ATLANTA Some 25,000 employees and executives with IHG are switching their business email servers to Google Inc.'s Gmail, replacing Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook in one of the hotel industry's biggest cloud migrations ever.
The move will save IHG an estimated 30%, says Gustaaf Schrils, IHG's vice president of technology in the Americas. The savings will come primarily from lower subscription costs. Google charges US$50 per user per year, while Microsoft's Office 365 suite of applications—its cloud-based competitor to Google that launches this month—charges anywhere from US$25 to US$325 per user per year.
The new email system is part of a larger shift for IHG to Google Apps products, all of which exist in the cloud, meaning they are hosted remotely and accessible by users via the Internet. IHG users will be able to keep their existing email addresses.
The move will save IHG an estimated 30%, says Gustaaf Schrils, IHG's vice president of technology in the Americas. The savings will come primarily from lower subscription costs. Google charges US$50 per user per year, while Microsoft's Office 365 suite of applications—its cloud-based competitor to Google that launches this month—charges anywhere from US$25 to US$325 per user per year.
The new email system is part of a larger shift for IHG to Google Apps products, all of which exist in the cloud, meaning they are hosted remotely and accessible by users via the Internet. IHG users will be able to keep their existing email addresses.