NB: This is a guest post Lee Stretton from SEO and digital marketing advisors AddPeople.
Forget Google and its push into the travel industry for a moment - less talked about is its drive to define how companies handle their web logistics.
One of the latest pushes from Google is for Google Apps, a stable of Google products under one umbrella, refining cloud technology so businesses can reap the benefits of its speed, accessibility and storage.
And in an industry full of skinny startups, perhaps such tools are a must.
So, what are the business benefits?
UK broadcaster ITV recently become a high profile convert to the service, meaning its employees can use Google Mail, Calendar, Google Talk and Google Docs to share and co-author documents.
Advantages include:
1. Cost
One of the most immediate benefits for an SME over traditional desktop software is cost savings. Google Apps includes the advantage of an unlimited number of user accounts, access to all Google’s applications.
2. Email
Gmail is designed so employees can spend less time managing their inboxes, and, by definition, more time being productive – even when they’re not at their desks. The apps offer mobile e-mail, calendar and internet access – with several options for accessing information on the move.
3. Existing kit
For switchers another benefit is that you can continue to use the familiar Microsoft Outlook for email, contacts and calendar as you make the transition to Google equivalents ensuring a smooth transition.
4. Storage
Employees benefit from 25GB of email storage, 50 times more than the usual limits, this allows people to keep important correspondence without having to worry about going over storage limits, as well as accessing them with a built-in search feature while on the move.
5. Reliability
With a 99.9% uptime reliability guarantee, Google claims the Apps will be available continuously, so you and your employees could be more productive. Research indicates that Microsoft Exchange typically has 60 minutes of unplanned downtime per month. Google Apps customers typically experience less than 15 minutes of downtime per month. This could produce some small efficiency savings and could certainly reduce stress levels.
6. Syncing
With synchronous replication, your data and activity in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites is simultaneously preserved in multiple secure data centres. If one data centre is unable to serve your requests, the system is designed to instantly fall back to another data centre that can serve your account with no interruption in service. You’ll be able to access the data stream interchanging between, say, you iPhone, iPad, laptop or PC, Handy for people on the move.
7. Security
Your company's information will be safe and secure. Many financial services customers trust this system with highly sensitive corporate data. SME’s can choose from a range of security features including:
- Automatic bespoke spam and mail filtering.
- Information sharing rules to determine how broadly your employees can share with Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Sites.
- Individual password criteria and visual strength indicators to help employees pick secure passwords.
- Enforced SSL connections with Google Apps to ensure secure HTTPS access.
- Optional email archiving, with up to ten years of retention.
8. CustomisationYou can customize Google Apps to meet your own technical, branding and business requirements. If you do business on-line, integration options let you connect Google Apps to your existing IT infrastructure. Put another way, with Google Apps your place of business is wherever you and/or your colleagues happen to be. Being in Dubai will effectively be the same as sitting at your desk.
In short, for SME businesses, Google Apps will be a valuable and efficient tool, which is only set to improve as the range of apps on the Google marketplace expands.
In addition, with the arrival of HTML 5 in the next year or two, this will allow approximately 50 times the power of present mobile devices.
Familiarising yourself and your workforce with these apps will put you ahead of the game in terms of making the transition to total mobile data access.
NB: This is a guest post Lee Stretton from SEO and digital marketing advisors AddPeople.