Google is trying to make its way into the Enterprise. Google has primarily been a consumer company, trading information for advertising attention. It is now gearing up for a new revenue stream. Google's aim is for online enterprise apps to be an annual billion dollar business.
Its value propositions is price and simplicity. Google is definitely cheap. A company pays $50 per user per year and gets email, IM (text, voice and video), group calendaring, online apps (basic spreadsheet and word processor), spam filtering, server virus filtering, and mobile integration. If you want super basic functionality, this is great. Many of our employees would be just fine with Google Apps.
Many employees need more sophisticated tools, however. Sophisticated Excel stuff. Powerpoint presentations. Macros. Functions. 3rd party software integration. We use Microsoft Office and Exchange to satisfy those needs.
The problem is that the Google and Microsoft worlds don't co-exist well. Being a mixed shop can be difficult, but we're trying it out where it makes sense. Recently we replaced the email system used by 52,000 missionaries worldwide with a white label version of GMail. We're currently mirgrating another 20,000 people who are associated with the Church in various ways. We still use Microsoft Office and Exchange internally, but are watching carefully how things go with the missionaries. So far we've been very happy with Gmail, but aren't ready to replace employee email and productivity apps with Google apps yet.
Most of the CIOs I talk to are concerned with security. Google is aware of these concerns and trying to take steps to resolve them. This isn't a huge concern for us. We feel that Google is secure enough for our use cases.
I'm interested to see how well Google makes inroads into the enterprise.
How about the fact that Google asked the CA supreme court to overturn proposition 8? Doesn't that make you feel kind of icky having the Missionary email run by a company like that?
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Jonathan - Google's a great company, I used to work there.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked at BPOS or Exchange Online? The Deskless Worker Suite, which is I'm sure what you'd want for the missionaries, is around $2/mo ($1.50 for Exchange only) . That solves your interoperability concerns, at a lower cost, and MS gives you a much better SLA than Google Apps. Google has definitely made it simple and easy, but it may not be the best option.
Exchange? Wow, how much is the Church paying in license fees for an Exchange/Outlook solution? That's probably not cheap. Then there's the Windows tax, which is required to run an Outlook client.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! I bet the missionaries love that! Way to be on the cutting edge. Just another reason the church is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to sound negative or as confrontational.
ReplyDeleteI would ask you to reconsider using Google and not for the "Prop 8" boycott attitude but simply for security.
Everyone will make mistakes and Google isn't exempt from this. Google records user data out the wazoo; this has benefits and risks. Gmail works well. I have a Gmail account myself. I also have a Windows Live account, a work email and when I've setup my music website I'll have an email hosted through it. Any of these situations, for me personally, will not result in my publication in any way of any personal information that I wouldn't want viewed in the public spotlight.
Missionaries will email wonderful stories and personal feelings that are very private and in the wrong eyes it could be abusable information. Google also has a record of promoting things that the church is on the opposite side on. I don't believe that anyone is an enemy if they have other views but I certainly don't give my journal to those who could use it in a harmful or inappropriate way. Google hasn't displayed hostility to the church but their record keeping could be abused. I like when the church records information about itself. I haven't seen as many positive displays when other people record things about the church.
All I'm really asking is at minimum, please consider possible problems that may arise and how to handle them.
It's good that you've switched to a new email system Joel. I'm sure that Google's offering is much better than what was used previously. Make sure you give the returning missionaries plenty of time and instructions before deleting their old email accounts. When I returned home from my mission a few years ago, my MyLDSMail account was cancelled shortly afterwards, before I had retrieved all of my emails which was very disappointing.
ReplyDeleteIf there was an automated way to export all the emails into a GMail account or something similar, I think that would be an ideal solution.
It seems like there is a lot of "emotional bias" against Microsoft, and the thought of being "something other than Microsoft" seems to creep into attitudes, making hasty decisions that are not good. I don't think we need to find ourselves getting "too cheap". Just remember you get what you pay for. Also remember, Google isn't out to save the world, we are! They are an advertising company, don't ever forget!
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