Helping business customers transition to Gmail

[FoolishTech]

"yeah but it's still Gmail" isn't quite a good reason. It's not like we're talking about crappy services like Hotmail or the frequently hacked Yahoo ... or even that they would have an @gmail.com address. None of these apply.....

I also like to migrate biz to Google Apps; it's simply more beneficial to most of my clients. I don't see where it is any less professional or a "proper" email service than Exchange; well I can only think of one reason: number of recipients to an email are limited in Apps to 100/500, see bullet points below. These limits may or may not exist with hosted Exchange I'm not certain and maybe it depends on your host. Certainly some are in place even with hosted Exchange, as it is a spam prevention measure...

And sure, small startups may be using G Apps, but what does that really mean? They are smart, wish to avoid ongoing maintenance and overhead?

With the pro version @ $50 / user / year that's a great deal for a fully featured email host with optional webmail + shared calendar, docs, etc. + all the capabilities of any other service + superior spam prevention far exceeding anything I've seen done with Exchange + 3rd party services or software.

As for big business using it.... I can name one that is quite successful: GOOGLE.

As for quirks, there are a few. If the client uses the webmail instead of an email client, there is sometimes confusion between personal google accounts and Apps accounts when they also use personal Gmail, and especially when they use Chrome and Sync.

Also if the client wishes to use a crappy email client (ahem Outlook) and especially if they want POP instead of IMAP:

• the email client will download email SENT from webmail thinking it is new incoming mail. (assuming the client also uses the webmail at times...)
• the email client will never download anything Google flags as SPAM (you have to login to the webmail of each account and create a filter to never send * to SPAM so it is downloaded and hope that Outlook will catch it and mark it; this is only a quirk with Gmail or standard Google Apps as the pro uses a different SPAM system.)
• As mentioned above there are limits to the number of recipients. POP or IMAP limits the number of recipients to 100, whereas you can send to 500 via the webmail interface.
• during migration, initially importing group contact lists does not work from a WAB if that/OE was used prior.

Not saying I won't support clients with Exchange. I LOVE clients with Exchange (in house), because I make plenty of money fixing PROBLEMS with Exchange. But when it comes time to do what is best for the client, I have to quit thinking about myself.

[NETWizz]

I setup a Government Agency to Run Google Apps for Enterprise in their domain... Moved over 6,000 GroupWise inboxes from over 60 Post Office Agents to GMail.

I also exported the Novell GroupWise Address Book to CSV then wrote a script to import that into Active Directory, and I setup Active Directory Sync to sync that info into Gmail and Google Apps

[TenYardFight]

Sorry, I don't have the time right now. Besides, those with your opinion generally keep it. ...for quite some time. I mean that as a broad generalization, not specifically for those in this thread. I'm only posting this as an encoragement to keep doing the research and trying both. I started as pro Google for email.

If I had to some it up one way I'd say, for me, its all about the email client. Outlook used to its full potential with exchange is unrivaled. Then for really "serious" business, throw dynamics CRM on top of Outlook. Specialize in these solutions and you'll find yourself working with clients who don't question your fees and less with mom and pops and startups.

[16k_zx81]

Originally Posted by Ten Yard Fight

Sorry, I don't have the time right now.

Ok, so you think Outlook is better, and you can make more money supporting it.

Of course, Outlook has more features, no contest there.

My demographic are "moms, pops, and startups" as I dont do enterprise level work.

From where Im standing the vast majority of end-users I see, who insist on using 'Outlook' use it because they have/had it at work, or because it 'was installed on their computer when they got it' (as the default mail client). It rarely, if ever "because other mail clients lack the essential features that I have to have access to in Outlook".

Most of them pretty much know how to send/receive/add contacts, and thats 'email' for them, in a nutshell.

For these users, - who generally arent backed by an exchange server or proper backup system - (a) Outlook is huge overkill, and (b) Outlook often proves fundamentally unreliable (not just the software, but the whole nature of storing mail on a single hard disk is an essentially iffy proposition).

So thats where Im coming from with the original post. Sorry, I probably should have qualified what I meant by 'business'.

I think once there's an exchange server and proper backup in place, its probably a different equation.

The last time I used outlook professionally in an environment like this was about 10 years ago, and it was unreliable - its probably improved a lot since then.

I have never once had any problem accessing mail on my gmail account. As long as there is internet access, I have email. I cant say the same for a lot of domestic outlook users I have seen over the years.

Jim

[TenYardFight]

With you 100%. I think you are serving your customer well. I would just encourage you to start considering hosted exchange when appropriate. You can sell and support that with your skillset.

[14049752]

Originally Posted by Ten Yard Fight

I'm only posting this as an encoragement to keep doing the research and trying both. I started as pro Google for email.

If I had to some it up one way I'd say, for me, its all about the email client. Outlook used to its full potential with exchange is unrivaled.

I'm familiar with Exchange, I support it, I just think it's problematic and hardly the best solution for everyone... On top of that, it's fairly platform specific.

And I'm quite the reverse of you, I have never liked Outlook. (I have used it in along side exchange, rather than a stand-alone e-mail client)...but I try not to let my preference determine what's best for a customer.

This thread did actually prompt me to discover Zimbra. It looks interesting. I don't know if I'd ever recommend it to a customer, but I'm certainly interested in checking it out to see what it can do.


Either way, in the end what really matters is what's best for our customer. Even die hard exchange fans have to acknowledge that it's not for everyone...if you don't you're not understanding the reality of the business segment some of us work in.

[MobileGeeks]

I have setup approx 25 seperate business using Google Apps for business

These range from 1-20 users, most I have moved from SBS servers.

The one thing is that the paid google apps, has a 99% uptime were normal gmail does not. Very good selling point!

Google Apps for business takes time to setup and import email data but it is worth it in the end trust me.. Forget SBS 2008/2011 ect

This is way

Thanks

Marcus

P.S Sign up for a google apps reseller account, you will pick up a monthly pay from Google.

[TenYardFight]

I would like to hear more. Did you scrap their server all together?