Businesses today are forced to take the cost of IT solutions more seriously than ever. The challenges of shrinking budgets and growing needs of demanding customers force under employed businesses to automate and integrate information management. The trend seems to be toward cloud based solutions, and rightly so. No developer has done more to grow their services than the Google enterprise. So today’s question is, ”should we implement Google into our business growth plan?”
To begin answering this question let’s explore the rapid growing community of Google users. I think the first concern many business managers ask is, ”Won’t using Google make our services seem cheap?” National Geographic didn’t think so; neither did Konica Minolta, a brand recognized worldwide and Google apps power their branding. Numerous city and state governments also use the myriad of apps to power their solutions. Even the US Navy is googling. More than three million businesses are powered by Google. Here is a short list of customers you may recognize:
- Land Rover
- Jaguar
- National Geographic
- Minolta
- Motorola
- US Navy
National Geographic’s Russ Little said, “Google Apps provides enhanced collaboration and flexibility, allowing users the ability to do their jobs anytime, anywhere.”
Motorola’s Walt Oswald stated, “I don’t know why you wouldn’t move to Google Apps. It gives you the ability to reduce costs significantly, improve productivity dramatically and make your business more competitive. There really is no downside.”
So, no, Google does not cheapen your business brand. In fact Google can empower a few to do the marketing and dialoging of a corporate giant.
The most obvious reason to consider using Google is cost savings. You can begin using Google at no cost and empower your entire team for as little as $5 per user. There just are no other software solutions with so much to offer in this price range.
Another benefit to powering your business with Google is the Google community. The network of Google users may immediately bring momentum to your marketing efforts. Integrating social networking into your IT strategies is a great way to solve your business problems using the knowledge, experience and contacts of other network members.
Google apps are supported by a rapidly growing user community. This community becomes you IT support team. Meaning, over night you can hire an IT support group at zero dollars.
Finally, Google is a user grown community. These apps are developed around feedback provided by users. This means less computing fat and leaner computing muscle. The growing number of apps also puts more solutions at your fingertips. Rather than investing in numerous developers and apps, one source, Google meets your information needs.
If you need lean, cost effective, well supported IT solutions then Google deserves a second glance if not a test drive. In my next post we will explore some apps that deserve the attention of most business and project managers.
Bill “the builder” Carpenter has facilitated projects in over a dozen industries. With an emphasis on clarity and quality Bill has trained and coached top performing project managers from companies like: Ford, Caterpillar, Hershey and more. He is available for keynotes, seminars and web based training programs.