Gosuto Consulting

The other day I spent a lot of time tinkering with my Google Apps Premier account, kicking the tires on all of its new features.  Most of the companies I come in contact with either a) are looking for Exchange functionality, or b) are looking to migrate away from Exchange.  In both cases they all love their blackberries (and if they have Exchange, they have a BES server too).  Thus, I wanted to see how Google Apps Premier would really do as an Exchange alternative.

First off – the Outlook integration seems to be rock solid.  You install a tiny Outlook Add-in (Google Apps Sync for Outlook) on each computer, and it basically tricks Outlook into thinking you are on Exchange server.  No lie, if you go and check the account settings for Outlook, it shows it as a MAPI account.  Your email, calendar, and contacts sync with their Google Apps counterparts automatically.  Thus, anyone who is committed (no pun intended) to Outlook can stay on Outlook, and hopefully over time migrate to using gmail exclusively.  One nice thing – since it is an Outlook Add-in, it isn’t running when Outlook is closed.

Google Apps Premier covers most of the features Exchange users are used to.  Calendar sharing, delegating email to an admin, scheduling appointments between users, booking resources, etc.   They have also implemented a Global Address List (a directory of employee email addresses), although it doesn’t show up in your regular contacts view (it shows up via auto-complete and also when you click the “To” line on an email).  However, the GAL only contains names and email addresses for now,  and you can’t really customize it yet.  Also missing are “shared” or “public” contacts – although apparently you can do that through a script.  All in all though, most of the features are there, and anything missing can likely be added through scripting or will eventually show up in updates (keep in mind that, unlike Exchange, the system is getting updates and new features all the time at no extra charge).

Of course, there are also a lot of features that Exchange just doesn’t have.  Google Docs, for on-line document storage and collaboration (can theoretically replace Microsoft Office, depending on how complex your documents are).  Google Video, for sharing video within your organization.  Google Sites for building team websites.  Google Groups for creating and managing “groups”, which are basically message boards / distribution lists.  Don’t forget Gmail and Google Talk (Gmail is still my favorite all-time email client).  Best of all, each of these “apps” is enabled with SEARCH – what Google does best.

Now for the Blackberry integration.  Google Sync for Blackberry handles most of this – once installed on the blackberry, contacts and calendar are sync’d automatically over the air.  That only leaves email.  Email synchronization is not quite up to the level of a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) just yet.  However, for people who aren’t on Exchange, it still is far better than what they have now.  Here is how it works:

• Turn on IMAP on your Google Apps gmail account (turn OFF Pop3)
• Create a label called “Sent Items” (exact spelling and capitalization)
• Setup the account on your blackberry (using yourname@yourdomain.com)

The Blackberry will auto-detect it is an IMAP account and figure the rest out for you.  If not, the gmail IMAP server can be input manually.  In any case, here is what you end up with:

• new mail shows up on your blackberry quickly (seems to be push, I would say within seconds of showing up online or in Outlook)
• mail SENT from your blackberry shows up in Outlook Sent Items and under the gmail Sent Items label we created above
• however, mail sent through gmail or in Outlook does not show up on the blackberry (no way to access the “Sent Items” on the Blackberry)
• messages read on your blackberry are marked as read in Outlook and in gmail – however, this only happens in that direction, not vice-versa
• messages deleted on your blackberry are deleted from gmail and Outlook (you can turn this off if you want) – however, again, not vice versa

Thus, the only real features missing are 1) sync’ing read status/deleted messages from the server back to the Blackberry (the sync’ing is only one way as described above), and 2) there is no way to access the “GAL” on the Blackberry.

So what’s the verdict?  I firmly believe any company on Exchange or looking to move to Exchange would be more than happy with Google Apps Premier, especially at the cost ($50/user/YEAR).  Not to mention there are no servers to manage, no backups to worry about, etc.  Blackberry users who are used to the tight Exchange integration of BES might be a little dissapointed, but I suspect that will improved over time.  Besides, who doesn’t want a shiny new Android phone anyway (it goes without saying that Android integration is much tighter, since it is developed by Google and all)!!??  Of course, every situation has to be evaluated on a case by case basis, but that’s what I’m here for right?