How to Utilize Google Apps to Improve your Business

While you have probably heard of Gmail, Google Apps hosts a myriad of capabilities to help small and large business improve communication, collaboration and team efficiency. This cloud-based suite includes apps like Google Calendar, Google Drive, and Gmail, which can help increase employee workflow and simplify task completion. Many people, even those using Google Apps, don’t realize how many features they have within their domain or how to use them. The following guide will highlight three ways to utilize Google Apps to improve your business.

 

Improve Team Collaboration

Google Calendar makes it easy for small or large groups of employees to schedule meetings and events. It’s difficult to find a meeting time that works for everybody. You end up sending dozens of group emails that usually accomplish nothing. With Google Calendar, you can create calendars for specific departments or projects and coordinate with your employees. Create and share calendars with only the employees that need to access them, or make a calendar available to everyone in the office. You can even use a calendar to let everyone know when you are busy. You can also quickly check when your employees are available by layering different calendars in a single view. This way, you can see when everyone is free and organize events and meetings that everyone can attend. Assign colors to different event types and allow for company-wide collaboration by giving employees access to edit meetings and projects. After you create an event, you can invite others to attend. They’ll receive an invitation email asking them whether or not they can go to the meeting. They can respond yes or no to the invite right from the email. You’ll also receive notification emails when event times and dates have changed, so you’ll never miss a meeting. Google Calendar can help improve your business by improving company-wide organization and collaboration.

 

Teams can also use Google Hangouts, a video-conferencing and instant messaging app. View and write messages to colleagues right from your Gmail account and connect with people in real time. You can also use this feature for video conferences of up to 15 people. Google Hangouts helps you stay in-tune by automatically focusing the screen on whomever is speaking and muting background noise. Share your screen to show a group of slides or demonstrate a new product. Schedule the remote meeting in Google Calendar so employees can join the session with a single click. You can make meetings and communication more productive with Google Hangouts.

 

Increase Productivity

With Google Drive, you can save and share documents, spreadsheets, images, and slides through the cloud. Access your files from any web-connected device and never worry about losing important documents if your computer crashes. Google Drive allows you to store information in a secure place and share it with anyone.

 

Along with Google Drive, all Google Apps users have access to Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. Google Docs is a web-based word processor that allows you and anyone you share the document with to write, edit, and annotate in real time. This tool cuts out the task of sending different versions of documents back and forth through email, which can often get tedious and confusing. Everyone can work on and make edits to the same word doc at the same time, and all changes will be saved automatically. Because Google Docs runs via the internet, you don’t have to install dedicated software on your computer, and you can work on the document from any device with an internet or mobile connection. Once you’re done making changes to the word doc, you can export it into several different file types, like PDF or Doc, or access it later from your Google Drive.

 

Google Sheets and Google Slides follow the same system as Docs. With Sheets, you can create immense spreadsheets for presenting data and organizing information. Slides helps you build presentation-worthy slideshows with all the capabilities of Powerpoint. These apps also allow for collaborative editing. Work on a spreadsheet or slideshow with other teammates and see changes occurring in real time. Communicate with collaborating colleagues through a built-in chat feature to keep everyone up to speed. All edits will be saved automatically and updated to your Google Drive. Increase team collaboration and never worry about losing a document again with Google Drive and Google Apps.

 

Streamline Communication

Gmail, one of the foremost email services used today, is a cloud-based email client with tons of storage and many powerful features. Access your email account from any browser on any device. Check incoming messages on the go with the Gmail mobile app or access your account from your work and home computer. When new emails come in, Gmail automatically sorts them by importance and places them in one of three categories or inboxes. That way, you only have to focus on the messages you want to read, and not the ones coming from retailers, social networks, or services you’ve signed up for. Threaded conversations also help to simplify messages. Emails with the same subject line are grouped together into one long thread so you don’t have to waste time searching through hundreds of emails to find the right one. The search bar capability allows you to find emails from certain clients or from a certain day quickly and easily. Create new folders for specific clients, events, or topics for even more organization within your inbox. With Gmail, you can streamline communication and stay on top of the messages that matter most.

 

Conclusion

Google Apps and all of its capabilities can help you improve your business by aiding in team collaboration, increasing productivity among employees, and streamlining communication. Google Apps can also increase your standing as a professional company through custom domain settings. You and all of your employees can have email addresses that end in your business name, such as [email protected], showing clients your expertise and competency. At IXN Tech, we can help you set up Google Apps for your business and host all of your email addresses from our servers. We take care of making sure your domain and email addresses are set up correctly while you enjoy all of the incredible features that Google Apps provides. Contact one of our IXN Reps today to get started on your own professional email.

 

Learn More about our Google Apps service or Schedule an Appointment with an IXN Rep

 

References

http://dazeinfo.com/2016/03/17/google-apps-for-work-startups-smbs-small-business/

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/google-apps-for-business.html

http://web.esna.com/blog/how-to-increase-organizational-collaboration-with-google-apps

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6776-how-to-use-google-apps-business