Using Google Apps On Your Own Domain

photo credit: EvelynGiggles

Proper organization has become a business necessity that is increasingly crucial to success. In the past, organization didn’t involve a whole lot. You sat behind a stack of papers that busted through the ceiling tiles that are “to be filed” and you had a boss that came around a few times a day to make sure you were still working and not photocopying your family jewels on the company Xerox machine to send to the new girl in the HR department. Today’s business, though, is all about efficiency and employee productivity.   Google has a great network of free applications that allow your business to take all of your individual everyday programs and combine them into a great little package that can really increase efficiency throughout your business.

Email

No biggie, right? We all have our favourite email programs. But what happens when your computer crashes 10 minutes before your presentation to a major client and you can’t open the slideshow attachment from your project manager? Yeah, you look REAL efficient. Luckily Google stores everything securely online and can sync email to virtually any device you want.

Calendars

We know that most email programs have built in calendar features that allow us to book meetings and schedule tasks, etc. Google however, allows you to share calendars with other people and send reminders and invites to upcoming events, making sure everyone is always on the same page. Additionally, you can set calendars to private for internal use or to public for broader access, so if you operate a concert hall, for example, and want to put your scheduled performances on your website, you can embed a Google calendar right into it.

Documents

With Google Docs you don’t need to open Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint just to create a presentation for your board meeting. Google Docs allows you to create documents, spreadsheets and even slideshow presentations all from one place. Further more, you can also share these documents with other people in your office and allow them editing and revision rights. And you thought there was nothing easier than sorting through 14 revisions of attachments from an email discussion with your coworkers…

Now here’s the kicker. Google Apps is fully adaptable to your domain. That is, everything you do now with a half dozen programs can all be unified under one brand. Your brand. You now have the ability to organize all of the little things into one great cloud of information for your business all under your domain name. There are also loads of add-ons to make your life even easier.

Google Apps is free for businesses of up to 50 employees. We’ve really only scratched the surface of what Google Apps can offer your business, so for a look at the additional services that you can take advantage of check out the Google Apps for Business information page.

To get your business set up and running with Google Apps, contact Point.Click Media.