“It was a long-term solution,” said Catherine Moyer, General Manager of Pioneer Communications, a Communications Service Provider (CSP) serving rural Western Kansas. Moyer was referring to their decision to offer its customers the Google platform for email and associated applications via the Google Apps Partners Edition™ program. They chose the platform both because of its quality, as well as the stature of the company; that is, they expected Google and its offering to be available for its customers for the long haul.

Pioneer includes Google Apps as part of its broadband offering and it has proved popular with its customers. In the above interview, Moyer discusses the recent decision by Google to eliminate the program that Pioneer and hundreds of other similar CSPs rolled out to customers across the U.S. She points out that the transition away from Google won’t be easy on Pioneer’s customers, as the email addresses have become a person’s identity. A transition will also prove to be  labor intensive for her company and will present a significant opportunity cost.

When asked what she would say to Google, if they would listen she said,

“Would you please let me keep the platform. It’s not just us, it’s really our customers. They have come to rely on the Google platform.”

Read more about the impact of Google’s decision at: http://viodi.com/2014/09/25/googles-actions-hurt-broadband-rollout-particularly-in-rural-america/