In case you had not noticed, this is not the world of Bill Gates' again. Of course, Microsoft remains the dominant provider of office software, with 450 million users deployed, according to data from the company. But downcoast rival, Mountain View, California-based Google, Microsoft has broken the lock on the office software products. More than 2 million businesses and 25 million users when dealing with their e-mail, documents and other office tasks using a web-based professional office suite, Google Apps.
And for good reason.
Google Office offers a bewildering variety of cloud-based productivity options for even the smallest company: basically all you do in the workplace is now available anywhere, any time, from any online connection. Better yet, all of this is free for standard versions - or $ 50 per year per user for the Premier version, which includes additional storage and a high-quality, limited support.
And Google has just begun. In April the company quietly overhauled Apps, dramatically change the user interface and improve the core code of the software. New Apps supports the development of a third party even Google Apps Marketplace.
If you do not have access to the web is great, you better off working with a traditional word processor such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. But if you use the internet and your company is not Google Apps-savvy right at this moment, you make mistakes.
Here are our choices for the big, not-so-great and I really spectacular small business tool:
Big Tool
Google Apps Gmail
What is love:
The foundation of any small business, Google Apps Gmail supports URL of your company and look the same from any web browser or mobile device. For example, it instantly turns your iPod Touch into an even job portals. Plus, Gmail has a lot of e-mail space for each employee, with 25 GB of storage per user (paid Apps account). Employees complete the remote access, and the system requires them to be logged in to do their jobs, total liabilities. Gmail conversations "with yarn," unlike most desktop e-mail client, which means the e-mail subject line are grouped both, which makes it easier to keep track of complex, multi-party exchange.
What is hate:
Google's approach to log in and manage e-mail when complicated identity. Even worse, the employees often have trouble telling if they are logged in to the virtual system company e-mails or their own personal Gmail account. Also, ready to be bombarded by advertising-supported content. Text ads are the core business of Google, so you pretty much always see them. Some may be related, but many companies will be cautious about opening their own company e-mail marketers, even anonymously.
Productivity factors:
Incredible. If you are not using Google Apps Gmail account in Microsoft Outlook, you are either a novice or a fool. But be forewarned: This is not a complete replacement for Outlook.
Google Apps Calendar
What is love:
Apps Calendar to create a common platform on which to schedule appointments and events across the enterprise in real time. It enables the executive assistant to schedule an appointment 'from a remote location, and allows you to update your client meetings because they need to - again, as happens. Quite simply, when it comes to the work of the team, the scheduling tool of God - even generate an e-mail invitation that includes a button to respond. When employees stated they attend, Apps Calendar is automatically added to schedule a meeting with you and them. It also allows you to combine the calendar hiring you to set up your entire team bird's.
What is hate:
Apps such as Gmail, Calendar can be confusing and complex, managing Settings Calendar work evil. And you can expect deploy other applications such as project management or LiquidPlanner Smartsheet really make the scheduling work. Also, permissions and privacy management has become difficult in our test. And, of course, other people arrange their schedules in different ways. Be warned: Integration with Outlook is useless.
Productivity factors:
No other tool out there like that. Scheduling feature alone is a must-have for small businesses. Just do not ask too much.
Google Docs
What is love:
Google Docs has earned the most recent rebuilding of Google Apps, which can solve the previous problem regarding connectivity and collaboration. Offline content creation may actually work. Collaborative word processing feature, which allows multiple parties to make changes at once, is a revelation to any creative team fast speed. Suddenly, a proposal or presentation is a task that almost-light. Forget writer's block: Real-time chat and group feedback comments put on the page, and the changes are saved automatically and frequently. You'll never see to write or edit in the same way again.
What is hate:
As cool as it is, Google Docs does not replace Microsoft Word or OpenOffice it comes to making a smooth, professional-looking documents. More troubling, connectivity is still a problem, the daunting prospect when frozen in the middle Docs store documents. And forget about using e-mail attachments and wild reliable publish-to-web features, they can be stabilized.
Productivity factors:
Docs stone. This is the best collaborative work tool on the market - and you can not beat the price.
Google AdWords
What is love:
Although technically not part of Google Apps, AdWords is still an important part of any business marketing strategy based growing. This forced the company to sterilize the value proposition in the sentence and make for how you follow up on leads from your website.
