Lidl and Kaufland parent Schwarz Group has announced a long-term partnership with Google to offer advanced cybersecurity solutions for its companies in Germany and Europe.
The partnership will see the implementation of digital cloud-based collaboration solutions for regulated industries, including financial services, healthcare and the public sector.
Gerd Chrzanowski, CEO of Schwarz Group. "In Google, we have found a partner who will develop joint solutions with us on an equal footing, provide transparent insights and make clear commitments."
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, stated, "The new partnership will enable Schwarz Group companies to combine their leadership in digital transformation with Google Cloud's strengths in productivity, collaboration and security delivered by our cutting-edge AI."
Partnership Highlights
As part of the solution, Schwarz Digits Cloud STACKIT will offer its customers the ability to enable client-side encryption of their Google Workspace data.
It will include sensitive and confidential data in regulated industries via its cloud platform, preventing access by third parties, including Google.
Customers' data will remain within the European Union (EU), with full redundancy ensured by backups hosted exclusively in STACKIT's European data centres to meet customers' data protection, data residency, and data resilience requirements, the company noted.
Rolf Schumann, co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, the IT and digital division of the Schwarz Group, stated, "In Germany and the EU, there have so far been no cloud collaboration solutions that fully meet the sovereignty requirements of regulated industries. This includes ensuring that all data is secured on local soil without foreign states or platform providers being able to access it.
"Our partnership and offering with Google Cloud will close this gap with a completely new business model."
The solution will give customers complete control over access to their data after the activation of client-side encryption.
Even Google, as a platform provider, will have no access to the data.
This will protect the sovereignty of the Schwarz Group companies as well as of all customers who value the independence of their operations.
Digital Resilience
The partnership also includes collaboration in the area of cybersecurity to create a solid foundation for cyber readiness and resilience for customers.
Initially, Google Cloud's security solutions will be integrated with those of XM Cyber, Schwarz Digits' hybrid cloud security company, and the joint offering will be offered via the Google Cloud Marketplace, the company added.
These advanced security solutions will help German and European organisations, particularly those in highly regulated industries, increase the level of their enterprise and multi-cloud security.
Moreover, XM Cyber's Continuous Exposure Management will be embedded in the sovereign Google Workspace solution offered to European companies.
"This partnership is a game changer for regulated industries in Europe by removing the sovereignty and security concerns that often hinder more ambitious cloud adoption for productivity and collaboration," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.
"Our alliance with the Schwarz Group companies will enable numerous industries in Europe to deliver digital innovations with security and compliance at their core."
Additional Measures
Schwarz Group companies are converting their global office workspaces to Google Workspace to ensure that workplace data is protected from access by third parties.
Christian Müller, Co-CEO of Schwarz Digits, stated, "The switch to Google Workspace is an important step for us away from our previous solution towards innovative, efficient and future-proof cloud-based collaboration."
"Google Workspace is the most secure and reliable productivity platform in the industry today and we expect that our group-wide switch will bring significant benefits to all areas of operation - from simplifying IT management to making our workflows at the point of sale much more efficient."
Schwarz Group reported a 'successful' financial year 2023 with an 8.5% increase in revenue to €167.2 billion.
