Jon’s Network

In a move described on his blog, Adrian Sannier, the University Technology Officer at Arizona State University has signed on with Google to offer Google’s communication and collaboration suite to 65,000 users.  Google’s Apps for your Domain, aka Apps for Education, allows users to use the familiar Gmail interface while having an "asu.edu" email account.  The move isn’t mandatory, but students are switching at a rate of 300 per hour.  Who wouldn’t?  A glimpse of Sannier’s strategy:

Allying with Google gives ASU access not only to today’s innovative Google Apps suite that is an order of magnitude better than what ASU could field on its own, but it also puts ASU on an accelerated technology trajectory that is capable of keeping pace with the leaders in the field.

Mr. Sannier was showcased in The Economist (subscription required) discussing the adoption of consumer technologies in the business world and the Software-as-a-Service (Saas) trend. 

This makes me wonder what other consumer technologies could be used to the advantage of corporations and schools.  IM and Skype are obvious.  The Economist mentioned these in their article.  What about using free or cheap online storage as digital lockers for students and teachers?  If you are looking for digital locker software that let’s students, teachers and parents collaborate, School Loop is one company that uses the SaaS model. You could be using Basecamp for easy online project collaboration, if you aren’t already.  How are you using the SaaS trend to your advantage?