Andy Vaughn

Scapegoat

Google logo

What do you think about using GMail, Google Documents, and other Google products for business?

Generally, Google’s uptime is reliable. However, a friend of mine recently said, “I’ve been hearing about Google going down a lot lately. I don’t know if I trust my client data with them.” The instances of note were probably just on this surface of his memory, and not reflective of Google’s business as a whole (certainly not down as often as Twitter). But, his thinking was along the right/secure lines – I don’t want to trust anyone else with my clients’ info, other than myself and my trusted hardware/software.

Your servers go down and you lose access to all of your business data for a period of time. What do your clients think? You failed. You can try and explain it to them, but they don’t care.

What about Google? How familiar is Google? Isn’t there a relationship that most Web users have with Google, that you can foster? There is more understanding when a mutual friend is suffering downtime. However, if it’s your buddy that spilled red wine on my carpet – you brought him, you’re responsible.

How much more real understanding can you get with your clients than to say, “Hey, even Google was down.”

Posted by Andy Vaughn on June 24, 2009

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