Google Apps are a collection of office programs offered by Google, allowing users to connect and share information remotely. The suite features email, calendar, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs, integrated to share information quickly and easily between applications. Google Apps offer significant advantages to users, but there are a few drawbacks to consider before shifting your organization’s activities to this online provider.
Ease of Use
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One advantage of Google Apps is the self-contained nature of the software suite. Users need only a single login to access the entire Apps catalog, and the programs automatically share information between users in the same workgroup. In addition, because Google designed the applications to work together, Apps eliminates possible compatibility problems between programs. Although it can be a time-consuming task to import documents into the system, once your data is in Google Apps, it is easy to transfer it between programs and utilize it in many ways.
Cost
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The basic Apps package is free for up to 10 users, and provides email, calendar, office and shared website applications for each member. Expanding to the “Apps for Business” package costs $5 per user per month, but upgrades email storage to 25 gigabytes per user, adds video and workgroup applications, and includes an uptime service guarantee. Google also offers special packages for educational, government and non-profit clients, and flexible pricing schemes. Compared with the cost of implementing this kind of office software suite internally, Google’s programs can be a bargain to certain types of organizations.
Connectivity Required
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One of the biggest downsides of using Google Apps for office services is the fact that the system requires Internet connectivity to function. If anything happens to your connection to the internet, you lose access to important business software. In addition, if you use high-bandwidth applications such as videoconferencing for internal use, the fact that multiple video streams have to pass from Google’s servers to individual users in the organization can overwhelm the bandwidth of even the fastest business Internet connection.
Single Source
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Although the single-source nature of Google Apps has its advantages, it also represents a weakness in the system. If Google suffers a server outage, or a third party manages to compromise the service in any way, it can affect all of your documents and business information. Likewise, the service is reliant on the support of Google as a company, and should anything happen to the business it could affect your ability to access important data.
