Organizations that want to solve the problem of communication and collaboration with team members in many locations would be well-served by the cloud architecture in Google Apps. There are some practical reasons for such a strategic choice in this platform. Here are a few:
- Easy setup. If you have new members being added, they can be set up in minutes. The administrative burden is light and you have complete control. There is not any software to manage their email, documents or calendar system.
- Secure sharing. When a new person comes on board, they need direction. You can keep a knowledge base of information in a secure Google Site and Google Docs. They can access this from anywhere with a web browser or mobile device and login.
- Instant collaboration. Your team can connect via Google Chat instantly. This allows quick access and builds teamwork as problems are being addressed and questions can be asked in real-time as they come up in the course of work.
- Leadership. You can effectively manage and lead your team regardless of their location. An internal blog can be set up as well as specific knowledge sharing. Use group emails for specific communication distributions with different segments of your team.
- Closing access. We live in a high turnover economy. You can instantly turn off a member and ensure your systems and data are preserved. This provides freedom to hire, fire and manage departures easily and quickly.
- Business process. Everyone can get on the same page and execute your business processes. You can also integrate Google Apps via programming to other third-party programs to manage the flow of data.
Cloud computing on Google Apps makes the web the workplace. The balance of security, productivity and collaboration are within one tightly integrated environment.
Think through the challenges of your organization and consider the possibilities of being fully cloud-based.
What could the possibilities be?