Google Docs For Business News

Most of us have heard of (and many have used) Google Docs, the full-featured online suite that Google provides free to individual users who have a Google account. That account includes free storage space on the online storage system now known as Google Drive. (Note that the Google Docs interface has recently changed: Google Docs in now accessed via the Google Drive files listed in My Drive. Select a file or click the create button to write, draw, edit, etc.)

What you may not know is that Google also offers a business-oriented version of these apps called, not surprisingly, Google Apps for Business.

Licensing. This version of Google apps cost a few dollars per user per month (useful if you’ll be adding and deleting users during the year); you can save about $10 per user per year if you can commit to a fixed period of time). The fee includes 30GB of storage per user. (See snipurl.com/27o5m8d for more info about pricing and versions.)

Features. Google Apps for Business is a full-featured suite that includes a number of tools you’ll find useful, including apps for email, calendaring, website creation, drawing, and video and instant messaging. Also included, of course, are the original Google Doc apps: Docs (for word processing), sheets (for spreadsheets), and slides (for presentations).

In addition, you can acquire mobile and desktop apps from the Google Apps Marketplace; many of these are compatible with or integrate into Google Apps for Business.

Google Apps for Business is compatible with over 30 files types, including adobe Illustrator and Photoshop files, Microsoft Office, and other formats.

Because data resides in the cloud, Google Apps for Business is built to allow multiple real-time edit: When someone else is editing a document that you are viewing, you can see that person’s edits as they’re being made. This is, of course, a boon for small business that have employees working from home or from on the road, especially if they’re working on large projects to which there are multiple contributors.

As with other cloud-based suites, Google Apps data can be accessed from anywhere and from just about any device, as long as there’s an internet connection available.

The Google Apps for Business suite is powerful, affordable, and easy to use; you may find that is suits your needs perfectly. However, if you absolutely must access complex Microsoft office-based word processing documents or Excel charts that include complicated formulas and fancy charts, take Google Apps for Business for a (free) test drive before committing
to it. You may find that your special needs require sticking with Microsoft Office instead. If not, though, Google Apps for Business is well worth considering.