Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror Group aims to cut costs and make it easier for staff to collaborate on projects using Cloud-based Google Apps for Business.
Trinity Mirror is major UK publisher with 6,500 staff at 60 locations working on national titles such as the Mirror and local papers like the Manchester Evening News.
The media giant recognised a need to help staff collaborate and communicate more effectively, while at the same time ease the email storage burden on IT. Says Steve Walker, Google Apps product manager, at Trinity Mirror:
Alongside Gmail, staff will be able to use a range of integrated web-based features, including Google Talk, office suite Google Docs, calendaring, and web page creation tool Google Sites. Staff will be able to work on the same document in real-time, using any Internet-connected device.
Phase one was to roll out Gmail and calendaring and this is being followed by a new intranet, developed using Google Sites. Since deployment started in September, 2,000 or so users are using Google Apps and it will quickly be rolled out to the rest of the workforce.
Persuading the board that a Cloud solution was a safe option was a relatively easy sell. Walker recalls:
The company is also currently implementing Salesforce.com’s Cloud-based CRM system. It’s still early days for the project, but once things have bedded down over the next couple of months, the company aims to look afresh at opportunities that exist in Google sites in terms of collaboration and sharing information. He says:
Gaining user buy-in was also made easier because IT found many people were already using Gmail as a personal productivity tool and were sharing documents with colleagues and managing team calendars. From an IT standpoint, using Google Apps will have a tremendous impact. Walker says:
