Editor’s note: Today’s guest post comes from Indian social media platform ShareChat. Here’s the story of how they improved performance, app development, and analytics for serving regional content to millions of users using Google Cloud. 

How do you create a social network when your country has 22 major official languages and countless active regional dialects? At ShareChat, we serve more than 160 million monthly active users who share and view videos, images, GIFs, songs, and more in 15 different Indian languages. We also launched a short video platform in 2020, Moj, which already supports over 80 million monthly active users. 

Connecting with people in the language they understand

As mobile data and smartphones have become more affordable in India, we noticed a large new segment of people, many in rural areas, being welcomed onto the internet. However, many of them didn’t speak English, and when it comes to accessing content and information—language plays a significant role. Instead of joining other social media sites where English reigned supreme, new internet users chose to join language or dialect-specific Whatsapp groups where they felt more comfortable instead.

So, we set out to build a platform where people can share their opinions, document their lives, and make new friends, all in their native language. ShareChat simplifies content and people discovery by using a personalized content newsfeed to deliver language-specific content to the right audience.

Given the high-intensity data and high volume of content and traffic, we rely heavily on IT infrastructure. On top of that, a large number of our users rely on 2G networks to post, like, view, or follow each other. Our platform needs to deliver great experiences to people who are spread out across the country and different networks without any reduction in performance.

The right cloud partner to support future growth

ShareChat was born in the cloud—we already knew how to scale systems to serve a large customer base with our existing cloud provider. But like many companies, we struggled with over-provisioning compute and storage to accommodate unpredictable traffic and avoid running out of storage. With demand rising for local language content and an increase in online interactions in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we realized that we would need a more efficient way to scale dynamically and allocate resources as needed.

Google Cloud was a natural choice for us. We wanted to partner with a technology-first company that would make it easy (and cost-effective) to manage a strong technology portfolio that would allow us to build whatever we wanted. Google is at the forefront of technology innovation and provided everything we needed to build, run, and manage our applications (including creating an efficient DevOps pipeline to fix and release new features quickly). 

We had a few issues in mind at the start of discussions with the Google Cloud team, but over time, as we got information and support from them, we realized that these were the partners we wanted in our corner when it came time to tackle our most challenging problems. In the end, we decided to take our entire infrastructure to Google Cloud.

To support millions of users, we deploy and scale using Google Kubernetes Engine. While we analyze our data using a combination of managed data cloud services, such as Pub/Sub for data pipelines, BigQuery for analytics, Cloud Spanner for real-time app serving workloads, and Cloud Bigtable for less-indexed databases. We also rely on Cloud CDN to help us distribute high-quality and reliable content delivery at low latency to our users. 

We now use just half the total core consumption of our legacy environment to run ShareChat’s existing workloads.

Google Cloud delivers better outcomes at every level 

By moving to Google Cloud, we saw major benefits in several key areas: 

Zero-downtime migration for users

At the time of migration, we had over 70 terabytes of data, consisting of 220 tables—some of which were up to 14 terabytes with nearly 50 billion rows. Due to our data’s interdependencies, moving services over one at a time wasn’t an option for us. 

Even though we were migrating such large volumes of data, we didn’t want to impact any of our customers. Latency spikes for out-of-sync data might affect message delivery. For instance, if a message or notification was delayed, we didn’t want to risk a bad user experience causing someone to abandon ShareChat. 

To prepare for the move, we ran a proof-of-concept cluster for over four months to test database performance in a real-world scenario for handling more than a million queries per second. Using an open-source API gateway, we replicated our legacy data environment into Google Cloud for performance testing and capacity analysis. As soon as we were confident Google Cloud could handle the same traffic as our previous cloud environment, we were ready to execute.

Using wrappers, we were able to migrate without having to change anything in our existing application code. The entire migration of 60 million users to Google Cloud took five hours—without any data loss or downtime. Today, ShareChat has grown to 160 million users, and Google Cloud continues to give us the support we need.

Scaling globally to meet unexpected demand

We rely on real-time data to drive everything on ShareChat by tracking everything that goes on in our app—from messages and new groups to content people like or who they follow. Our users create more than a million posts per day, so it’s critical that our systems can process massive amounts of data efficiently. 

We chose to migrate to Spanner for its global consistency and secondary index. Unlike our legacy NoSQL database, we could scale without having to rethink existing tables or schema definitions and keep our data systems in sync across multiple locations. It’s also cost-effective for us—moving over 120 tables with 17 indexes into Cloud Spanner reduced our costs by 30%.

