Paul Turner, manager of academic technologies at the University of Notre Dame, discusses his university’s decision to outsource e-mail on the latest edition of Tech Therapy, recorded live at The Chronicle’s Technology Forum last week. Students had been unhappy with the e-mail system’s performance, and officials at Notre Dame wanted a solution that would be more secure and possibly save money.
The university investigated a number of e-mail companies and ended up going with Gmail. “The students got a much faster and smoother e-mail experience,” Mr. Turner says. “To move students to Exchange, it would have cost us $1.5-million. To go to Gmail cost us nothing.” By outsourcing e-mail, the university IT staff is able to concentrate on other things.
Warren Arbogast, co-host of Tech Therapy, says that outsourcing e-mail services might be a viable trend for the future. Facebook is huge on campuses right now, but no college would consider “insourcing” — or creating their own — Facebook.
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