Google Cloud Platform > Case Studies > ADEO: Transforming into a Digital Home Improvement Hub with Google Cloud

ADEO: Transforming into a Digital Home Improvement Hub with Google Cloud

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Virtual Private Cloud
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Cement
Consumer Goods

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation
Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Construction Management
Infrastructure Inspection

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
Training

About The Customer

ADEO is a global leader in the home improvement market, providing home life, tooling, and DIY supplies for individuals and trade through 32 interconnected companies across 15 countries. ADEO's brands include Leroy Merlin, which provides building supplies for DIYers and professionals, and Zodio, which is focused on homewares and decoration. After expanding to Italy, Russia, and Brazil, the group is now present in 15 countries and on three continents. As the companies within the ADEO group face increasing competition from online retailers, they are continuously seeking ways to improve their digital presence and customer service.

The Challenge

ADEO, the third largest player in the global home improvement market, faced a significant challenge in the face of increasing competition from online retailers. In 2017, ADEO's CEO launched a global strategy for the digital transformation of the company, aiming to develop online activity and provide new customer solutions through the creation of digital applications. However, with its on-premises data center, it was taking up to four days to provision a complete environment to build a new application. This delay was hindering the company's ability to quickly respond to market changes and customer needs. The IT team sought a solution that would allow them to provision resources faster and enable developers to work more independently.

The Solution

To address this challenge, ADEO's IT team decided to build an internal development platform to speed up the delivery of new projects and make it easier to create new solutions that work with its legacy applications. After evaluating several providers, they chose Google Cloud for its robust data analysis tools and seamless integration with third-party applications. ADEO built an internal platform called the 'Landing Zone' on Google Cloud to automate processes and easily deploy customized configurations. The Landing Zone is based around a serverless architecture that leverages App Engine, Cloud Functions, and Pub/Sub to automate application and script configurations, as well as security checks. ADEO also used Virtual Private Cloud and the global Google Cloud network to provide secure connectivity between APIs and between regions. With BigQuery, ADEO was able to easily track and analyze usage, displaying information in easily accessible ways using Looker Studio.

Operational Impact

The implementation of the Landing Zone on Google Cloud has significantly improved ADEO's operational efficiency. Employees can now access the resources they need to start building a project in just 20 minutes, compared to the previous wait time of up to four days. This has greatly accelerated the time to market for new applications, facilitating quicker tests and cost savings as they only pay for what they use. The improved speed and agility have also led to enhanced customer service. ADEO is now planning to move all its applications over to Google Cloud, using the Landing Zone platform to rebuild them as cloud-native. This will further streamline their operations and enable them to respond more effectively to market changes and customer needs.

Quantitative Benefit