Student Name

Reading Summary #2

January 24, 2018

Title: “Front raises $66 million to replace Microsoft Outlook”

URL: https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/24/front-raises-66-million-to-replace-microsoft-outlook/

This article focuses on a company called Front, they started by creating software that let people

have collaborative inboxes. This allows clients to replace long mailing list and have a shared one

for the company, department or team. In the last year, the company acquired some big name

business clients and “processed over 350 million emails and messages”. Now the front is looking

to expand and become a primary service in the email industry.

The Front’s current business structure focus of corporations not individual users. It is a paid

subscription service the companies are willing to pay to increase collaboration in their business.

The Front preformed very well in recent years and says it has runaway fund for the next nine

years. Investors seem to think that this company has a good chance at replacing or at least

stealing a portion of Microsoft Outlook share of the market, since the company successfully

raised 66 million to fund the new vision of Front.

This article reminded me of the collaboration section of our textbook. The fronts design to have

the shared inbox improves the quality of accessibility for everyone in the group or team. This

also help having everyone on the same media platform to avoid any server mismatches. An

example of this is last semester I was in a team were my only group members all had iPhone and

I was the only android user. When the group was started, a team member using imessages did it.

Everyone in the group got them but me and since I had only given out my info and not received

any from others, I had no way to contact my group and missed the first team meeting. The

Front’s technology allows everyone to use a universal system that can be accessed anywhere.

Reading this article got me excited for the Front’s future. I currently work as a liaison between

different departments at UTA. Often there is breakdown of communication that creates

problems. I could see how this service could help projects flow from department to department. I

would also love to see this for students. Canvas email is clunky to navigate; most students do not

like it or do not have notification turned on. I think this would help in the endless amount of

group project in seeking an undergrad degree.