About VARUS
VARUS is a national supermarket chain owned by the Omega company, which has been operating in the Ukrainian grocery retail market since 2003. The chain includes 115 supermarkets in various cities of Ukraine and a DarkStore in Kyiv, offering 21,900 product items across a total retail area of 95,189.41 m2. VARUS employs 7,500 people, and the chain operates in several formats: classic supermarkets, To Go stores, and the VARUS.UA online shopping service.
Request
The VARUS team set the task of implementing the Gemini GenAI solution at the organizational level. As part of their collaboration with Wise IT in the Google Workspace area, VARUS approached Wise IT specialists for consultations.
Business Challenge
VARUS decided to test in practice how AI could change approaches to writing and analyzing code, management, marketing, and daily office routines. To achieve this, the company began implementing Google Cloud and Google Workspace GenAI solutions across the entire organization.
Solution
The Wise IT team provided the necessary consultations and technical support for implementing Google Cloud and Google Workspace GenAI tools, as well as optimizing work with the solutions.
Result
The implementation of AI-based tools from Google, carried out together with the Wise IT team, allowed VARUS to transform daily work processes, shifting the focus of employees from routine tasks to analytics, creativity, and strategic decision-making.
Key changes affected several areas:
Software Development
The integration of Gemini AI into the IntelliJ IDE has radically accelerated the work of the IT team:
- Getting acquainted with new or forgotten code takes only a few minutes, thanks to the built-in AI chat right in the editor;
- During code review, the AI provides instant feedback: how to improve the code, where potential bugs are located, and how to make the code more readable;
- The AI generates numerous unit tests, which ensures significantly greater reliability of software products.
Analytics and Data Work
Thanks to GenAI in Google Sheets, analysts and managers can:
- Make queries in natural language, for example, “evaluate sales dynamics for the quarter” — and a table will be generated automatically;
- Automatically add conditional formatting, filters, and charts;
- Receive suggestions for the optimal display of data.
Marketing, HR, and Management
Gemini has become a universal assistant for combating the “blank page” problem. It helps generate ideas for campaigns, structure presentations, and write drafts of letters and instructions. This allows teams to take the first step, struggle less with form, and work more with content.
Google Docs:
- Helps to formulate a thought when “something needs to be written, but my head is a mess”;
- Creates a draft of a letter, an internal instruction, a product description, or even a post for social media;
- Suggests headline options, rephrases complex sentences, and adds logic to the text;
- Generates images, which eliminates the need to search for graphic materials on the internet.
Google Slides:
- Creates the basis for a presentation on request, for example: “an internal report for the team on the results of an advertising campaign”;
- Generates images for the presentation.
Daily Communications
The AI functionality in Gmail has accelerated correspondence without loss of quality, thanks to the generation of quick replies and integration with Google Calendar and Tasks. This has reduced the number of “lost” emails and the time spent on organizational correspondence, especially for managers, logisticians, and HR specialists.
The main result was the “mental unloading” of the teams. The AI tools took over a significant part of the preparatory and mechanical work, allowing VARUS employees to work faster, more easily, and with less stress.
Security, Accessibility, and Simplicity
All services run on the familiar Google Workspace platforms: Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Drive. There is no need to learn anything new or install additional programs.
Google also ensures a high level of security: all documents are stored in the corporate cloud space, access is limited to your team or specific colleagues, and the data does not leave the corporate system.
The Partner’s Role
As part of a long-standing collaboration between Wise IT and VARUS, Wise IT specialists provided consulting and technical support for the successful integration of Google Cloud and Google Workspace GenAI solutions.
“As an official Google Workspace partner, we provide the VARUS team with consulting support. We share our knowledge about the new capabilities of Gemini for business and new AI features in Workspace services, as well as provide practical recommendations for implementation. VARUS is not afraid of change and boldly implements innovations. We are incredibly happy to watch their work transform.”
— Marianna Takova, Google Workspace Product Manager, Wise IT
Client Feedback
“We knew we could be using our Google Workspace environment smarter, but we weren’t sure of the best approach. The Wise IT team came in, quickly analyzed our usage, and proposed a clear plan. The transition to a mixed licensing model was seamless. Also, Google Vault is now indispensable for our data governance. We are very pleased with the results and the support from Wise IT.”
— Serhiy Plakhtyria, IT Director, VARUS
