30-40% reduction in cloud infrastructure costs through Committed Use Discounts and partner optimization
Customized resource configurations enable precise CPU and memory allocation through the Google Cloud console, a capability unavailable on previous infrastructure
Two-month migration to Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud SQL, and Memorystore with minimal customer impact
Faster resource provisioning with Compute Engine and Cloud SQL
Cost savings redirected to accelerate Gemini-powered AI development and platform expansion
AI-powered workplace platform, Smarten Spaces, migrates to Google Cloud, enabling major cost savings and seamless Gemini integration.
AI-powered workplace platform, Smarten Spaces, migrates to Google Cloud, enabling major cost savings and seamless Gemini integration.
Laying the groundwork for enterprise growth
and AI-driven capabilities
The decision wasn't only about infrastructure. It was about choosing a platform we could continue to build on, as our product and customers evolve.
Dinesh Malkani
CEO and Founder, Smarten Spaces
Enterprises and government organizations managing large, distributed workplaces are increasingly relying on data-driven platforms to understand how space is used, and how employee experience can be improved across locations. For Smarten Spaces, the workplace management company behind SpaceOnAI—a platform serving Fortune 500 companies and governments in 30+ countries—scaling that capability meant finding cloud infrastructure that could support both cost efficiency and evolving AI-driven use cases. SpaceOnAI helps organizations manage intelligent space booking, automated floor planning, and real-time workplace analytics.
The decision to migrate was driven by a combination of strategic and operational factors. A key client in Singapore was already using Gemini as its LLM, and this created an opportunity for deeper integration that could benefit the broader customer base. At the same time, alternate cloud providers offered only preset machine configurations thereby limiting flexibility in matching resources to workload requirements and making it harder to optimize infrastructure usage efficiently.
The migration itself carried significant technical risk. Moving large production databases that supported global operations required careful execution to minimize downtime and maintain data consistency. Regional compliance requirements added another layer of complexity, and certain services needed full re-architecture rather than a simple lift-and-shift. This required a detailed translation of networking rules, load balancers, and security configurations.
Beyond the technical challenges, the business case needed to support long-term product evolution. "The decision wasn't only about infrastructure. It was about choosing a platform we could continue to build our AI product on," says Dinesh Malkani, founder and CEO at Smarten Spaces.
Recognizing the stakes, Smarten Spaces brought in partner Sonata Information Technology Limited to guide the migration. Sonata guided Smarten Spaces' engineering team through the technical complexity while helping them build internal capability for future expansion.
Of simplified platform operations
and greater control
The migration placed Smarten Spaces' development environment entirely on Google Cloud, built on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for container orchestration, Cloud SQL for managed databases, and Memorystore for caching. The architecture supports AI workloads through Gemini in Vertex AI. As Smarten Spaces' data strategy evolves, the team plans to introduce BigQuery and Looker for analytics and reporting.
The shift changed how engineers work in tangible ways. When a developer pushes code, the build pipeline runs checks and deploys the update to GKE.
Spinning up any resources—VMs, databases—is much faster on Google Cloud compared to other cloud providers.
Akshay Kulkarni
Senior DevOps Engineer, Smarten Spaces
After deployment, Smarten Spaces' engineering team uses the Google Cloud console to monitor services and review logs. One capability stood out immediately: the ability to specify exact CPU and memory configurations when provisioning virtual machines. Instead of choosing from fixed presets that rarely align with real workload needs, engineers can now match resources more closely to demand. This is key in improving cost control as the platform scales.
"Spinning up any resources—VMs, databases—is much faster on Google Cloud compared to other cloud providers," says Akshay Kulkarni, senior DevOps engineer at Smarten Spaces.
From a delivery perspective, Wenfeng Xie, head of deployment at Smarten Spaces, notes that after the migration:
- Service latency appeared lower and more stable than before
- Intermittent errors requiring manual intervention decreased
- Resource utilization became more predictable, enabling proactive capacity management
From a customer perspective, the transition proved seamless. Smarten Spaces saw little to no customer impact and received no complaints during or after the move—an essential outcome for a platform that supports workplace operations across large enterprise environments where availability is critical.
From complex cloud migration
to learning advantage
Through Committed Use Discounts we achieved 30-40% savings on infrastructure spend, and our partner's optimization added another 10%.
Dinesh Malkani
CEO and Founder, Smarten Spaces
The most technically demanding aspect of the migration centered on moving Smarten Spaces' large production databases, built up over years of operations, with minimal disruption. Partner Sonata provided hands-on support for the lift-and-shift operation, including detailed data integrity checks after migration to ensure accuracy and continuity. Sonata also supported migration planning and helped validate architectural decisions as Smarten Spaces transitioned workloads onto Google Cloud.
The two-month timeline was in line with expectations, especially since this was Smarten Spaces' first migration onto Google Cloud.
Partner guidance helped maintain clarity throughout the process and reduced uncertainty as technical decisions were made and implemented.
The financial impact was significant. "Through Committed Use Discounts we achieved 30-40% savings on infrastructure spend, and our partner's optimization added another 10%," explains Malkani. These efficiencies gave Smarten Spaces greater flexibility in how it allocates resources, supporting continued investment in AI development and expansion of the core platform.
With the deployment complete, Smarten Spaces is preparing to move additional clusters and expand its Google Cloud footprint. Future work will focus on developing Agentic AI capabilities, an intelligent layer built on top of the existing product suite, using Google Cloud data and AI services to support the platform's next phase of evolution.
Smarten Spaces is a global AI-powered workplace management company. Its flagship platform, SpaceOnAI, helps organizations optimize space, streamline operations, and improve employee experience using real-time analytics and integrations across workplace tools.
Industry: Real Estate (proptech) startup
Location: India
Products: Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud SQL, Memorystore, Gemini
About Google Cloud partner - Sonata Information Technology Limited
Sonata Information Technology Limited is a Google Cloud partner specializing in enterprise cloud migration and infrastructure modernization.