What is hate:
Do not spend more than $ 100 per month without the help of an online pro-look-long, or you'll burn money fast. AdWords is harder than it looks. Also, competitors such as Facebook and Twitter are breathing the neck leader of the online advertising market. So the market is changing rapidly.
Productivity factors:
AdWords can really work, but be careful not to overspend.
Google Pack
What is love:
It is our sleeper pick for a Google product that works for small businesses - and the first thing you have to download when you get a new computer. The Google Pack is a free office suite that contains starter Google Chrome browser, Google Apps, and Spyware Doctor and Anti-Virus, among other Google software, including third-party applications such as Adobe Reader and Skype.
What is hate:
Not much, really. Yes, it is an obvious promotional vehicle for Google. But it is useful and gets you productive in just a few clicks. Surprisingly cold.
Productivity factors:
Easy to install and well, it's a great way to get quick Google-ized.
Not-so-big Tool
Google Presentations
What is love:
Because they are stored online, the presentation can be updated on the road, and it's nice to find the data in real time. Presentation also makes it relatively easy to enter the base images and video. You get a library of templates to speed quickly, and sharing features that allows you to collect and share feedback with the team quickly, keeping everyone on the same page, literally. The publishing your finished product on the web or embed it in a website is instantaneous, making it easy to reach audiences around the world in an instant.
What is hate:
Google Presentation just do not have the same level of features such as PowerPoint. And for PPoint head, it will make you crazy. Design features are limited. And while you can open PowerPoint files up to 10MB, transliteration may be a clumsy way. In the text box is a poor feature updates, and sometimes get skewed layout. And prepared for the bones in your web coding skills to get the presentation to work properly, especially when working with multiple browsers.
Productivity factors:
PowerPoint 2010 is nothing to worry about.
Google Sites
What is love:
The drag-and-drop development tool useful site for anyone struggling with building websites based team working within your business. If you are building an internal Wiki site store, or struggle with Microsoft SharePoint, the website will save you a ton of time and money. This website is all branded Google Apps domain and easily editable by employees, with permission from the main account. It also integrates information from other Google Apps program as well, which makes it easy to set up Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Calendar deadline, including Gmail messages relevant to the issue at hand.
What is hate:
Despite its flexibility, there are many other ways to develop more effective public space on the web, ie, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Small businesses can find Reader too complicated and busy.
Productivity factors:
Do not throw away your web development tools is not enough. Google Sites can be difficult to store small-tech experience.
Google Voice
What is love:
It is an attempt to reinvent the phone using the concept of a telephone number, with lots of bells and whistles. When a customer calls your Google Voice number, they get a recording while the number listed to find pings you or send it directly to voicemail. Voice also offers transcription, share messages, multiple personal greetings and some international calls cool.
What is hate:
Obviously, it's a whole lot of technology looking for a problem to solve. Ritual use of a business phone remains a respectable aspects of business life. So play around with the incoming business calls in a loop Google-branded service can automatically ticklish business proposition. And there is a problem of quality for international calls and transcription. Novelty can get old.
Productivity factors:
Not much. Your phone customer master 120 years ago. They do not change their practices today.
Google Wave / Google Buzz
What is love:
Google Wave is attempting to create a device agnostic media sharing that allows users to create real-time content to the cloud as no web browser. And Buzz brings social media arsenal products Google by allowing users to collect ideas, clips, pictures and videos online and share them among the group which anyone can comment on them. Both simply amazing technology.
What is hate:
As cutting-edge tools that teams need to understand how they work, most small businesses do not have the time or resources to train their people effectively.
Productivity factors:
Google Apps for experts only.
Terrible tool
Google Spreadsheets
What is love:
Not much. It was a big disappointment for Google Apps. Sure, you get a basic spreadsheet functions and some cool tricks (such as real-time updating of web data and automatic compatibility with Excel and all. Cls file xls or.), But small People here unforgettable. Nice features the autofill function allows you to avoid having to retype the same rule repeatedly, the ability to drag the column to a new location, and featuring a streamlined copy makes a duplicate in a single click.
What is hate:
It seems to work in the spreadsheet is not some holy grail thought it was. After all, most small companies will want only one or two employees to manage the accounting or sales. Also, Google Spreadsheets is actually slower than Excel, Microsoft Office programs may be the best, especially when running in 64-bit environment. Google Spreadsheets Data entry can interfere with the train, the line is sometimes disappear without warning. And freezing and thawing of the panel when complex. Fans of Microsoft Excel, prepare to be disappointed.
