Last April (2016) laid underscored the reason why businesses should not use Gmail.
On April 1st—yes, April Fool’s, Gmail caused many bosses (including myself!) problems. That was the day Gmail introduced the [now removed] “Gmail Mic Drop” function. The mic drop allowed users to “send and mic drop” an email that automatically attached a GIF of a minion—those weird little yellow creatures from Despicable Me.
Gmail’s prank had replaced the “send and archive” button, which lets a user close a conversation and archive the email thread, in exchange for an attached minion dropping a microphone before closing a conversation and archiving it.
As many of us rely on muscle memory while doing email, many of us (or our contacts) confusedly clicked on the button next to the “Mic Drop” to archive a message. Unfortunately, in doing so, many had actually sent their Mic Drop photo to clients, bosses or others who didn’t find the GIF image very amusing.
This prank sealed the deal for me that Gmail was not an enterprise-quality platform for my clients. It wasn’t tailored for them and the Gmail team simply didn’t have professionals in mind when considering ramifications of a change—even that of an innocent prank. Don’t get me wrong—I love using Gmail for personal use—it has many features that make it shine for home users. But there are too many problems with the current platform to make it a usable platform for my client’s businesses.
But Why Are Universities Gravitating To Gmail?
As colleges and universities continue to look for ways to cut costs, they’ve started to trade in their in-house email systems for Gmail. Google gives schools special education packages that are far too convincing. The price of Gmail for educational use? FREE!
Since universities have to maintain large amounts of data—that means lots (Terabytes worth of data!) In fact, Google offers students 7 gigabytes of storage space. Thinking about a big university like the University of Michigan or University of Tennessee—that’s 30,000 students (not even factoring in staff!). On top of Gmail, Google provides a variety of Education-based Google Apps. Saving schools time, money and disc space.
If Universities are Using Gmail, Why Shouldn’t My Business?
Google advertising—Gmail actually publishes ads that look like emails in your account. If you’re already inundated with spam mail (or hate having to sift through what’s real vs spam mail), then having Gmail as your enterprise email platform is probably not a good fit.
IT Departments don’t support it—Since Gmail has been a relatively new platform (especially for business use), many IT departments aren’t familiar enough with Google’s mail system back end to really make Gmail work for your business. That means that if you want to have enterprise-level mail system that is customizable and easy for your business to use and be supported, you might be better off with a platform that the majority of information technology support and understand.
Filtering problem—sending emails to Gmail accounts can be a little trickier than you might think. Because Gmail uses an evolving filter for junk, spam and malicious emails, when you check your mail, you will really need to get into the habit of checking your spam folder.
You’re not a VIP—You’re likely going to seek help through community pages. Google does not provide dedicated support to user bases under 1500 users. Even if you have an IT department, they likely won’t be able to help much, since Google’s platform is far different from industry standard mail systems.
One of the reasons why Microsoft Outlook continues to be used by enterprise customers is because they offer a high level of support for their product. If something isn’t working, they provide 24/7 support to ensure email is working. In an emergency, Microsoft gets back to clients within an hour—even at 3 a.m. The problem with Gmail is that Google is less interested and less geared towards providing users support. They would rather use their popular platform to advertise and sell products to you and your business.
The bottom line: Gmail has several things going for it—inexpensive, lots of storage, very popular among home users. But when you boil down needs of a business, it might not be right for everyone.
So what are you to do?
Weigh your options—identify what is important to you and what you expect to get out of your mail platform. Can you squeeze by with limited or no support? Can you adapt to a less customized system? If so, Gmail may be a viable candidate for you.
Talk to an expert—after identifying your specific needs in an email system, talk with a IT professional that can assist in defining what platform is best-suited for your business’ technology needs. If you’re a DE customer, ask your Business Technology Manager (BTM) on advice weighing your options.
As always, if you have any questions about your email system—or any other technology—feel free to contact me.
