Google Forms for Sensitive Intake? Assolutamente No.

The Purple Banner of Death

It is Day 1 of the engagement. We need the list of key stakeholders and their passport details for the site visit. The Junior Associate sends a link. “Please fill this out by EOD.”

The Client General Counsel opens the link. She sees a generic, purple-header form. The URL is docs.google.com/forms/... She types in her passport number. She hesitates. “Is this encrypted? Where does this go? Is this compliant with GDPR?”

She closes the tab. She calls the Partner. “We have a concern about your data handling processes.”

Basta. You just triggered a security audit because you were too lazy to use a proper tool.

“Ugly” is a risk factor. But in this case, “Consumer Grade” is a liability factor. When you use free, generic tools for sensitive intake, you are telling the client: “We do not invest in our own infrastructure.”

The Old Way: The Copy-Paste Spreadsheet

The problem with the “Quick Form” approach is not just the ugly interface. It is the Backend Chaos.

1. The Silo: The data lands in a random spreadsheet in someone’s personal drive.
2. The Manual Friction: Now you have to copy-paste those names into your main Project Tracker.
3. The Error: You miss a row. You paste “Email” into the “Phone” column.

Suddenly, you are spending your Friday night fixing data entry errors instead of analyzing the strategy. This is friction. Friction kills speed.

And let’s be honest: asking a CEO to fill out a form that looks like a high school quiz is disrespectful. It lowers the status of the engagement.

[Image of a generic Google Form next to a sleek, branded, embedded intake form]

The Deliverable: The Integrated Intake

We treat Intake as the first deliverable. It must be polished.

We use a form builder that integrates directly into the Deal Room.

1. The Brand: The form sits on data.day/client-name. It has their logo. It has our font. It looks like a legal document, not a survey.

2. The Logic: It connects to the database. When they hit “Submit,” the data flows directly into the “Stakeholder Map” folder. No copy-paste. No human error.

3. The Audit Trail: I know exactly who submitted what and when. If the GC asks, “Who gave you this PII?”, I have a log.

This is how you turn a mundane administrative task into a trust-building moment. You say: “Please use our Secure Intake Portal to transmit the data.”

They see the SSL lock. They see the branding. They type the data. They hit submit. They feel safe.

Stop using the purple banner. Build a front door that matches the value of the house. Subito.

FAQs

What is wrong with Google Forms? It works.

A bicycle 'works' to get to a wedding, but you don't ride one in a tuxedo. It is about perception and data sovereignty.

Is this really a security risk?

Assolutamente. Where does that spreadsheet live? Who has access? The 'Untitled Form (Responses)' sheet is a leak waiting to happen.

How hard is it to build a proper form?

It takes the same amount of time. But the result looks like YOU, not like Google.