Productivity factors:
No. Excel is nothing to worry about.
And for good reason.
Google Office offers a bewildering variety of cloud-based productivity options for even the smallest company: basically all you do in the workplace is now available anywhere, any time, from any online connection. Better yet, all of this is free for standard versions - or $ 50 per year per user for the Premier version, which includes additional storage and a high-quality, limited support.
And Google has just begun. In April the company quietly overhauled Apps, dramatically change the user interface and improve the core code of the software. New Apps supports the development of a third party even Google Apps Marketplace.
If you do not have access to the web is great, you better off working with a traditional word processor such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. But if you use the internet and your company is not Google Apps-savvy right at this moment, you make mistakes.
Here are our choices for the big, not-so-great and I really spectacular small business tool:
Big Tool
Google Apps Gmail
What is love:
The foundation of any small business, Google Apps Gmail supports URL of your company and look the same from any web browser or mobile device. For example, it instantly turns your iPod Touch into an even job portals. Plus, Gmail has a lot of e-mail space for each employee, with 25 GB of storage per user (paid Apps account). Employees complete the remote access, and the system requires them to be logged in to do their jobs, total liabilities. Gmail conversations "with yarn," unlike most desktop e-mail client, which means the e-mail subject line are grouped both, which makes it easier to keep track of complex, multi-party exchange.
What is hate:
Google's approach to log in and manage e-mail when complicated identity. Even worse, the employees often have trouble telling if they are logged in to the virtual system company e-mails or their own personal Gmail account. Also, ready to be bombarded by advertising-supported content. Text ads are the core business of Google, so you pretty much always see them. Some may be related, but many companies will be cautious about opening their own company e-mail marketers, even anonymously.
Productivity factors:
Incredible. If you are not using Google Apps Gmail account in Microsoft Outlook, you are either a novice or a fool. But be forewarned: This is not a complete replacement for Outlook.
Google Apps Calendar
What is love:
Apps Calendar to create a common platform on which to schedule appointments and events across the enterprise in real time. It enables the executive assistant to schedule an appointment 'from a remote location, and allows you to update your client meetings because they need to - again, as happens. Quite simply, when it comes to the work of the team, the scheduling tool of God - even generate an e-mail invitation that includes a button to respond. When employees stated they attend, Apps Calendar is automatically added to schedule a meeting with you and them. It also allows you to combine the calendar hiring you to set up your entire team bird's.
What is hate:
Apps such as Gmail, Calendar can be confusing and complex, managing Settings Calendar work evil. And you can expect deploy other applications such as project management or LiquidPlanner Smartsheet really make the scheduling work. Also, permissions and privacy management has become difficult in our test. And, of course, other people arrange their schedules in different ways. Be warned: Integration with Outlook is useless.
Productivity factors:
No other tool out there like that. Scheduling feature alone is a must-have for small businesses. Just do not ask too much.
Google Docs
What is love:
Google Docs has earned the most recent rebuilding of Google Apps, which can solve the previous problem regarding connectivity and collaboration. Offline content creation may actually work. Collaborative word processing feature, which allows multiple parties to make changes at once, is a revelation to any creative team fast speed. Suddenly, a proposal or presentation is a task that almost-light. Forget writer's block: Real-time chat and group feedback comments put on the page, and the changes are saved automatically and frequently. You'll never see to write or edit in the same way again.
What is hate:
As cool as it is, Google Docs does not replace Microsoft Word or OpenOffice it comes to making a smooth, professional-looking documents. More troubling, connectivity is still a problem, the daunting prospect when frozen in the middle Docs store documents. And forget about using e-mail attachments and wild reliable publish-to-web features, they can be stabilized.
Productivity factors:
Docs stone. This is the best collaborative work tool on the market - and you can not beat the price.
Google AdWords
What is love:
Although technically not part of Google Apps, AdWords is still an important part of any business marketing strategy based growing. This forced the company to sterilize the value proposition in the sentence and make for how you follow up on leads from your website.
What is hate:
Do not spend more than $ 100 per month without the help of an online pro-look-long, or you'll burn money fast. AdWords is harder than it looks. Also, competitors such as Facebook and Twitter are breathing the neck leader of the online advertising market. So the market is changing rapidly.
