Category Archives: GSuite

How To Find a G Suite Partner To Help With Your Implementation

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Find G Suite PartnerMany small businesses do not have the in-house resources needed to fully implement and properly manage G Suite. These companies often seek help from a G Suite Partner.

There are a lot of companies that advertise G Suite services, but not are all official Google partners.

In 2017, Google launched its Cloud Partner directory, which is a searchable listing of all companies that have been accepted into the Google Cloud Partner Program.

Continue reading How To Find a G Suite Partner To Help With Your Implementation →

6 Business Data Sources To Feed Into Google Sheets

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There are a variety of add-ons and built-in functions for seamlessly and automatically pulling business data into Google Sheets from external sources.

Once business data is in Sheets, it can be manipulated an analyzed in a number of ways.

Here are six functions and add-ons for importing information into Google Sheets. All six are free of charge. Continue reading 6 Business Data Sources To Feed Into Google Sheets →

7 Bonus Applications That Are Included With G Suite

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G Suite Bonus ApplicationsThe core applications of office productivity suites such as G Suite are: email, documents, spreadsheets and presentations. These are the basic software tools most people use at work.

 

In addition to these core applications, there are a number of G Suite extras that are included in the monthly per user price. Not everyone is aware of these bonus applications. Continue reading 7 Bonus Applications That Are Included With G Suite →

How Admins & Users Can Strengthen G Suite Security

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Updated: August 31, 2018

G Suite Security KeyIf you’re using G Suite or considering G Suite for your organization, there may be questions about G Suite security in your mind.

After all company email and business documents (if you are leveraging Google Drive for cloud backup of local files) are stored in Google’s data centers.

G Suite, as you’d expect, has multiple levels of built-in security. Continue reading How Admins & Users Can Strengthen G Suite Security →

G Suite CRM Recommended by Google: Copper

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G Suite CRMThe G Suite CRM that is getting a lot of attention these days is Copper. Copper just made a big splash after rebranding from ProsperWorks.

In September 2017, Copper raised an additional $53 million in Series C funding. This made Copper the most highly funded CRM company among those founded in the last decade. Notably, one of the investors in this round was Google Ventures. Continue reading G Suite CRM Recommended by Google: Copper →

Gmail Offline For Business and Consumer Users

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Google has introduced native Gmail Offline for business (G Suite) and consumer users of Gmail.

This means that Gmail users can now read, reply to and compose emails while not connected to the internet. What’s more, no Chrome extension is needed.

It also means that people who current use a local email client in conjunction with G Suite, mainly for offline access, may find that the local client is no longer needed. Continue reading Gmail Offline For Business and Consumer Users →

G Suite vs Office 365: What’s Best For Your Company?

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Updated: July 31, 2018

G Suite vs Office 365G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 are the two most popular cloud-based suites of business productivity applications on the market. Among the best known applications within these suites are email, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, presentations and online storage.

Google and Microsoft continue to add their own flavors of additional components to their respective suites. For example, G Suite includes Forms, Drawings and My Maps and new Google Sites. Google Jamboard is a paid extra. Included extras at no additional charge are Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet.

Microsoft Office 365 plans variously include Sway, Yammer, Skype for Business, Office 365 Video and Microsoft Teams. Continue reading G Suite vs Office 365: What’s Best For Your Company? →

Google Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeeting

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Updated: October 17, 2018

Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeetingIn March 2017, Google introduced a new online meeting experience called Hangouts Meet.

This capability is a major differentiator between consumer Gmail and business G Suite.

Almost all the component functionality (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Maps) that is available to a G Suite user is also available to a consumer Gmail user.

However, a Hangouts Meet meeting can only be initiated by someone who is part of an organization that is using G Suite and for which the Meet capability has been enabled for the G Suite organization. Continue reading Google Hangouts Meet vs GoToMeeting →

How To Move Data Between Google Sheets and Excel

Google Sheets, GSuite

Google Excel Spreadsheet InterchangeLet’s begin with a distinction between Google Sheets & Excel:

– Excel is a spreadsheet application that is a part of Microsoft Office 365.

– Google Sheets a spreadsheet app that is available with free consumer Gmail and also with G Suite (GMail for organizations).

Some people use only one or the other. Other people use both.