Spanner also replicates data seamlessly in multiple locations in real time, enabling us to retrieve documents if one region fails. For instance, when our traffic unexpectedly grew by 500% over just a few days, we were able to scale horizontally with zero lines of code change. We were also launching our Moj video app simultaneously, and we were able to move it to another region without a single issue. 

Simplifying development and deployment

On average, we experience about 80,000 requests per second (RPS) –nearly 7 billion RPS per day. That means daily push notifications sent out to the entire user base about daily trending topics can often result in a spike of 130,000 RPS in just a few seconds. 

Instead of over-provisioning, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) enables us to pre-scale for traffic spikes around scheduled events, such as holidays like Diwali, when millions of Indians send each other greetings. 

Migrating to GKE has also enabled us to adopt more agile ways of work, such as automating deployment and saving time with writing scripts. Even though we were already using container-based solutions, they lacked transparency and coverage across the entire deployment funnel. 

Kubernetes features, such as sidecar proxy, allows us to attach peripheral tasks like logging into the application without requiring us to make code changes. Kubernetes upgrades are managed by default, so we don’t have to worry about maintenance and stay focused on more valuable work. Clusters and nodes automatically upgrade to run the latest version, minimizing security risks and ensuring we always have access to the latest features.

Low latency and real-time ML predictions

Even though many of our users may be accessing ShareChat outside of metropolitan areas, it doesn’t mean they’re more patient if the app loads slowly or their messages are delayed. We strive to deliver a high-performance experience, regardless of where our users are. 

We use Cloud CDN to cache data in five Google Cloud Point of Presence (PoP) locations at the edge in India, allowing us to bring content as close as possible to people and speeding up load time. Since moving to Cloud CDN, our cache hit ratio has improved from 90% to 98.5%—meaning our cache can handle 98.5% of content requests. 

As we expand globally, we’d like to use machine learning to reach new people with content in different languages. We want to build new algorithms to process real-time datasets in regional languages and accurately predict what people want to see. Google Cloud gives us an infrastructure optimized to handle compute-intensive workloads that will be useful to us both now—and in the future.  

The confidence to build the best platform

Our current system now performs better than before we migrated, but we are continuously building new features on top of it. Google’s data cloud has provided us with an elegant ecosystem of services that allows us to build whatever we want, more easily and faster than ever before. 

Perhaps the biggest advantage of partnering with Google Cloud has been the connection we have with the engineers at Google. If we’re working to solve a specific problem statement and find a specific solution in a library or a piece of code, we have the ability to immediately connect with the team responsible for it. 

As a result, we have experienced a massive boost in our confidence. We know that we can build a really good system because we not only have a good process in place to solve problems—we have the right support behind us.

There are many inspiring stories of businesses reacting swiftly to the global pandemic. Some companies have enabled their teams to re-imagine not only how they communicate and collaborate with each other remotely, but also how they continue to serve their own customers and support the communities they belong to. From doctors consulting with patients, to financial institutions providing critical advice to customers, to teachers delivering distance learning, to car dealerships creating virtual showrooms with G Suite—it’s clear that these new ways of working are here to stay.

Here are some of the inspirational stories.

Keeping teams connected and productive 

Activision Blizzard King (ABK), a leading interactive entertainment company, is going all in with G Suite*. Working with SADA, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, Activision Blizzard was looking for an innovative and scalable solution to transform the way their teams work together. As their developers around the world build the next generation of innovation in gaming, they rely on the power of collaboration in G Suite to create, connect, and share with each other. G Suite helps them successfully meet critical deadlines for game launches and updates.

“The safety of our teams is paramount during these disruptive times, and our workforce is already widely distributed across multiple locations internationally. G Suite has brought our teams together as we continue to collaborate while we’re apart,” says Jacques Erasmus, Chief Information Officer, Activision Blizzard.

PwC, a global professional services organization, enabled over 275,000 people to work from home in response to COVID-19. G Suite enables PwC to not only collaborate and stay connected with each other, but to continue to serve their clients in a timely and efficient manner. As a global organization with most of its people around the world needing to work from home, PwC reached nearly 10 million hours of video conferencing in Google Meet in a single month.  

“G Suite allows us to stay connected—it’s the single place where we can collaborate, discuss, and share work, in the current situation,” says Hilda Clune, Technology and Transformation Leader at PwC. “G Suite provides enough resilience and security, and the ability to scale at the speed we need to.” Learn about how PwC works remotely with G Suite:https://www.youtube.com/embed/rlgyiRoBGhk

Kärcher, a global manufacturer of cleaning equipment, accelerated its plans to move its 14,000 workers to G Suite in response to COVID-19. They accomplished the transition in only five days, enabling employees to collaborate effectively without being physically present in a Kärcher office. G Suite plays a critical role as Kaercher resumes business globally in the post-COVID phase, user adoption of various G Suite apps continues to grow, and management is using tools like Jamboards and Google Meet hardware to help them collaborate better and stay connected with their teams.

