Yesterday's Techrepublic Webcast regarding Hamilton Beach moving to Google, and Ed Brill's subsequent post generated some lively discussion on Planet Lotus, Twitter, and in my office. I had lots to think about during the drive home last night!
As I sat sipping my early morning coffee today, I wondered if IT organizations had the same amount of money available to them today as they did in 1999 when preparing for Y2K - all other factors remaining the same - would Google Apps be as attractive as an enterprise solution? I'm not so sure. Many of the organizations that are moving to cloud computing are using cost savings as their primary reason for moving to cloud based collaboration systems. So given economics as a constraint, many organizations are willing to sacrifice customer service, technical support, upgrade support, product stability because the cloud option is "cheaper." Or are they using that only as an excuse?
Haven't we all read about IT organizations that have implemented systems (any) only to turn around and literally rip them out a few years later because they were poorly implemented or poorly managed? Isn't it a management strategy to frequently blame it on the old system and prosthetize that the new system will most certainly be better?
And collaboration systems are unique in that they REQUIRE colllaboration. Collaboration between IT staffs, collaboration between user groups and technical groups, and collaboration between management and technical staff. So that everyone is on board with a common set of goals and objectives for the system. Otherwise, it is collaboration failure.
So while Google Apps may be the cost/effort saver du jour, if the collaboration infrastructure is not fostered, if users are not trained and offered solutions for accessing tools from remote locations, and nuturing of the client base does not take place, then we may read in a few years about Google being replaced by some other product at organizations like Hamilton Beach. Maybe back to Lotus Notes/Domino! ;-)
1 Keith H Brooks Permalink reminiscent of politics and elections isn't it?
2 Saqib Ali Trackback What are some of the Lotus Notes features/capabilities that are
missing in Google Apps?
Thanks
Saqib
3 Marie L Scott Permalink @2 The biggest feature difference would be security - as nothing compares to the Lotus Notes/Domino security model. For further information about Lotus Notes/Domino features -- the best source is http://www.lotus.com.
4 Scott Hooks Permalink Great post Marie. @Saquib: I would think you were kidding, but I see that you are a gmail user and therefore probably a fan. From my perspective (and no offense intended here) your question is like asking "what are some of the features/capabilities of a car that
are missing in a pair of rental skates." Sure, both are modes of
transportation and rental skates serve a fun and useful purpose,
but do you really want to skate everywhere you go? (particularly if
your mode of transportation is important to your source of
revenue). Start here http://www.lotus.com/notes.
5 Saqib Ali Permalink Marie and Scott,
I was actually looking for something more specific and concrete as
to why you think is Google Apps is less secure or is more like a
pair of rental skates vs. a car.
I use personally gmail, but I have no attachments to any system. I
use whatever makes me more productive in life and in school. For
e.g. I love Macs but I use a Windows based PC because I think it is
more functional for my particular needs.
Thanks.
Saqib
6 Marie L Scott Permalink @5 Saqib - this article is a good starting point http://tinyurl.com/6p4gaz "7 Things IT Managers Should Know About
Lotus Notes" from CIO Magazine, by Thomas Duff. As Scott and I have
recommended, for more detailed information you should refer to the
IBM/Lotus website. Another excellent source is
http://www.planetlotus.org. Keep in mind that an individual's needs
for email/collaboration may be quite different from those of a
corporation or government entity.
7 Saqib Ali Trackback Hi Marie,
I went through the CIO magazine article, but didn't see anything
compelling. They talked about replication for off-line usage, and
application development.
Google Apps offers off-line mode using a browser based plug-in.
Right now this only works for Google Mail and Google Docs, but with
HTML 5 support this will be available for other DB transactions as
well.
As for application development, Google offers Google App Engine and
Google Web Toolkit. GWT lets you create Javascript (AJAX) based
front-end for application using Java. It can essentially compile
Java code into Javascript (AJAX). Which is very powerful.
Note: Google also has a plugin for Eclipse and Google App Engine
now supports Java.