If a Google user who does not have Excel installed receives an Excel spreadsheet via email, the user can preview the spreadsheet within Gmail and then convert the spreadsheet to Google Sheets.

There are several ways to move spreadsheets and spreadsheet data between Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Here are examples of Google Excel information exchange. Continue reading How To Move Data Between Google Sheets and Excel →

25 Ways G Suite Can Increase Business Productivity

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Accelerate Business With G SuiteThere are many aspects to G Suite that can add energy to a business. Most of them are not available with standard web host email. Some are available with consumer Gmail.

Through continuous improvement, Google regularly adds new productivity features and functionality to G Suite.

Unless noted, all of the functionality below is included with G Suite at no extra cost. Google packs a lot of business value into G Suite beyond email, documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Here are 25 ways your business can use G Suite to increase productivity. Continue reading 25 Ways G Suite Can Increase Business Productivity →

A Roundup of Google’s Chat and Hangouts Apps

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Google Chat AppsIt’s a bit difficult to keep with Google’s various iterations of chat and Hangouts products.

However, Google has been honing its strategy and has come up with two well-thought-out business productivity offerings that complement G Suite’s core offerings.

Here is a roundup of the current Google Hangouts and Chat products, including the newest kid on the block. Continue reading A Roundup of Google’s Chat and Hangouts Apps →

Where is G Suite Data Stored?

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G Suite Data StorageGmail and G Suite use the same global data storage as Google’s search engine.

Google currently has 15 data global data centers. The first data center was built on the Oregon side of the Columbia River in 2006.

Google stores subscriber data (email, documents, spreadsheets, etc.) in small pieces. Each of those pieces is copied several times and stored in multiple geographic locations. Continue reading Where is G Suite Data Stored? →

G Suite Enterprise Adoption: Slow But Sure Progress

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G Suite Enterprise Adoption

Updated: August 27, 2018

Google has made significant inroads into the small business market with G Suite. For business owners and employees who have been using consumer Gmail, moving to G Suite is an easy transition.

However, Google has faced several barriers to widespread G Suite enterprise adoption. Here are some of those blockers and what Google has been doing to address them. Continue reading G Suite Enterprise Adoption: Slow But Sure Progress →

GOOGLEFINANCE Function In Google Sheets

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GOOGLEFINANCE Function ExamplesThe GOOGLEFINANCE function is part of Google Sheets. Google Sheets is available in both consumer Gmail and organization-wide G Suite. The function allows users to create trend charts and comparisons for any assets that have a valid Google Finance ticker symbol.

Here are several examples of how the GOOGLEFINANCE function can be used in Google Sheets to compare the performance of stocks and indexes against one another. Continue reading GOOGLEFINANCE Function In Google Sheets →

California Wine Country Maps in Google My Maps

Google My Maps, GSuite,

California Wine Country MapsBelow are several California wine country maps that we created in Google My Maps. Included wine country maps are: Napa Valley; Sonoma Valley; Alexander Valley; Lodi; and Paso Robles.

Google My Maps is available to both users of consumer Gmail accounts and to G Suite users.

Google My Maps allows for mass importing winery locations from a spreadsheet. My Maps also allows for manually adding each winery. Continue reading California Wine Country Maps in Google My Maps →

Chrome Enterprise: How Google Will Get More CIOs To Embrace Chromebook

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Google Chrome EnterpriseSince Google introduced Chromebook in 2011, the adoption of Chromebooks by businesses has been more of an interesting idea than a widespread reality.

We first wrote about the business potential for Chromebooks soon after they hit the market.

Our contention was that with so many applications moving to the cloud, that many employees would no longer need a heavyweight local operating system such as Windows or macOS. Technologies such as Citrix could be used to access Windows applications from the Chrome browser. Continue reading Chrome Enterprise: How Google Will Get More CIOs To Embrace Chromebook →

10 Google My Business Best Practices

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Google My Business Best PracticesWhether your company is a small local B2C business or a large B2C company, it’s worth paying attention to your Google My Business (GMB) listing.

According to Google, “listings on Google My Business can only be created for businesses that either have a physical location that customers can visit, or that travel to visit customers where they are.”