“With G Suite, Kaercher has transformed its global collaboration, allowing for faster business decisions during the COVID-19 crisis,” says Dr. Daniel Heubach, Chief Information Officer of Kaercher.

To face the current health crisis, De’Longhi, an appliance manufacturer based in Italy, created a local and international taskforce to ensure all their employees have everything they need to work from home safely and effectively. G Suite is playing a critical role in helping them achieve this goal. The De’Longhi taskforce uses Google Sheets to help them collect up-to-date information from each of their regions, and connect with local teams via Google Meet to better understand the unique circumstances and challenges they’re facing. As teams began to work from home with G Suite, De’Longhi has seen a 500% increase in Meet usage and a 200% growth in the number of shared files in Google Drive.

Helping to provide communities with critical services 

St. Louis-based Schnucks evolved from a neighborhood grocery chain to essential workers—virtually overnight. They supported both corporate and frontline workers in stores with an information hotline and created a virtual dispatch center for their transportation team, all through Google Meet. See how Schnucks was able to keep providing groceries to the communities it serves:https://www.youtube.com/embed/uTuOGwotfGk

As Boston was one of the first areas to be hit by COVID, patients at Cambridge Health Alliance’s (CHA) Department of Psychiatry had to manage a whole new set of challenges, including anxiety about the pandemic and new financial insecurity. Thanks to Google Meet, CHA was able to continue serving these patients in a timely manner. Outpatient Psychiatry was an early adopter of video visits, which are more appropriate for behavioral health care than phone consultations. Between March and June 2020, CHA was able to maintain 90% of its expected patient visit volume in Psychiatry, a huge win for patients, families, and the communities CHA serves. 

Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC) Inc has begun using Google Meet to help residents across their 17 Residential Aged Care homes stay connected to their loved ones, despite lockdown measures associated with COVID-19. Residents can now also see their doctor virtually via Google Meet, keeping them safe from any potential exposure to the virus while still experiencing a high level of care through these virtual consultations.

Enabling business services for customers, no matter where they are

Italian bank Credem (Credito Emiliano S.p.A), relies on G Suite to help their staff adapt to a collaborative work-from-home environment leveraging tools like Google Meet, Drive and Docs. G Suite enables their teams across its banking and insurance businesses to collaborate and stay connected while working remotely. Credem has also created a “virtual branch” by moving its customer support to video conferencing using Google Meet. This enables customers to continue to get access to critical financial services, remotely and safely.

KIA Motors, a multinational automotive manufacturer, is using G Suite to provide “virtual viewings” for its customers, enabling them to continue to engage in an immersive and engaging car-buying experience. With Google Meet, KIA’s sellers can interact with customers, provide them with a virtual demonstration of a car, and answer any questions that come up.

“Live Stream Showroom demonstrates our continued commitment to tailor the car-buying journey to the demands of our customers with virtual viewings,” says JT Hong, Head of Global Channel & Service department at Kia Motors. “By launching this new platform testing in the Middle East & Africa region, we aim to stay ahead of the curve in digital sales and marketing in this time of transition.”

These are just a few recent examples of how G Suite helps customers not only adapt to the current situation but also reimagine how to get things done. We’ve been working hard to make G Suite a better home for your work by providing an integrated workspace that brings together the core elements of work—like chat, email, voice, video, and tasks—and making them better together. Our goal is to help teams to stay productive and connected, no matter where they’re working from, and enable businesses to serve their customers safely and more efficiently.


(*G Suite is now Google Workspace)

Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) executive Mark Eimer explains how an ambitiously-timed rollout of a comprehensive suite of Google products helped the entire organization—from doctors to IT staff—achieve better security, cultivate a more equitable work environment, and ultimately, improve patient outcomes.

How does a recently merged, 17-hospital healthcare system fast-track a platform migration and hardware rollout securely and in a way that improves work for everyone, regardless of location or role? These are the questions that kept me up at night in early 2020, when the pandemic demanded a “big bang”—something our legacy laptops and operating systems couldn’t handle.

We began our work with Google in 2020 with the adoption of Chrome as our default browser. As we migrated platforms, keeping patient data safe was of the utmost importance to us, along with providing every staff member with the tools they needed to work virtually. Our staff often experienced issues accessing our web-based applications using Internet Explorer or Edge Browser, a problem that went away when we switched to Chrome. Chrome’s versatile compatibility also made it easier for my team to migrate all of our web-based operations, and Chrome’s security and manageability were key components to making this switch a huge win for the organization.

