Google Apps – ready for primetime?
Clients are constantly bringing up Google Apps as an option when shopping for a cloud-based email solution. I try to answer their questions candidly as if I am in their position, having to manage a budget and examine feature requirements. Google’s Suite of apps seemingly offers a more affordable alternative to hosted Exchange solutions, with interesting an unique features, such as docs, sites, and video. This is very attractive to the small business owner who is looking to stay within their budget parameters. It is important for me when speaking with a client to go over why they are thinking about this suite, what they need out of a hosted email solution, and where they see themselves 3 years in the future as a communicating organization.
Google Apps has gone through growing pains since first introduced in August, 2006, as an upgrade to “Gmail for your Domain”, their first email service that allowed you to use your own domain name with gmail. In the beginning, the migration tools were scarce and unreliable, support was non-existent, functionality and syncing was clunky, and unless you had a programming background, implementing 3rd party apps was near impossible, even for a techy. However, the online business giant has made leaps and bounds since then, offering features such as backend IMAP migration tools, Mobile Syncing for multiple apps, Desktop Syncing, API’s for 3rd party developers to offer easy to install apps for more functionality such as shared contacts, and tech support with Premier accounts. So the big question is, is Google Apps reliable and ready for the small to medium size business market now?
Very simply, let’s go over the pro’s and the con’s.
The PRO’s:
1: Cost – Google Apps costs $50/year per user for premier services, giving you 25 GB mailboxes and syncing functionality for Outlook users (for an Exchange-like feel).
2: Multi-Platform – PC’s get Google Apps Sync for Outlook, and Macs can take advantage of Google Apps syncing features, with calendar and contact sync built into the 10.6 Snow Leopard Operating System natively. Email works through IMAP alone.
3: Central Management – Very easy to use central management Dashboard, where a regular non-technical user can manage an organization, without having to know the ins and outs of a Server OS.
4: Migration Tools – Built in IMAP syncing from the backend, Outlook Uploader, LDAP sync (with Exchange, IBM Lotus, and other LDAP agents), and User bulk upload templates make it very easy to build your Google Apps system quickly and with few issues. API migrations for more advanced development teams are available as well.
5: Mobile Sync – Google has made it extremely easy to synchronize Activesync devices and blackberry’s with the system. Multiple calendars are no longer a problem either via the m.google.com IOS browser page.
6: Google Docs – An great way to collaborate and share Docs and Spreadsheets across and outside of the domain.
7: Google Video – Google has offered a space within the domain to offer video sharing, with links to downloads and embedding into sites.
8: Google Sites – Domains can now have their own “Intranet”, for posting internal information/wiki’s.
The CON’s:
1: Public Folders – or lack of. There are no public folders in Google Apps. This is a very useful feature in Exchange that allows organizations to share data, including contacts and calendars across the domain.
2: Folder Structure – Google utilizes the labeling prefix style of managing hierarchies of folders. In Exchange, you’ll have folders that are arranged within folders visually. In Google, it will be in prefix format, such as inbox/Folder/FolderA/FolderB. This can become visually confusing to the user. Also, there is a 50 character limit here that will force users with long folder structures to abbreviate prior to migration.
3: Contacts – The contacts built within Google Apps is under-built. There is no way to have group contacts within Google Apps without utilizing a 3rd party software (Floreysoft Shared Contacts is a good one). Even when using a 3rd party app, these groups shared contacts will not sync with your favorite email program, like Outlook or Apple Address Book.
4: 3rd party App syncing – Google has developed Google Apps Uploader, which is a fantastic addition for premier users, but this app will not sync multiple calendars, or contact groups, leaving it in this writer’s mind, half written. Alternatives are weak third party sync apps, which only partially work most of the time.
5: Hard Account Size Limit – In my opinion, if a company pays for 10 users at 25GB per user, that data store should be aggregated across the domain. Google’s system has a hard limit of 25GB per account, meaning that one user could have 1GB of data, while another has 24.99 GB of data. The second user will lose email functionality, rather than sharing that available data from the first user. Many hosted Exchange providers do offer this aggregated storage, with a soft limit, meaning that email just NEVER will go down, even if limits are in excess.
To sum it up, Google is a fantastic cheaper alternative for small businesses that do not have the need for Shared contacts, public folders, or full sync functionality across multiple platforms. Web access to the system is really the only way to have access to all features, which may be fine with some companies. I’m confident that Google is working hard on developing these missing features, but there is no timeline at this point. So if these features are not immediately necessary to your organization, then Google Apps may be the best alternative for you. Otherwise, you may have to dig deeper into your pockets and get the premium Microsoft Hosted Exchange services.
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Tags: google apps, small business
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