Posted by Olivier Lacoste, Head of IT, Logistics, and Sales Shops at Pierre Hermé Paris

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Olivier Lacoste, Head of IT at Pierre Hermé Paris, a French pastry company. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

Being a French pastry chef is a little like being a Kenyan long-distance runner or Brazilian soccer player – you follow a long line of those before you who have been the very best at their respective trades. Pierre Hermé became a celebrity by being the youngest person to be named France's Pastry Chef of the Year. Mostly, though, people really love his macarons.

Today, Pierre Hermé Paris® has boutiques in France, United Kingdom, Japan, United Arab Emirates and soon in China with our 450 employees making and selling French pastries, macarons, ice cream, candy, coffee, tea, jam and more. We’re growing rapidly as consumers around the world try and appreciate our products. As the head of IT, it’s my job to make sure we have a technology solution to facilitate that growth.

We chose Google Apps because it gave us the most up-to-date technology to work with and was scalable for our internationally expanding workforce. We found that some of our employees were using Google tools on the side, so we decided to roll it out to the entire company with the help of Google Apps Reseller Cirruseo. We were up and running in less time than it takes to make one of our signature chocolate macaroons. We’ve been happy with the way Google Apps lets us do things that weren't possible before. For example, Pierre Hermé will record a video of himself baking a difficult pastry and store it on Google Drive so our bakers around the world can learn from him while at work or on their mobile devices.

As any pastry chef will tell you, collaboration is key. Pierre Hermé Paris employees need a technology solution that lets them share ideas and recipes easily from anywhere on the globe. Working together on documents may be less sweet, but it’s no less important to our business than working together to produce one of our signature macarons.

Posted by Matthew Izatt, Product Manager, Gmail

(Cross-posted from Gmail blog.)

Six months ago, our team set out to completely rebuild the Gmail app for iPhone and iPad to give you you a faster, sleeker, and easier experience on iOS. The result? Version 2.0. With version 2.0 of the app, you'll get a totally new look and feel, plus a bunch of improvements like profile pictures in messages, numerous new animations from swivels to transitions and infinite scrolling in the message lists.


The app adds many new time-saving features like being able to RSVP to Google Calendar invites as well as +1 and comment on Google+ posts directly from the app.


Last, but certainly not least, we've added a feature many of you have been waiting for: multiple account support. You can now login to up to five Google Accounts from the menu and switch between them with a couple taps.


You can download the app right now from the App Store. We're excited to hear what you think!

Beyond spreadsheets, you may notice a few other tweaks to the Drive app, including better text formatting when you copy and paste in a Google document. And if you’re using an Android device, you can now edit text within tables in documents and add a shortcut on the homescreen of your device to any specific file in Drive.

Whether it’s 2013 budget planning or your company’s holiday gift list, the Drive app on your mobile device makes it easy to get things done wherever you are.

Get the Google Drive app today from the Apple App Store and Google Play.