What is Google Apps?
After having just done another setup of Google Apps for a company, I thought now would be a good time to answer the questions that I get most often in regard to Google Apps:
- What is Google Apps for Business?
- Think of Google Apps as Gmail for businesses. If you would like for your email address to end in your own domain name (like scott@princeconsulting.net) then Google Apps is for you.
- What Services are available with Google Apps?
- Google Apps’ main services are cloud-based -Mail, -Calendar, -Contacts, -Docs/Drive, and -Sites. There are other services available depending on the type of company you run.
- But my company already has email, why would I want to go to Google Apps?
- Either your company has an MS Exchange Server in the facility so that the users can share folders, Contacts, Calendars, etc. Exchange servers are very expensive to set up, maintain and licenses must be purchased for each user in the domain. Also , giving mobile users access back into the Exchange server from outside the network is difficult and if not done correctly, can pose a major security risk. With Google Apps, all of those same features are available without the cost and hassle of a server, remote access, and backup of Exchange data.
- No, my company does not use Exchange, we use POP mail from another provider.
- The biggest issue with POP mail is that each time the user wants to access mail, new mail is downloaded locally to the computer or device and each device maintains an independent database of mail, calendar, contacts, etc. Each machine doesn’t know about the other and so if mail is downloaded and read on one device, that same message must be downloaded and read again on another device…that can be very annoying if you are like me and receive hundreds of messages a day.
- Can I share folders (Mail, Calendar, Contacts) with others in or outside of my organization?
- It depends on the provider, but usually no, most providers don’t allow cloud-based storage of anything other than mail and it can be very difficult to manage. With Google Apps, all of the data exists “in the cloud” (more on this in a moment) which means that any data can be shared easily between users both inside or outside the organization. Again it works very much like MS Exchange and Outlook, but the advantage is that there is no server to purchase, set up and maintain.
- Can I use MS Outlook with Google Apps.
- Absolutely, Google Apps can be used with all major email clients such Outlook, the web-based interface, iOS, Android, etc.
- How much is Google Apps
- Google Apps has several versions including a free standard edition, but the most common version is Google Apps for Business which is $50 per year, per user which is generally cheaper than most other web-based email providers which only offer mail. The average cost of an MS Exchange server for a small business can upwards of $5000-$15000 depending on server, options, users, etc.
- What about backups and syncing devices?
- With Google Apps, gone are the days of having to back up, sync devices and move local data from one machine to another when upgrading or checking mail from another machine. Now, all you have to do is either log on tomail.yourdomain.com from any browser on any machine or to configure the mail client (like Outlook, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.) and there is your mail, calendar, contacts, docs, etc. Your important data is now just there without having to sit and wait for mail to download and take up local hard drive space.
- Also gone are the days of having to sync your iPhone, iPad or Android to get the data to be the same across all devices. This is possibly the feature that most users (including myself) appreciate the most: Meet someone at a networking event, enter their contact info into your iPhone and that contact immediately appears on your iPad and desktop PC or Mac; Add an appointment in your calendar on your laptop and see that calendar data in real-time on your mobile device without the need for syncing.
- How much space do I get on Google Apps?
- Google Apps for Business offers 25GB of space for users for Mail, etc…..Google Apps Standard (free version) offers 10GB for Mail, etc.
- Can I forward other accounts to my Google Apps account?
- Absolutely and I recommend doing just that…you can configure Google Apps to go and import mail, contacts, etc from up to 5 other accounts in real time.
- Since all of this data is on the “Cloud” can I access all of this data even if I don’t have an internet connection, like on an airplane without WiFi?
- Absolutely. Obviously any new data created, modified or deleted won’t appear on other devices until you have an internet connection, just like it would work if you used Exchange.
- OK, this sounds great, what do you need to get me set up?
- The only thing I need is the user account and password to your existing domain host so that I can redirect the DNS records to Google servers…it generally takes 12-36 hours for the info to replicate through all of the DNS servers on the internet which is why for most companies I do the migration on a Friday afternoon so it replicates during the weekend.
If you have any questions or would like to set up an appointment for setup or training, send me an email (to my Google Apps account): scott@princeconsulting.net
-Scott Prince
