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There’s only one thing that outpaces hardware in the speed of advancement and that is software. Sometimes the upgrade is warranted, sometimes it’s not. Throw in some office politics and things get even tougher.  Deciding when to change or upgrade existing systems is tough, but it’s getting easier every year. The following will give some general insight for big business and home users on Google offerings that address these problems.

Everything Is Getting Googled

E-mail one of the oldest applications in software and the most problematic. We have all dealt with many types of setups only to be plagued with viruses and unmanageable amounts of documents. Google has fixed the problem, at least the best fix to date. Not only have they fixed that problem, they’ve thrown in a suite of applications that satisfies the vast majority of all basic user’s needs. They did it all for $50 per license.

Home Users

Home users can get Gmail with Google Apps for free. You get it for free because there are ads. If you have not used Gmail you probably spend a lot of time complaining to IT folks that you get viruses and spam all of the time. Gmail is the answer. If you don’t like the ads, $50 buys the Premier addition and they go away. The free Google Apps usually satisfies all of a home user’s needs, yet they still spend money on software due to habits, fear, and bad advice.

Professional Users

The Google Apps story has been an interesting one to follow when it comes to professional uses. As soon as I started hearing about it, I already had the arguments I would hear in my head. Sadly, I was accurate and every hardware person I spoke to held the same opinion that it was all evil and all bad. No exceptions and the same tired arguments. Just in case you don’t care to follow the long explanation, just let me say this, “Go check out Google Apps Premier!”  I wish I did have an advertising connection to this, but I don’t. I just hate to see any company bamboozled and I’m hearing to much bamboozlement about Google Apps.

Read their promotional material and you will find that Google clearly explains their weaknesses. They are few, but they can be critical and they want you to know about them. Your IT department is going to highlight the weaknesses and make up a few of their own. They’re even going to find many web references with false and misleading information for you. Why would your trusted employees do this? They’re scared you’re going to cut their job because Google Apps are so efficient.

Everywhere I worked for the past 11 years, they IT department has used Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange server. Lotus Notes was very difficult to use efficiently and Exchange server was constantly plagued with every type of problem. Huge amounts of resources are directed towards these solutions. Google Apps has been adopted successfully by over 60% of the fortune 100 companies and there are over 10 million users to date.

A poor choice of words that is easy to marginalize is “The Cloud”. You don’t want to hear the full explanation of how it all works, your head would hurt and you’d age early if you understood it all. The thing about “The Cloud” is that it works well and there are very few valid complaints against it. The Cloud most certainly is not the right choice for very few applications, but for those that it does fit, the savings are huge. So huge, that when your competitor adopts “The Cloud”, they save enough resources to dominate your operations in other critical areas.

The Cloud does common tasks well. Email, calendars, spreadsheets, word processors, etc. should not be a focus of your strategic edge. Every business has them, they all are about the same, and any time your IT department spends time on them, money is lost. Sure, some employees need the full Microsoft suites, but most don’t and Google knows this and provides solutions.

If you’re a small business, there should be no hesitation to switch unless you are certain Microsoft can perform critical tasks specific to your business. The cost savings are bigger the smaller the business is. Large businesses have a no-risk method to try Google Apps and they can creep into it until they find the exact fit they need.

In Conclusion

Home users, it’s free to try. You only have to learn a few skills and Google provides all the training you need for free.

Businesses, if you’re IT provider scoffs your suggestion to look at Google Apps, it’s a red flag. There is every valid reason in the world to look at the solution for savings. If they’re scoffing at this, get outside help fast to find out what else they may be short-sighting you on. The tired scare tactics will not work here. The idea that Google can “hook you in and stick it to you later”, are not valid. Ask them to show you how this evil plan will unfold. Standardization for the entire company will be ruined? Nonsense. Ask them how this could be when Google fully integrates with Microsoft’s offerings.

IT’s secrets and petty office political players could be costing you. This is no time to waste a single penny and I encourage any business to take another look at how the most standard software pieces are being utilized. The past year has brought forward many cost-cutting, yet innovative solutions.

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