Google Apps are so intuitive that students hit the ground running.

Paul Turner, Manager of Academic Technologies, Office of Information Technologies

Challenge

The Notre Dame email system was unreliable and inefficient, and its functions were limited solely to email. Clearly, a significant change was needed. The university wanted a solution for campus-wide calendars and scheduling; students wanted more communications functionality. Gmail was repeatedly mentioned as the preferred choice.

Solution

Google Apps was appealing because it worked seamlessly across a range of platforms and mobile devices. The rollout began with the incoming class of 2013; freshmen were put on Google Apps before school started. This process worked so easily that the remaining 15,000 students were migrated to the new platform in just one night, with no technical issues. The university realized $1.5 million in savings and student satisfaction increased by 36%.