Productivity factors:
AdWords can really work, but be careful not to overspend.
Google Pack
What is love:
It is our sleeper pick for a Google product that works for small businesses - and the first thing you have to download when you get a new computer. The Google Pack is a free office suite that contains starter Google Chrome browser, Google Apps, and Spyware Doctor and Anti-Virus, among other Google software, including third-party applications such as Adobe Reader and Skype.
What is hate:
Not much, really. Yes, it is an obvious promotional vehicle for Google. But it is useful and gets you productive in just a few clicks. Surprisingly cold.
Productivity factors:
Easy to install and well, it's a great way to get quick Google-ized.
Not-so-big Tool
Google Presentations
What is love:
Because they are stored online, the presentation can be updated on the road, and it's nice to find the data in real time. Presentation also makes it relatively easy to enter the base images and video. You get a library of templates to speed quickly, and sharing features that allows you to collect and share feedback with the team quickly, keeping everyone on the same page, literally. The publishing your finished product on the web or embed it in a website is instantaneous, making it easy to reach audiences around the world in an instant.
What is hate:
Google Presentation just do not have the same level of features such as PowerPoint. And for PPoint head, it will make you crazy. Design features are limited. And while you can open PowerPoint files up to 10MB, transliteration may be a clumsy way. In the text box is a poor feature updates, and sometimes get skewed layout. And prepared for the bones in your web coding skills to get the presentation to work properly, especially when working with multiple browsers.
Productivity factors:
PowerPoint 2010 is nothing to worry about.
Google Sites
What is love:
The drag-and-drop development tool useful site for anyone struggling with building websites based team working within your business. If you are building an internal Wiki site store, or struggle with Microsoft SharePoint, the website will save you a ton of time and money. This website is all branded Google Apps domain and easily editable by employees, with permission from the main account. It also integrates information from other Google Apps program as well, which makes it easy to set up Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Calendar deadline, including Gmail messages relevant to the issue at hand.
What is hate:
Despite its flexibility, there are many other ways to develop more effective public space on the web, ie, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Small businesses can find Reader too complicated and busy.
Productivity factors:
Do not throw away your web development tools is not enough. Google Sites can be difficult to store small-tech experience.
Google Voice
What is love:
It is an attempt to reinvent the phone using the concept of a telephone number, with lots of bells and whistles. When a customer calls your Google Voice number, they get a recording while the number listed to find pings you or send it directly to voicemail. Voice also offers transcription, share messages, multiple personal greetings and some international calls cool.
What is hate:
Obviously, it's a whole lot of technology looking for a problem to solve. Ritual use of a business phone remains a respectable aspects of business life. So play around with the incoming business calls in a loop Google-branded service can automatically ticklish business proposition. And there is a problem of quality for international calls and transcription. Novelty can get old.
Productivity factors:
Not much. Your phone customer master 120 years ago. They do not change their practices today.
Google Wave / Google Buzz
What is love:
Google Wave is attempting to create a device agnostic media sharing that allows users to create real-time content to the cloud as no web browser. And Buzz brings social media arsenal products Google by allowing users to collect ideas, clips, pictures and videos online and share them among the group which anyone can comment on them. Both simply amazing technology.
What is hate:
As cutting-edge tools that teams need to understand how they work, most small businesses do not have the time or resources to train their people effectively.
Productivity factors:
Google Apps for experts only.
Terrible tool
Google Spreadsheets
What is love:
Not much. It was a big disappointment for Google Apps. Sure, you get a basic spreadsheet functions and some cool tricks (such as real-time updating of web data and automatic compatibility with Excel and all. Cls file xls or.), But small People here unforgettable. Nice features the autofill function allows you to avoid having to retype the same rule repeatedly, the ability to drag the column to a new location, and featuring a streamlined copy makes a duplicate in a single click.
What is hate:
It seems to work in the spreadsheet is not some holy grail thought it was. After all, most small companies will want only one or two employees to manage the accounting or sales. Also, Google Spreadsheets is actually slower than Excel, Microsoft Office programs may be the best, especially when running in 64-bit environment. Google Spreadsheets Data entry can interfere with the train, the line is sometimes disappear without warning. And freezing and thawing of the panel when complex. Fans of Microsoft Excel, prepare to be disappointed.
Productivity factors:
No. Excel is nothing to worry about.
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