The success of this migration led us to extend our Google partnership to patient care applications—where Google’s expertise in AI and ML helps scale the use of diagnostics tools and improve other aspects of the patient journey.

Achieving security at every step 

Like so many other healthcare organizations, we’ve been concerned about ransomware attacks. This is part of why we moved to Google Workspace and distributed over 3,000 Chrome OS devices in kiosk mode in March of 2020, when many of us went remote due to the pandemic. We were very concerned about team members accessing corporate applications through home devices that were running EOL operating systems (WIN7), as well as a general lack of antivirus and encryption measures.

We were protected by the fact that Google’s software and hardware both had built-in security features that we needed to stave off sophisticated attackers. For example, Chrome OS automatically updates to the latest security update and encrypts data living outside the cloud on the hardware. These features protected us from security-related disruptions, letting us securely move a huge library of file shares and emails across thousands of accounts to Google Chrome OS in just four months.

A year later, in March 2021, we migrated the enterprise over to Google Workspace and saw an immediate reduction in spam by 30% from the inherent built-in AI/ML. This meant staff were less likely to receive (and click through) phishing attempts. My team could connect, create, and collaborate easily and securely—even as more of us were working from home and needed to access sensitive data remotely. 

Leveling the playing field

As an organization, we were surprised by how many team members didn’t have personal computers at home. We quickly decided that if we needed team members to work from home, the health network would have to supply hardware. Chromebooks’ lower price tag compared to PCs—on top of their built-in security controls—allowed us to purchase, deploy, and support that initial distribution of 3,000 Chromebooks to team members in less than three weeks, providing devices to every eligible remote employee instead of just a select few. This was vital to reaching our equitable technology goal as part of our diversity and inclusion initiative: everybody has the same tools to do good work.

When all employees have what they need to do their jobs well, we get better patient outcomes. Before we began this cloud adoption journey, patient and staff experiences were different within the hospitals and outside of them. 

Now it’s the same wherever our staff is, and we’ve seen efficiency and accessibility benefits extend to the patient side. For example, we built a web-based contact center that supports 80 locations that use Workspace and Chrome OS devices. Since customer service, admin, and providers are all on the same system, it has become a one-stop shop for patients.

Furthermore, through the Grow with Google program, we were able to provide another benefit to employees that drove our equity goals. Google trained 50 non-IT staff members—from environmental services, food and nutrition, and other non-tech areas who were interested in making a career change to IT—on the Google products we were using. They may not have thought about switching to a career in IT before the Grow with Google program came to our organization, but through this partnership, they now have that opportunity.

A strategic, long-term partner

With any large-scale rollout, the work doesn’t end once laptops are in employee hands. Google has shown their commitment to long-term collaboration as they continuously optimize their products for the unique needs of healthcare providers and go the extra mile in tailoring tools to our staff’s workflows. 

For example, on the Chrome OS side, the Google team has helped our registration desks and document centers with device integration for hardware like credit card readers and e-signature pads. They’ve also helped us meet security and privacy requirements mandated by state and federal governments around HIPAA, Medicaid, and Medicare reimbursements. Over this next year, we’ll look at a feature roadmap with Google Cloud to deliver further enhancements, iterating on the product itself to meet our needs for the present and the future.

Delivering the future of healthcare

The benefits we’ve seen around security and usability—and the ability to provide all staff with equal access to Google’s technology—are why we’re expanding our partnership with Google to both the administrative and clinical sides of HMH. In addition to further Google rollouts with corporate, next year we’re distributing Chromebooks to all 350 of our ambulatory clinics.

We’re also working with the Google professional services team to create a custom AI model that analyzes 3D mammogram images. This AI model will enable two providers to read mammograms—which adheres to international best practices but is currently rare in the US—without requiring additional time. Conducting double readings of mammograms will yield better health outcomes for our patients, such as a lower patient recall rate and an increased accuracy in detecting breast cancer.

We’re currently building the model using a variety of Google Cloud products, including Cloud Healthcare API. Once complete, this model is expected to be trained, deployed, and maintained in Google’s Vertex AI, allowing our providers to be more productive as they make clinical decisions with AI support. As the model is proven over time, we plan to make the predictive services accessible to other healthcare organizations.

With Google, we’re able to achieve a unified architecture for storing data as well as training and deploying AI models, which enable our staff to work more efficiently and securely from anywhere. While I may not be able to predict the future as accurately as AI can, I foresee our continued partnership with Google as a key part of HMH’s improved provider and patient outcomes.