The 21st century has already seen an explosion of technological advancements, and as a result of this growth, people now expect a constant flow of information and instant responses. And your business is not exempt from this expectation.
So how can your employees gain more access to their company email and files so that they can better serve the needs of clients? The answer is the cloud.
With a cloud service provider like Google Apps to replace your legacy system, employees will gain invaluable tools such as universal access and enhanced communication and collaboration, all on a secure system that saves you money. If you’re new to the cloud, you may be wondering how all of this is possible, but services like Google Apps make it simple.
Google Apps, which is Google’s cloud computing system, operates on different platforms, one of which is tailored to the needs of businesses of all sizes. Google Apps for Business comes standard with tools like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Video, Google Groups, and Google Cloud Connect. And even more apps are available through the Google Apps Marketplace.
Features like Google Docs and Google Sites make collaboration easy, as Google Apps’ sharing capabilities allow multiple users to edit the same document in real-time. These sharing capabilities, when paired with the communication tools like Gmail and Google Groups, make working with coworkers and clients easier than ever before.
Through Google Docs, users can create and edit files including documents, presentations and spreadsheets. And sharing these files is easy, as it can be done with the simple click of a button. Once a file is shared, anyone with specific access to it can edit the file, leave comments for other users, or track the revision history to see who made what changes when. Because users can share Google Docs, employees no longer need to worry about forgetting to attach files to emails or being unable to send files that are too large to attach. Additionally, Google Docs save automatically and constantly, so users can stop worrying about forgetting to save their work.
While Google Docs is great for collaboration on specific files, Google Sites is perfect for collaborating on larger projects. Google Apps users can easily create a website or an intranet with the Google Sites feature. These sites provide a group of people with a central and organized location to share relevant files, calendars, deadlines, to-do lists, and more.
Communication-driven apps like Gmail and Google Groups are the perfect complement to the collaboration capabilities of tools like Google Docs and Google Sites. Gmail, Google Apps’ email system, gives users 25 GB of storage, which is 50 times the industry average, meaning your employees no longer need to be concerned with inbox quotas. Gmail also works to eliminate inbox clutter with the apps’ threaded and prioritized email feature, which groups emails with the same subject together. Employees can also save time finding previous conversations with the Google-powered search built into Gmail. And for quick conversations, your employees will enjoy the IM and video chat directly in Gmail. Google Groups has many functions, one of which is to act as a single email address for a group of people.
Thus, Google Groups is ideal for communicating with a set group of people. Users can share Google Docs with or send an email to a group rather than typing in each individual name. Additionally, members of a group can respond to an email sent to the group on behalf of the entire group, which makes corresponding with others easy.
Because Google Apps is hosted 100% by Google, all the information stored in Google Apps for Business accounts lives in the web browser. This feature provides users with universal access to their accounts, meaning employees can log into their Google Apps accounts and retrieve all the information associated with it from any device in any location. Universal access makes working outside the office easy, as employees no longer need to carry a specific work computer. And with Google Apps’ 99.9% uptime guarantee, your employees will be able to take full advantage of their universal access, never having to worry about losing access to system failures again.
Although your business’ information that’s stored on Google Apps lives in the web browser, it is entirely safe. All Google Apps platforms, including Google Apps for Business, are verified in third-party SAS70 Type II audit. This verification ensures the privacy and security of your business’ information.
Not only will moving to the cloud improve the functions of your business, but it will also save you money. Google Apps for Business runs without any additional hardware or software, and all updates to the system are automatically sent out to all users by Google. This will noticeably lower your business’ IT demands and costs. Additionally, Google Apps runs at a price that fits your budget, as Google Apps for Business customers pay $50/user/year.
If your business is going to keep up with changing technology, moving to the cloud is becoming increasingly necessary, and Google Apps for Business makes this switch not only easy, but also worthwhile.
Have you moved your business to the cloud, how has it helped your growth?
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