A few of my favorite things
Starts at 2min 11sec.
I just wrote up a summary of some of my favorite tools and the ones I often recommend to clients. I’ll put the spotlight on Google Apps in this email, but will give you more info about the others over the next few weeks.
Google Apps for Small Business: https://www.google.com/work/apps/business
(Now $50/year/user)
We got Google Apps for our web development company when we had about 8 or so employees and at that point it was still free for less than 10 accounts on a domain. This was a switch from hosted email and I was admittedly resistant to let Google know so much about me. However, I’ve gone all-in with Google including Android phone, chromebook, and many of their apps and products. At this point, they know more about me than I do!
If I were starting fresh today, I’d still pick Google Apps for some of the following reasons:
- Great spam filter on the email
- Easy to search email that beats other email clients once you get used to it. Google knows search and I save countless hours not having to filter/ sort/ etc. to find an email that I sent or received
- Excellent sync capabilities across platforms/devices. From my Android phone to my chromebook to a desktop, it’s seamless.
- Easy to share and edit documents and spreadsheets with clients or colleagues. Though Dropbox might seem to be just as good, you’re still not really collaborating with Dropbox and edits can get lost.
- Your website can go down, but your email will stay be available. And, you can change hosting companies without disrupting your email.
- Google Calendar is reliable and easy to share/ add new calendars. My clients who have iPhones have had issues with the built-in calendar and its ability to sync properly
- I’ve been using Google Hangouts (and Hangouts on Air as you’ll see below) more than Skype lately. It lets me keep my own branding when I use my Google Apps account and has more tools (screensharing) than Skype. (That said, when I did a call with a client in Dubai, one week Skype was more reliable and the other week, Google Hangouts were more reliable. It was nice to be able to try one and then the other!)
- And, no, I don’t have any business connection with Google. I’m just a highly loyal Google Girl
And a quick shout out to Dr. Toy (Stevanne Auerbach, PhD) and Rebecah Freeling who both participated in my first Google Hangouts on Air. You can watch the session here. If you’re interested in participating in the next one, drop me an email. I haven’t come up with a schedule yet, but now that I know how that works (yes, there was a technology learning curve!) I’ll be doing more.