DeKALB — All Google applications will be discontinued Monday, completing the transition to Office 365.

John Kearsing, Department of Information Technology project manager, can’t confirm the exact date that existing data will be deleted.

The department plans to work out the quirks with Google, Kearsing said.

“Being down to one system has been key to making the support more efficient and effective,” Kearsing said.

An idea has sparked for the department to host an Office 365 workshop, but no arrangements have been confirmed.

“I would love to give a 35- to 45-minute overview and allow people to share information on their screens,” Kearsing said.

A few things Kearsing said he would like to address in the workshop are applications such as OneNote, Outlook Calendar and Office 365 groups. Faculty made the switch to Office 365 beginning in December 2014, and the process of transitioning students began August 2015. Kearsing said, Office 365 will prevent account hacks unlike Google, which didn’t have spam control. He also said NIU has saved $15,000 from the switch.

Junior philosophy major Charles Odom said he has encountered spam issues with his student Gmail.

“[Hackers] got into my account, and they just started sending out the same email [to] everybody that I had ever contacted,” Odom said.

Odom said the hardest thing about transitioning to Office 365 was learning how to navigate it. He said he would like a walk-through of each application the program offers in a workshop.

Taylor Gaines is a staff writer. She can be reached at [email protected].