This means that most businesses can (and probably should) have a GMB listing. A Google My Business listing is a free source that can direct more visitors to a business’s website, almost no matter what type or size of business. Continue reading 10 Google My Business Best Practices →

Google Apps vs G Suite Search Popularity

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Google rebranded Google Apps to G Suite in September of 2016. According to Google Trends, since the rebranding, “google apps” has continued to be the more dominant search term.

Continue reading Google Apps vs G Suite Search Popularity →

Embed a “Live” Google Sheets Pricing Table in a Proposal Doc

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Embed Spreadsheet Pricing Table in DocumentFor salespeople who regularly send out long form proposals that contain pricing tables, there has always been a conundrum.

That is, a pricing table within in a document can’t be dynamically updated as easily as a spreadsheet table. The word processing capabilities within a spreadsheet are limited.

Often, a proposal’s pricing table is revised several times before the final version of a proposal is sent to the prospect or customer. This can require manual effort. Either the new bottom line in the document table needs to be hand calculated when line items are changed — or the spreadsheet table must be re-copied/pasted a into the document. Continue reading Embed a “Live” Google Sheets Pricing Table in a Proposal Doc →

G Suite Pricing: What Your Business Can Expect to Pay

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G Suite PricingThe current G Suite pricing is different than it was when G Suite was known as Google Apps for Work.

Prior to December 6, 2012, Google offered a free business version of Google Apps. Businesses that signed up for that version are grandfathered at no cost for up to 10 users.

Google still offers free versions of G Suite to qualified educational and government institutions as well as to qualified nonprofit organizations.

For businesses, G Suite does come at a cost. Continue reading G Suite Pricing: What Your Business Can Expect to Pay →

Chromebook for Business Use: An Alternative to Windows and macOS?

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Chromebook for Business

Update: On August 22, 2017, Google announced Chrome Enterprise, an effort to accelerate Chromebook for business use.

Chromebook runs on Google’s lightweight operating system, Chrome OS. Chrome OS is so lightweight that it doesn’t support running traditional locally installed business applications.

This is changing to to some degree, as several recent model Chromebooks support installed Android apps. Example models are the Acer Chromebook R 11 Convertible and the Google Chromebook Pixel.

Many developers will need to make changes to their Android apps in order to fully support Chrome OS. Even if an app is made compatible with Chrome OS, it may not be as robust as its Windows or macOS counterpart.

Chromebooks ship with under 32GB of local storage. But this is more than enough space to run multiple Chrome extensions.

Chrome OS updates are easy and fast to apply. This makes Chromebook an attractively secure choice in light of recent ransomware attacks, in which older unpatched operating systems were exploited. Continue reading Chromebook for Business Use: An Alternative to Windows and macOS? →

G Suite for Enterprises: The Shift Has Begun

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G Suite for EnterprisesThe adoption of G Suite began with small to mid-sized businesses. However, the shift to G Suite for enterprises is ostensibly underway.

At the March 2017 Google Cloud Next Conference, both Colgate and Verizon talked about their move to G Suite.

Colgate-Palmolive has moved 28,000 users to G Suite from IBM’s legacy Notes and Domino systems. Verizon is planning to move 150,000 users to G Suite. Continue reading G Suite for Enterprises: The Shift Has Begun →

Google Drive Videos: 6 Business Use Cases

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Upload Video File to Google Drive

If your organization uses G Suite, you may have discovered that when you upload a video to Google Drive, it’s not simply a stored file — the video can be played inline.

What’s more, Google Drive uses the YouTube engine to play uploaded videos. When playing a Google Drive video, the interface has the appearance of a slimmed down version of the YouTube player. Continue reading Google Drive Videos: 6 Business Use Cases →

CRM for Gmail and G Suite: Chrome Extensions

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Many CRM users, especially salespeople, live in Gmail. Because of this, a number of CRM vendors have developed Chrome extensions that provide access to CRM functionality within consumer Gmail and business Gmail (G Suite). A Chrome extension is a software program that adds functionality to the Chrome browser.

Historically, Chrome extensions have had little to no user interface. In fact, the original intent of Google’s developers was for extensions to be minimalist. From a user interface perspective, many extensions are no more than a button on the address bar.

As an example of basic functionality of a CRM for Gmail Chrome extension, a CRM user can search for records, edit records and add records — all without leaving Gmail. Some CRM vendors have taken their Chrome extensions to entirely new levels. Continue reading CRM for Gmail and G Suite: Chrome Extensions →