Reviewing newsletters, I ran across an interesting article from TechTarget in mid-January. Hamilton Beach Brands made the case for moving from an in-house email solution to Google Apps Premier Edition. With a large IT staff, they managed the project in-house, buying direct for Google.
For many SMB’s, reseller expertise can speed the planning, implementation, and integration effort for a successful transition.
Do you have duplicate contacts? Select the contacts and use the “merge these contacts” link.
In a feature enhancement for Google Apps Premier Edition in January, Google greatly enhanced security with the addition of new administrative features.
Administrators can now:
With these features, administrators can now better implement password requirements in line with corporate and regulatory guidelines.
The following new features are available in Google Spreadsheets:
With these features, Google has improved the capabilities of Forms as a tool for data gathering and entry.
Last week, Google added five new User Interface improvements and features to Google Calendars (all editions):
Being able to include documents with event invitations and the streamlined buttons for sending emails when you save the event both enhance Calendars for most users.
Google Apps Premier Edition has been update with new email list features. As importantly the provisioning APIs available to qualified resellers makes it easier to use these features.
Google Apps email lists are now called “groups”
Admins can now set permissions to determine who can send to each group:
Groups can now contain other groups, making it easier to reuse frequently-referenced groups of users.
In “Google Time”, the availability of ActiveSync for calendar and contact synchronization with iPhone, Windows Mobile, and other PDA’s is old news (announced on 09-Feb-2009).
Currently, the team at Horizon is prepping our contacts and calendars so that we can fully test the new features.
The big caveat is that starting up ActiveSync replaces all Calendar and Contact entries. As we juggle multiple calendar and contact lists, we are “cleaning things up” before we test.
I will post again in a few weeks with the results. In the meantime, feel free to share your experiences with ActiveSync and Google Apps Premier Edition
If Microsoft’s resellers don’t like the licensing options available to small and mid-size businesses (SMB’s), why should you?
Yesterday, ChannelWeb (A CMP Publication) reported that Microsoft was mulling over changes to its SMB volume licensing programs, again. This is just another salvo in the ongoing debate over licensing complexity championed by David Schrag and other SMB experts for years.
Microsoft Licensing is overly complex. For every server, there are Client Access Licenses (CALs) to be bought. Volume licensing gets you access to features, training, and a limited number of support calls. Tracking and managing licensing and its related benefits burdens your IT staff with more administration.
Why bother?
For many applications and services, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions meet your business requirements without the licensing hassle. Most SaaS solutions include a reasonable startup fee and annual per-user fees. While user fees for services like Salesforce.com have tiers based on functionality sets, others like Google Apps include all service and application options at a single fee.
Either way, the licensing is relatively simple, you pay as you go, and your IT staff do not need a MS in Licensing (pun intended!).
On February 11, Keith Ferrell posted a blog entry at bMighty.com entitled Google Apps: Right For The Small Business Buck? (And Does Google Even Want Your Bucks?). In the article, Mr. Ferrell confuses the market positioning of Google’s Message Encryption Service, part of the Google Apps Security and Compliance Suite, with Google Apps Premier Edition as these services apply to small and mid-size businesses.
In my response, I clarify the differentiation between services targeting companies with internal messaging infrastructures and those for which Google Apps can provide the messaging services. I also point out that Google is not walking away from companies with fewer than 50, or even 250 users.
