Google Rolls Out Microsoft Outlook Email Migration Tool

While Google already offered tools to help administrators migrate Exchange and Lotus Notes data to the Google Apps platform, there wasn’t much for end-users do the same. Until now, that is, with the launch of Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook, designed to help users get their stuff from Microsoft’s mail client onto Google’s cloud quickly and painlessly. Here are the details.

This new tool is aimed at simplifying Google Apps migration for users at enterprises that aren’t planning to do it server side. It works with Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007, whether it’s a hosted or on-premises Exchange deployment, and automatically copies over contacts, messages, and calendar events.

I don’t think this is a new idea among SaaS collaboration platforms — IBM LotusLive, for example, supports importing data from the Outlook-standard .PST format, and HyperOffice does one better by offering to sync data between their cloud and Outlook.

But neither of those companies are making as much noise in the MSP space as Google, and as I keep saying, anything that knocks down another hurdle to user adoption is going to keep their momentum building.

The Google move, by the way, arrives as Microsoft attempts to promote its latest SaaS wins — including the University of Arizona migrating to BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite).

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