Google first launched its Apps program back in 2007 as an alternative for businesses to the traditional Office suite of tools. Whilst most businesses will be more than catered for with the free version, there is a Premier version that gives tech support and more email storage for a paltry $50 per year per user. Plus, in April this year, Google added the ability for businesses to pay just $5 per app per user per month.
Who's using Google Apps?
According to Google, 3 million plus businesses and 30 million plus private persons are signed up for it. That's a powerful user base to allow Google to go even further, because you know many of those will be paying customers = more revenue! Their impact on small and medium-sized businesses has caused Microsoft to release its Office 365 recently in the hope it will offset the inroads GA has been making on MS's core customer base.
The 5 reasons GA is transforming business
1. Cost effective cloud storage. Businesses can get the tools they need when they need them without investing in large amounts of space or applications. These apps don't need any software or hardware, and require only minimal administration. In addition, they allow a business to work cohesively with all users able to access the apps from desktop, laptop or smartphone.
2. Easy group calendars. Now even small businesses can get the same powerful team collaboration that big businesses running MS Server applications could. Cloud based team calendars allow easy scheduling of meetings, check colleague availability, and even schedule vacation time.
3. Improvement and growth. In its first year GA added about half a million users, and grew at about 20,000 per day after that. Google continues to push the boundaries with a revamp of Gmail, and the introduction of Google Plus which looks set to give Facebook and Twitter a run for their money. As one analyst is quoted saying, "...Google+ is going to change the corporate landscape..."
4. Efficient email search and organization. Gmail gives businesses the ability to store and search vast amounts of email. But it does more than that. With its get-it-from-any-computer abilities, Gmail allows users better organize communications. And by utilizing Gmail's "threaded conversations", messaging between colleagues is vastly simplified - no checking and rechecking of previous emails.
5. Powerful collaboration and project management. Google Docs allows the creation and editing of documents which are stored on the cloud. This means the most current version is always the one that's available - no working off outdated information.
If you're an Act 2012 user, it gets even better. Acts latest version integrate seamlessly with Google Apps. Guess it's time for us to upgrade to the latest version!
