How to Run Your Business With Google Apps

Google Apps
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Google Apps - now called G Suite - is an online office suite based on cloud computing. Using Gmail as the foundation, the engineers at Google have created a full suite of online software. If you are considering this, then you're in good company. This is an extremely popular service with attractive price points (it starts at $6 per user per month).

G Suite is Google's brand of cloud computing. Your data and software are hosted online (or, "in the clouds") instead of the traditional style of desktop computing and location-based servers.

3 Ways Google Apps Can Help Your Business

  1. Maintenance, Upgrade and Investment Free: Let Google and the secondary service providers worry about power surges, failed hard drives, upgrades, and compatibility while you run your business.
  2. Total Mobility: With Google Apps cloud computing, you're free to travel the world (or at least leave the office once in a while) all the while having your whole business at your fingertips, regardless of whether you have your laptop with you or not. An internet connection will give you access to your data and your software.
  3. Simple Collaboration: Share files, videos, and ideas easily and without the confusing duplication of email. Multiple people can work simultaneously on the same file. You will even get different colored cursors so you can easily see where each user is at. This makes collaboration a breeze.

How It Works

Google offers a suite of office tools, such as email, word processing, calendar, spreadsheets, etc. which are hosted online. What separates G Suite from traditional software are the Marketplace apps that integrate with Google's primary services. While Google offers the core services, every other imaginable tool is available in the Google Marketplace, allowing users to pick and choose as required. They have partnered with many premier online service providers, from Xero to Copper. While a number of these applications are free, others offer free trials for a period of time or a minimum number of users. After the trial period expires, these often operate on a monthly fee format.

Monthly fees for integrated software can add up fast. Make sure you take into account the cost of the entire package - both G Suite itself and integrated solutions - as you make your buying decision.

By its nature cloud computing allows complex collaboration with colleagues, clients, and outsourcers. For example, when a colleague is added to your group, they can then view and edit documents on your account which is hosted online. You can also control who sees which documents by creating shared folders that only specific people have access to.

This feature provides security and prevents multiple copies of the same document. It also prevents a cluttered in-box from the back and forth of a project or proposal.

Why It's Popular

Google and their service providers are responsible for everything, including all maintenance and upgrades both to hardware and software, so users have nothing to do except use the software and make money. There's no need for an office tech guy or a huge room dedicated to housing your servers.

Due to the ease of collaboration, users can work more effectively and with less confusion, and it costs much less than other options - ranging from $6 per user per month to $25 per user per month.

Who's Using It

Over two million organizations are running Google Apps, ranging from the City of Los Angeles to billion-dollar-giant Avago Technologies with over 4100 users on their system. And of course, Google with more than 20,000 employees is using G Suite as well.

Interesting Features

The service is domain based, allowing users to have unique Web addresses for each of their services. The mail program, for example, would be found at mail.yourdomain.com. The same is true for the numerous other components. It's easy to remember and its branded with your domain.

Being able to brand your email and document drives with your business name while having all the functionality of the Google suite of tools gives you advantages in both branding and productivity.

There is also an app that links your Microsoft Office programs to Google Docs online. So continue to work as normal, but your documents get backed up online and are available to anyone in your group.

Getting Started

The initial setup of Apps should take less than an hour. Another couple of hours of spent playing with the tools should help you to decide which ones to use and how they work. The tutorials online are clear and simple. Remember, there is no installation. Simply set up your account and go.