Celebrating the winners of the 2021 Google Cloud Customer Awards

We’re excited to announce the winners of our second annual Google Cloud Customer Awards, celebrating organizations around the world that adapt to the demands of today and tomorrow, turning inspiring ideas into exciting realities. From healthcare startups like Cue Health, to established global brands like Vodafone, to environmental leaders like Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, to diversity, equity, and inclusion game changers like Equifax, we are honored to celebrate the innovators of tomorrow, today.

Google Cloud Customer Awards are given to the strongest nominations globally by industry (e.g., healthcare and life sciences, retail, media, manufacturing, government, and others), for companies using technology to improve their environments, social and governance (ESG) postures, and for other cross-industry achievements. The Customer Awards are part of Google Cloud’s recognition program that includes the Google Cloud Partner Awards. 

We are particularly proud to introduce a Sustainability category for the first time to our Technology for Good Awards. With so much important work underway to address the pressing challenge of climate change, it’s imperative that we celebrate, support and learn from customers who are using technology to help create a cleaner, healthier future for us all. The winning team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA) are a great example of this, developing new computational tools to carry out high-resolution simulations of atmospheric turbulence, convection, and clouds.

This year, we received an unprecedented number of entries, which a panel of senior Google judges independently assessed according to select criteria. Specifically, judges looked for real-world metrics and examples of innovative thinking and outstanding business transformation results via Google Cloud products and solutions. Regardless of who won, every organization that submitted an entry should be proud of what they have achieved with cloud technologies.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Technology for Good Awards

Sustainability

For our first Sustainability Customer Awards, we are recognizing customers with new and innovative solutions addressing the pressing challenge of climate change. These organizations are taking action to make a positive impact on the environment. By harnessing the power of aggregate data and analysis, they are addressing complex challenges that previously seemed insurmountable. They have demonstrated how sustainability projects can be instrumental in any business plan, and that there is no time like the present to commit to audacious, world-changing goals.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

What do two financial services providers, a media company, and a university have in common? All of these organizations are harnessing the power of data and AI to transform and strengthen representation, progression, retention, and inclusion of underserved or underrepresented groups in their organizations, and make a difference to these communities. They’re also setting an example for many other organizations to follow.

Social Impact 

These winners made a positive impact on the world in 2021 with technology projects powering inclusion, openness, and community support. As the world continues to go through difficult times, organizations in the public sector are arguably facing the most challenging issues. In response, they are using Google Cloud solutions to create change at the pace and scale the world critically needs, and we are grateful for all they provide.

Industry Customer Awards

Communications and Service Providers 

It has never been a more demanding time for this fast-paced sector, and these companies are answering the call. They are unlocking the potential of the cloud and adding operational value by transforming their businesses and bringing innovation to life. They are now able to scale and adapt to their customers’ needs like never before.

Cross Industry 

Customers in the Cross-Industry category inspire and demonstrate growth as they build secure solutions in the cloud. It’s exciting to see both new and established customers winning awards, thanks to the extraordinary speed and efficiency they are reaching. As an example, SAP has chosen Google Cloud to host integral core development landscapes. As a result of this collaboration, the German multi-national is seeing a performance increase of approximately 20%, along with very high cloud infrastructure availability. In addition, they experienced savings in the range of 25% when compared to legacy infrastructure. Today, the SAP/Google partnership is running more than 3000 SAP systems and 8000 virtual instances on Google Cloud.

Education 

Educational institutions nominated for the Education award made this an exceptionally competitive category this year with cutting-edge research and world-class learner support and inclusion. When serving remote and in-person learners, it is clear that faculty, administrators, and researchers are relying on cloud solutions to unlock new opportunities for development and collaboration.

Financial Services

We received hundreds of entries in every geography around the world for this category, reflecting the high standard of business excellence in the financial services industry. Whether launching new apps and features to take customers’ experiences to the next level, leading complex migrations and business transformations, or unlocking key business insights with data, financial services firms’ technology teams are central to the success of their companies.

Government 

Government organizations continuously ask themselves the same question: How can we better serve our citizens? It’s this people-centric mindset, combined with using data solutions and fast, secure platforms, that helped agencies accomplish their missions this year. Easy-to-use data hubs, more automated support, and better insights mean governments can work faster and smarter for the people they serve.

Healthcare & Life Sciences 

From handling genomic data for biomedical research, to supporting front-line medical professionals, to continuing the fight against COVID-19, healthcare and life sciences organizations are harnessing the power of cloud computing to carry out essential work. Google Cloud is proud to partner with organizations who are saving lives through delivering more accessible services, providing high quality care, and speeding up medical breakthroughs.

Manufacturing 

Mahindra and Mahindra Limited is accelerating its digital transformation with secure, data-driven solutions with Google Cloud. Ensuring its manufacturing processes and supply chains are built with environmental concerns in mind is central to how Mahindra operates. Through a highly effective technology-driven approach, including sustainability dashboards, impact assessments, and more, it’s no wonder that Mahindra has been recognized in India and globally as an environmental leader. 

Media & Entertainment

By using cloud technologies, including AI/ML, data analytics, and more, media and entertainment companies are modernizing content production and transforming audience experiences with engaging and personalized insights. Creating a more meaningful connection with viewers is one of this industry’s fundamental goals. These customers are achieving it.

Retail

Pandemic-driven market volatility and supply chain constraints continue to impact the way retailers do business and the ways consumers shop. But these modern retailers are continuing to find ways to collaborate effectively, be more agile, and modernize their infrastructures to meet customers where they are—ultimately to win in the marketplace.

Supply Chain & Logistics

For One Mount Group, digital transformation is essential for the company’s long-term growth. The supply chain and logistics company is building a platform that supports millions of active users monthly and handles approximately a billion requests per month, while still maintaining a growth rate of 20% YoY. With Google Cloud technologies, One Mount Group is building Vietnam’s largest technological ecosystem that can adapt to fluid market conditions and changing consumer behaviors. 

In closing, all of these Google Cloud customers are doing amazing things, and we can’t wait to tell more of their stories. To learn why many of the world’s leading companies are choosing Google Cloud to help them innovate faster, make smarter decisions, and collaborate from anywhere, visit our customer page.