Email plays an important role in society. The University of Nebraska is trying to stay up-to-date and make its email system more efficient and easier to use.
The University of Nebraska system officially announced it will be migrating its email system from Lotus Notes to the Cloud by Microsoft.
The switch will only be for faculty and staff, as students are already on Microsoft email, and therefore a Cloud solution, said Mark Askren, chief information officer of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Information Services.
By migrating to the Cloud, it is estimated the university will save almost $500,000 each year, according to the email sent by NU President, J.B. Milliken, announcing the migration.
In the email, Milliken said a task force comprised of faculty from UNL, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and UNCA recommended looking into migrating from Lotus Notes to the Cloud.
The task force was led by John Ballard, a professor emeritus in the College of Engineering at UNL. The task force was formed to look at other options for email systems.
The members used surveys, focus groups and information gathered from IT specialists, who recommended moving to the Cloud.
"I think there was a fair number of people on the faculty side that didn't like Lotus Notes and complained about it," said Lynn Stephenson, manager of operations analysis at UNO and member of the task force.
"The thing we were looking at was going to the Cloud," he said, adding that it was a complicated system for faculty.
Stephenson recommended that all the campuses in the University of Nebraska system be on the system regardless.
"I personally like Lotus Notes, but I also see the benefit of going to the Cloud," he said.
The university system has finished the agreement, and the software has been approved.
"The next steps for us are extensive performance testing and developing a migration plan," Askren said.
The official migration will take place as early as the fall, he said. An updated timeline is published online on the Information Services website.
"Great universities require great technological services, and we believe migrating to Microsoft Office 365 will provide us the communication tools we need," Askren said.
Askren said there is the possibility of the addition of video conference ability that will benefit both faculty and staff with Microsoft's acquisition of Skype.
"We're very encouraged by the prospect of migration to this new solution," he said.
Stephenson agreed, but said there will be work-arounds with the new email system.
"On the positive side, I can get documents out and share them with other people," he said. "We can be on the phone at the same time while looking at a document and making changes to the document at the same time."
Stephenson said the new system means there won't be applications for certain tasks. For example, he said, he would need to find an alternative to things like purchase requests.
"Some people will be pleased with this, some won't," he said.
kimbuckley@dailynebraskan.com
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