Google Apps
Whether you are an individual or a enterprise level Fortune 500 business, Google Apps is the right tool for your future.
Giving you a strong platform on which you and your organization can grow and fluorish is critical in today’s day and age. We expect, and are expected, to be able to deal with our clients and vendors in near real-time. There can be no “Sorry, our servers are down” excuses or else you may lose your credibility and lose some of your new or existing business customers. Keeping your business afloat, both financially and technologically is what can make or break a business competing in today’s tough economy. Learn about the Top 10 Advantages of Google Apps.
Take the tour below:
What makes Google Apps work?
One of the keys to running any business be it big or small is the ability to adapt, remain connected, and be available with no downtime. Google has created a platform that is truly scalable, secure, online at least 99.9% of the time, easy to use, and provides true convergence across a smorgasbord of devices. We will take a closer look at each of these now.
Truly Scalable:
Google Apps is not aimed at any particular market segment. If you do a search for “Gone Google” on You Tube you will find stories from some of the largest companies to local hairdressers. There is no longer a need for the in-house server. Additional users can be added quickly and be live within 5 minutes.
Secure:
When trusting anyone with your personal information you want to know it is secure. Google understands this and the video to the right will give you an introduction into the Google Data Centers and also take you through some (not all of course) of the measures they have in place to ensure your data remains secure and private.
Federal Information Security Management Act Certification
Google has achieved numerous security certifications but perhaps most impressively Google Apps is the first cloud-based messaging and collaboration suite to achieve FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act) certification. FISMA applies to all information systems used or operated by U.S. federal agencies. Want to read more about security? Check out the official Google Apps Security Page.
2-Step Verification
A recent addition to the Google Apps for Business suite is 2-step verification. This provides an additional layer of protection by requiring a verification code to be entered when accessing Google Apps from a machine that has previously not been used. Verification codes can be supplied through an application for smartphones such as iPhone and Android or by SMS. This technology is similar to what some banks use with their security tokens.
Google has created a secure, reliable cloud based computing environment with collaboration technology that can’t be matched by other systems today.
- Jason Ruger, Director of IT Strategy Motorola Mobile Devices
Convergence & Extensibility
Have you been looking for a way to keep everything synchronised?
Do you wish you could have your calendar and contacts updated live? Now you can! Google Apps provides full support for the major smart-device platforms including iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and more. Full details about supported models can be found on the Google Apps for Mobile page.
Not only does Google Apps provide all this but administrators will also enjoy device management facilities. This basically means you as the administrator have the ability to set a security policy such as requiring passwords and enforcing password strength requirements. In addition you will have the ability to remotely wipe lost or stolen devices! Hopefully this never happens but if it does, it is a huge relief to know you are prepared. Best of all just get a new device, enter your sign in credentials and all your email calendar and contacts will re-populate.
This is all great, but can I still use Outlook?
Absolutely! Google Apps is designed to work the way you need. If you want to use Outlook then why shouldn’t you. Not only can you use your Google Apps domain with Outlook but they have made is super easy. All you have to do is download Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®, enter your login credentials and your email, calendar, and contacts will all download and stay in sync. Even better, Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook® will automatically download and install updates as Google releases them so you never have to worry about keeping the application up-to-date!
What about the pricing?
With all the features available you could be forgiven for thinking it would cost a fortune but it’s far from it. In fact Google Apps has two main subscriptions.
- Standard Edition
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This version is free and has a few limitations such as 10 users maximum, but if you are getting started or just want to test Google Apps out, it’s great!
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- Business Edition
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Google Apps for Business is the right version for most companies and costs either $50/user/year or $5/user/month. It comes with many additional features including a larger mailbox limit of 25GB, 99.9% uptime guarantee, Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook®, and much more. Ask us about a 30-day free trial of Google Apps for Business!
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- Education Edition
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Google Apps for Education is free for schools and non-profit organizations and comes with most of the business features except for a mailbox limit of 7GB.
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What are other people saying?
4 Million Businesses have “Gone Google”
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are now enjoying the benefits that Google Apps provides.
Here are a few video testimonials from some companies you may recognize:
Ray White Goes Google
Flight Centre Goes Google
Still not convinced, check out these Ten Things To Consider.
Still have questions?
No problem…call us now at (864) 735-7725 or send us a quick message on our Contact Us page and we’ll do our best to answer them.