Google Apps: Saving Schools Big Money?

google apps education edition

According to our third-annual MSPmentor 100 survey (complete results coming Feb. 10), roughly 22% of survey participants target either the K-12 or higher education (colleges and universities) verticals. At the same time, 21.7% of survey participants are promoting Google Apps to their customers.

We need to be careful not to hype Google Apps: Microsoft and plenty of other software providers continue to enjoy strong market share in the education sector.

Still, Google’s momentum within schools seems real. One recent example involves a Michigan school district that claims to have saved an estimated $400,000 by switching an on-premises e-mail solution over to Google Apps Education Edition. The Saline, Michigan, school district may only claim 600 employees, but I think it’s a perfect demonstration to MSPs on the power and potential of software as a service (SaaS) solutions.

The school district’s superintendent seems to be praising Google Apps because the district:

Still, this blog entry isn’t meant to sound like pro-Google propaganda. Plenty of school districts will prefer on-premise options. And just to make things extra interesting, Microsoft is preparing Office Web, a SaaS version of Office 2010.

Back in Google land, MSPs only make about $10 per user per year reselling Google Apps. For a typical 20-seat small business deployment, that’s only $200 annually moving into the MSP’s bank account. But Google’s Jeff Ragusa points out bigger channel opportunities tied to Google Apps.