Last week, the Office of Innovative Technologies at the University of Tennessee announced that they will be moving their technology platforms from Google to Microsoft and have given students and faculty a deadline to transfer their records and files from Google Drive to the new Microsoft platforms by December 2025.
Financial concerns were one of the factors behind the shift that drove this decision. As UT switches platforms, the university will expect significant software savings.
“The savings from Google will go directly back into the technology software spend for UT,” Dan Harder, OIT’s chief academic technology officer and deputy CIO, said. “We continue to grow as a campus, software costs like Zoom, Qualtrics, Adobe and others continue to rise. The Google Savings will offset those costs.”
Another element contributing to this shift is to ensure an increase in data security, as one of Harder’s main focuses is technology for UT students and the institution’s academic and research missions.
“We will see a much-improved risk profile from an enterprise IT perspective as we move Gmail and Google Drive to the Microsoft ecosystem,” Harder said. “UT, as a whole, has not only a strong agreement with Microsoft in place, but we also have a significantly better toolset to protect UT data and our community.”
OIT answered common inquiries — UT emails will not change, and the new emails sent to UT emails will be directed to a new Microsoft Outlook account. For those who rely on Google Forms, it is suggested that current data be moved and saved to OneDrive as it will not be transferred.
As this is a substantial change, it does not come without apprehensions from the public.
“I would say that some teams rely on specific aspects of Google for university workflows and are uncertain how that same or similar functionality works in Microsoft. The OIT team will work with each unit, group and team that has voiced those concerns to make the transition as smooth as possible,” Harder said.
Harder and his team are aware of how many students and staff are dependent on Google.
“One of the most significant challenges we see in our initial campus conversations and from the feedback received from the community has been concentrated on the fluency of Google tools by certain populations of campus users,” Harder said.
Kai Li, an assistant professor at UT’s School of Information Sciences, strongly depends on the Google platform and is hesitant to use Microsoft.
“First, based on my limited experience, Microsoft services are not as reliable — there were times where I tried to share a document with someone using Microsoft, but that person cannot receive the invitation,” Li said. “And second, most of my data are already on the Google platform, so it is much easier for me to use it as a sharing platform and work environment.”
“I am certainly expecting some personal struggles and a period of time to adjust to the new changes,” Li said.
Despite the fear of change, Harder explained a feature he is looking forward to in Microsoft is the progression of Artificial Intelligence as it increases in an academic setting.
“As we think about AI and how AI can help faculty, students and staff in their coursework and productivity, it will be exciting to see how the Microsoft Copilot AI toolset can benefit everyday work and learning,” Harder said.
