I’ve noticed a phenomenon. I call it “The Google Factor.”
Domino administrators know that their users have no patience when it comes to a Lotus Notes/Domino issue. In fact Lotus Notes is generally (and 99% of the time) wrongfully blamed for all woes related to the desktop.
However, when Google is unavailable – either when the account is suspended, or email is not accessible — nothing happens. The users are quiet. What has happened? Have the users suddenly become sedate and hypotized? Perhaps because you’re a person they can reach on the phone – you’ve put a face on any work related issue during the day?
If email and/or access to docs or chat are so essential, why don’t they fuss about Google outages? Is it because Google is in “the cloud”? And everyone seems to be mesmerized by all that is cloud like? Or have the expectations shifted because it is Google – the company they are primarily familiar with as a search provider?
It is maddening because you know you work to address an issue as quickly as possible. And you may even resolve a user or server issue in a matter of minutes. In comparison – Google provides a status page with no interaction or time frame for resolution. And the reason for the outage is never given. How many times in your Domino environment have you had to provide long involved technical explanations of outages for your users? Plenty! Do they understand them? No! But will the users ask about Google outages? No!
“The Google Factor” does make it very tempting to shift all users to the cloud. Perhaps the strategy should be – follow-up a cloud move with a relocation of your own offices to in a nice comfy vacation spot with your voice mail set to “Gone to the Cloud.”
