Where we are now: Two communication and collaboration platforms

The University offers both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 to our community. Google is currently the email and storage environment for students, although faculty and staff can set up an account and use the apps within this suite. Microsoft 365 is the email and storage environment for faculty and staff, although students have accounts and can use all the apps except for email and calendaring.

The capabilities provided by these two cloud-hosted solutions overlap greatly. Google gives everyone storage and office apps, such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Through the University’s Microsoft 365 agreement, everyone has access to Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and the communication, collaboration, and storage apps in Microsoft 365, such as Teams and OneDrive.

A key difference between the two products is that Microsoft meets our security requirements for data storage. All work-related data, including emails, should be stored on this infrastructure. This is why the faculty and staff email and calendar services are hosted on Microsoft 365 and not Google.

What changed: Google updated contract

Until this past year, Google offered free and unlimited storage to educational institutions, and we could extend this benefit to all active students, employees, and alumni. However, Google unilaterally updated their terms and conditions and moved to a fee model, where the cost is determined by the total amount of storage consumed. UConn, like many large universities, stores a substantial amount of data, and this means that the cost to accommodate our storage needs is significant. With this update to the terms, the University is now paying for duplicative services, and our students either partially or fully bear the expense. Plus, what we can offer to our community with the updated contract is now effectively no better than what you get by setting up a personal account.

Cost is not the only issue. Having a community split between two platforms causes problems. Files and technology are not compatible, which impedes file sharing and collaboration. With two different email systems, students and faculty/staff cannot leverage all of the features that facilitate scheduling, file sharing, and online meetings. Many employees have to switch back and forth between the two systems to interact with students.

Where we are heading: Migration to Microsoft 365

After carefully considering cost, security, capabilities, and complexity, we decided to unify our community on one platform. Microsoft 365 is essential for university operations and provides better IT security and more features to our community. Therefore, we are transitioning accounts and data for active students and employees to Microsoft 365 and phasing out Google services at UConn.