Yes, you likely know the City of Los Angeles is making a big move to Google Apps. But week after week, Google also seems to be promoting school district wins, too. For MSPs serving the education vertical, studying up on Google Apps is now a requirement. Here’s why.
According to our third-annual MSPmentor 100 survey (complete results coming Feb. 10), roughly 22% of survey participants target either the K-12 or higher education (colleges and universities) verticals. At the same time, 21.7% of survey participants are promoting Google Apps to their customers.
We need to be careful not to hype Google Apps: Microsoft and plenty of other software providers continue to enjoy strong market share in the education sector.
Still, Google’s momentum within schools seems real. One recent example involves a Michigan school district that claims to have saved an estimated $400,000 by switching an on-premises e-mail solution over to Google Apps Education Edition. The Saline, Michigan, school district may only claim 600 employees, but I think it’s a perfect demonstration to MSPs on the power and potential of software as a service (SaaS) solutions.
The school district’s superintendent seems to be praising Google Apps because the district:
- Can stop paying licensing fees on the old solution;
- spam is way down;
- they don’t need to worry about keeping updates patched since Google handles all that on their end; and
- they’re even using Google Video for daily announcements and Google Docs to make forms and rolling meeting agendas.
Still, this blog entry isn’t meant to sound like pro-Google propaganda. Plenty of school districts will prefer on-premise options. And just to make things extra interesting, Microsoft is preparing Office Web, a SaaS version of Office 2010.
Back in Google land, MSPs only make about $10 per user per year reselling Google Apps. For a typical 20-seat small business deployment, that’s only $200 annually moving into the MSP’s bank account. But Google’s Jeff Ragusa points out bigger channel opportunities tied to Google Apps.
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Posted In: Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service
Tags: china | Cloud | Cloud computing | Google | Google Apps | Google Apps Education Edition | los angeles | michigan | migration | on-premises | SaaS | Software as a Service and Hardware as a Service
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If you are a decision maker at a school you almost have to consider Google Apps. With the licensing being free and state and local budgets getting smaller to fund education these institutions need to look for ways to provide the needed technology at a lower cost.
When a school admin has a decision between keeping their existing solution or going Google and not creating a better learning environment through more teachers, better facilities, etc what should they chose?
Dustin: I agree fully. Schools have to consider the Google Apps option. But for MSPmentor readers, we’ll always try to work in the partner angle. The key questions: Are there really MSP opportunities here? Or is Google Apps a direct play in the education vertical?
-jp
Joe: For MSP’s I think some of your previous articles point out how Google Apps or other SaaS solutions can be used as a foot in the door. I think most MSP’s would agree that SaaS is going to play a role in their business in the future. Starting with a product like Google Apps gives your customers the idea of SaaS in terms of functionality and costs. From there the MSP can start getting control of other systems either traditional on-premise or conversion to SaaS. Either way I see Google Apps as a great way to prove my company’s abilities and show my customers how I can benefit their business. The first sale is Google Apps, next thing you know they call me wondering about how they can use an Amazon EC2 Service or hosted CRM.
Dustin: I like your style. A lot of folks are in denial over SaaS. I’m not suggesting all readers have to embrace SaaS. But MSPs need to at least have informed answers when customers ask about on premises vs. SaaS options…
Please keep us posted as you make more SaaS moves.
-jp