Brown University creates a collaborative community of independent thinkers

Challenge

The students, faculty, and staff at Brown University had no cohesive, efficient communications system, and an inadequate storage quota of just 200MB per email account. This meant that users had to constantly clean out inboxes and delete large attachments. The university required an on-premise email server upgrade that would prove costly. They also needed an easy community-wide means of collaboration, whether to share ideas or work on projects.

"I can’t remember what collaborating with teams was like before Google."

Hong Chau, instructional designer, Brown University

Solution

G Suite provided a seamless system with a number of benefits: email, collaboration tools, a large storage capacity, security protection, easy internal troubleshooting, and steady feature updates--resulting in savings of more than $800,000 annually over five years, and millions in server upgrade expenses. Additionally, after students graduate, they can take their email, calendars, and files with them, creating stronger alumni ties.

Organization Profile

Founded in 1764 in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown University is the seventh-oldest higher learning institution in the United States. It is known for an open curriculum that encourages students to build custom degrees based on individual interests.