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THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST,

SHARES THE NEWS WITH GOOGLE APPSCOMPANY BACKGROUND

Founded in 1879, The First Church o Christ, Scientist, encompasses both a centralizedchurch and international news organization, The Christian Science Monitor. A trulyglobal institution, the church has more than 1,200 branch churches and societiesin 80 countries around the world. The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Christian ScienceMonitoris published both online and in print and employs sta worldwide.

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Microso Exchange was a long-standing part o the daily routine o many

employees. However, the email client was starting to cause a strain on the IT team,the organization and the end-users. CIO Curt Edge said that the IT team elt thaconstantly patching and updating email servers detracted rom their availabletime to support the core missions o the organization.

Employees reported spending signicant amounts o time managing their emaiinboxes instead o sending emails, as they worked to keep cascading layers oolders under control. Considering the mounting costs o Microso Licensing, theteam at The First Church o Christ, Scientist, began looking or alternatives thawould enable their globally-distributed team to be able to work more efciently.

One major concern when looking at options was change management. Sincethe sta had long average tenures, The First Church o Christ, Scientist, wantedto ensure that the process o overcoming entrenched habits and becoming

accustomed to a new system would not be too painul or end-users. In the pastenterprise systems had been rolled out all at once without prior notication toend- users, which caused rough transitions.

The First Church o Christ, Scientist, had originally planned to do the entiremigration themselves. However, IT Manager Matt DeJohn knew that the IT teamscore competency was helping other departments, and not migrating email; so, hesaid, We hired the pros.

SOLUTION

Cloud Sherpas helped The First Church o Christ, Scientist, develop a road-map or howto handle the change, and success depended on involving the entire organization rom

the beginning o the project. As an experienced Google partner in similar migrationsCloud Sherpas worked with The First Church team to put the Google Guides program inaction to ease transition hiccups both or end-users and or the IT support departmentThe Google Guides program is a peer-to-peer methodology through which a trainedpilot group o employees supports their colleagues in learning to adapt to Googletechnology and to take advantage o more advanced eatures or their particular roles

Many reporters and editors orThe Christian Science Monitorwere already using theipersonal accounts to take advantage o Googles ree collaboration eatures and largemailboxes. Other employees were either Google ans or eager to become early

CASE STUDY

HEADQUARTERS

Boston, MA

INDUSTRY

News, Publishing

NUMBER OF USERS

600

LEGACY SYSTEMSMicroso Exchange

SERVICES RENDERED

Google Apps Deployment

Google Apps Training

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adopters o the new technology. A company-wide bulletin was sent out to ask people tobecome Google Guides. Over 50 employees across departments jumped at the chanceas people expressed their enthusiasm to help their departments run more efciently. Inact, so many people volunteered that some had to be turned away.

Some departments were more attached to Outlook than others and consequentlyrequired more hand-holding during the switch. The Google Guides proved instrumenta

in both inspiring buy-in and in providing individualized attention to peer users.

Google Guides also maintained a shared Google doc to log all o the issues that aroseA week beore Google Apps went live, a Cloud Sherpas trainer spent time on-site toanswer questions and provide training on Gmail and Calendar basics, as well asspecialized training or executive assistants.

RESULTS

The positive nancial impact rom the change was immediately apparent, as the TheFirst Church o Christ, Scientist, was able to retire nine Microso Exchange serversThe ongoing cost savings will continue to rise because they have not renewed theiMicroso Enterprise Agreement.

In addition to the reduced cost o total ownership (TCO), the organization is reapingthe benets o the new collaboration capabilities, as users quickly noticed that GoogleApps oers a new suite o tools and accessibility.

For example, when ofces in Boston were hit with snowstorms, employees could notget to work. The benets o Google Apps became clear when people could easily login rom home, and the organization was able to stay productive during the snow days.

The snowed-in Bostonians were not the only ones to acknowledge the benets o ull,rich access rom any browser with an internet connection. Sta looked back on theirprevious email client and were amazed that they used to spend up to two hours somedays just managing emails.

The migration initiative was originally ocused on Gmail/Calendar/Contacts with theintention o letting employees organically discover the benets o the rest o the Googlesuite, such as Google Sites and Apps.

The adoption curve has ollowed according to plan; more than 8,000 Google Docshave been created and that number is growing daily. Users are taking advantage o thecollaboration benets as well; on average, 6.5 users are shared per document. Trainingsites and eLearning tools provided by Cloud Sherpas helped employees to be proactiveand learn how to use eatures like Google Sites on Google Apps Premier. Even those whoresisted the change now love using Google with its anywhere access. Furthermore,editors and reporters are now building their own project sites with Google Apps.

In a testimony to their successul roll-out and end-user product enthusiasm, DeJohnreported, I we can do it, anybody can do it. Sta have become sel-supporting,nding that they can go out and instantly nd the inormation they need on their own.Help desk teams are happy that employees commonly answer their own usage inquirieswith the simple catchphrase, Just Google it!

Take the next step

To learn more about how Cloud Sherpas can help your organization adopt Googles cloud platorm,

contact your sales representative, visit us online at www.cloudsherpas.comor call (888) 260-7660.

2011 Cloud Sherpas Inc. All Rights Reserved. 11-0

[Beore Google Apps], the IT teamelt that constantly patching andupdating email servers detractedrom their available time tosupport the core missions o theorganization.

Curt EdgeCIO, First Church o Christ,Scientist

3525 Piedmont Road

Building 8, Suite 710

Atlanta, Georgia 30305

(888) 260-7660

www.cloudsherpas.com

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