sync
What Does the Groupe Claude Rizzon Do?
The Groupe Claude Rizzon is a real estate business located in Châtel-Saint-Germain in north-eastern France.
Established in 1956, it not only is very active as a builder, delivering 250 new houses each year, but it also handles all the real estate work, selling, buying, renting and managing properties.
The Issue with the Migration to a New ERP Software
Laurent Costantini, the Information System Manager at the Groupe Claude Rizzon, sat down with us to discuss the issues his company faced when they adopted a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.
Groupe Claude Rizzon’s property and facility management office department had just migrated to a new ERP. However, one aspect of this new software is that it integrates Google Workspace, namely, Google Calendar. These had not been previously used at the company, since the platform used by the group to fulfill purposes such as scheduling and sending emails is Exchange Online.
The result? A sudden need arose for an integration solution between the Exchange Server and Google Workspace. Laurent Costantini was hoping to find a fully automatic solution that would allow the workflow to remain the same for the end-users.
Finding a Reliable and Secure Solution
In 2022, as we know, a simple Google search is the go-to method when looking for the best alternative to solve a specific problem. This is exactly what Laurent Costantini did and, not much later, he discovered Connecting Software’s solution, CB Exchange Server Sync for Gmail and Google Workspace. This solution was a good match for his needs, so it ended up being his first and only bet for tackling the migration issue at the group.
Initially, he started off with a free trial. He tested out all possible situations for 45 days. Overall, he states the relevant departments had a good experience, so they proceeded to buy 100 sync pairs for this solution. Keep in mind that a sync pair is a group of two email addresses whose features need to be synchronized. In this case, each pair had an Exchange Server e-mail account, which the end-users were using in Microsoft Outlook, and one Google account, which the end-users did not care about, but that was important for the ERP system.
We asked Costantini about the experience with the initial setup, to which he responded saying “It was relatively fast. We did have some issues with licensing and other small aspects that were quickly fixed by the support team”.
The Groupe Claude Rizzon tried both the SaaS and on-premises versions of our solution and found on-premises to be more cost effective, and a best fit their needs.
By implementing CB Exchange Server Sync for Gmail and Google Workspace into their workflow, Groupe Claude Rizzon is now able to synchronize the calendar seamlessly and effortlessly between their existing Exchange and their new Gmail accounts. As Costantini said himself, it’s “a solution that allows to maintain one single calendar for a user with both Google Calendar and Exchange online accounts”.
Final Thoughts
We asked Laurent about what he felt were the biggest benefits of CB Exchange Server Sync for Gmail and Google Workspace, to which he responded, stating that the support from Connecting Software and the smoothness with how the product runs after installation are the ones he highlights most.
He also noted that it would be very difficult for the group to manage internal workflows with 2 calendars, adding that Connecting Software’s solution has been “stable” and “easy to maintain”.
We concluded our interview by asking for the rating he would give to CB Exchange Server Sync for Gmail and Google Workspace. He gave it a 9 out of 10 and added that perfection is not an option! Still, we are hoping that we can change his mind when he tries out the new version that has just come out. After all, this new version has major new features, such as the synchronization of contacts, e-mail messages and tasks!