Faneuil Hall Marketplace has gone Google

Posted by Kristin Phelan, Marketing Director at Faneuil Hall Marketplace

Editor's note: Boston’s changed a bit since Paul Revere set out on his famous midnight horseback ride in 1775. Belichick and Brady hadn’t met yet, the curse of the Big Bambino had yet to be cast (then broken), and Ben and Matt hadn’t won an Oscar for “Good Will Hunting.” But one thing has stayed the same in Boston over time: the city has been driven and defined by self-starters and homegrown businesses.

We’re wicked excited to highlight a few Boston businesses using Google Apps over the next few weeks. Today, we’ll hear from Kristin Phelan, Marketing Director at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, a historic Boston landmark. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

It’s not every day that you get to work in the same spot where Samuel Adams brought Bostonians together on the eve of the Boston Tea Party or where George Washington toasted the United States of America on its first birthday. As the Marketing Director at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, I help carry the legacy of America’s first marketplace forward.

Faneuil Hall is entrenched in its rich past, but part of my job is to make sure it also stays modern. We’ve recently started adding programs that reflect a new, more innovative and independent spirit: on top of the bustling retail space we’re historically known for, we’ve also hosted local musicians, NBC’s The Today Show, an LED light and sound show, pilates bootcamps and the Urban RAID obstacle course race. And each new day brings another new idea.

Coordinating all these activities requires a lot of communication and organization. It also requires a reliable technology platform - something we didn’t have until we moved to Google Apps last year. I remember the night I knew we had to switch. I was working late on a project, when all of the sudden I got a notification that my mailbox was full. I’d been using Gmail for my personal email and knew it would be a better solution for our team not only for storage, but for the rest of the tools in the suite.

Getting Apps up and running was a snap. I’m no IT expert, but setting the team up with email and teaching them how to use Calendar, Drive and Docs was simple. In our first week, we set up a shared calendar to track our street performers, visiting artists, and events, so now everyone can see what's going on and when.

Apps doesn’t just help us stay organized – it also helps us work better together when we’re away from our desks. Just a few weeks ago, I was doing an on-site walk-through for an upcoming mural when a reporter called looking for pictures for an upcoming article. I jumped on my phone, opened the Drive app, and with just a few clicks, gave her access to the photo folder I had created for press inquiries.

I may not be an American Revolutionary, but I still get to help bring millions of people together at one of the country’s most revered landmarks. And thanks to Google Apps, we have the tools to keep our 271-year-old building in the 21st century.