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More Office/Docs Integration with Suggested Edits

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Click to Enlarge; Opens in New Window.

 

Google recently added Suggested Edits to Google Docs as a way to make edits that can be accepted or rejected by the owner.   As many of us still work with people still using Microsoft Word, and some of us still use Word for some tasks, Google is extending Suggested Edits to further improve interoperability between Google Docs and Microsoft Word.

When opening a Microsoft Word .docx file in Google Docs, “Tracked Changes” are now converted to “Suggested Edits”.

The biggest concern for most users about moving to Google Docs is the ability to work with those still using Word.  With this new feature, the gap continues to narrow.

 

Bonus: More Ways to Collaborate in Google Apps

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Google Apps is designed for secure sharing and collaborations.  Many users, however, still rely on the back-and-forth of email to get their work done.  Here is bonus (more than our 5th) other way to collaborate in Google Apps.

Suggested Edits in Google Docs

Even die-hard users of that “old school” office suite acknowledge that using Google Docs makes it easier to work in one place.  Sharing a document rather than emailing back and forth is more efficient, more effective, and way more cool.

Sometimes, you don’t want to give other full access to edit; you would rather have them make suggestions that you could accept, reject, or modify.  New to Google Docs, collaborators with “Comment” access to your Docs can now make Suggested Edits.  As the owner, you can then accept or reject the suggestions as part of your document review.

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Want to experience real-time collaboration first-hand?  Contact us and we will setup a solutions site just for you and your team.

5th of 5: More Ways to Collaborate in Google Apps

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Google Apps is designed for secure sharing and collaborations.  Many users, however, still rely on the back-and-forth of email to get their work done.  Here is the 5th of 5 other ways to collaborate in Google Apps.

Use Google Drive with Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is more than a basic, HD quality, audio and video conferencing system. Hangouts let you conduct one-to-one and group video and chat sessions from your desk, laptop, tablet, or smart phone.

Some project managers  have team members join a Hangout, mute themselves to work independently, and unmute when they need to integrate with team members.

Install the Google Drive script for Google Hangouts and team members can review, edit, and discuss documents during the video meeting.

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Enable your team to do more with Google Apps and get more done.  They will thank you!  Contact us to learn about self-paced, live, and custom training options.

4th of 5: More Ways to Collaborate in Google Apps

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Google Apps is designed for secure sharing and collaborations.  Many users, however, still rely on the back-and-forth of email to get their work done.  Here is the 4th of 5 other ways to collaborate in Google Apps.

Comments and Real-Time Chats in Google Docs

You already know that, with permission, colleagues can view and edit shared documents together in real-time.  They can also engage in real-time chat from directly within the document windows.  Instead of calling a meeting, or setting up a conference call or hangout, team members can ask questions, suggest edits, and provide feedback immediately while working on the document.

If team members are working on the document at different times, they can highlight text and add a comment.  Visible in the margin, fellow collaborators are notified by email of the comments and receive a link that opens the document at the comment.  Comments can be directed to specific team members and team members can respond to directed requests by replying to the email.

Once a comment thread is finished, or the issue resolved, mark the comment as “resolved”. While the comment disappears from view, comments remain part of the document history and can be recalled should questions arise down the road.

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Helping users get the most out of Google Apps is one of the reasons we offer a range of training and professional development services.  Contact us if you want to learn more.

 

3rd of 5: More Ways to Collaborate in Google Apps

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Google Apps is designed for secure sharing and collaborations.  Many users, however, still rely on the back-and-forth of email to get their work done.  Here is the 3rd of 5 other ways to collaborate in Google Apps.

Shared Folders in Drive

Instead of sharing individual files with users or groups, create a project folder and share the folder with the team.  When you share a folder, all work uploaded to the folder or created within the folder, the file automatically is assigned the same sharing settings as the folder.

Project managers can still set permission levels based on need — view, comment, or edit — and you can override the inherited permissions for individual files and for sub folders as needed.

Training users to find and enter a project folder before working on the project is an easy tip that saves time and effort.

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If you want to help your team get more from Google Apps, Contact us about our training options.

2nd of 5: More Ways to Collaborate in Google Apps

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Google Apps is designed for secure sharing and collaborations.  Many users, however, still rely on the back-and-forth of email to get their work done.  Here is the 2nd of 5 other ways to collaborate in Google Apps.

Collaborate via Calendar

Google Calendar is good for more than just setting appointments.  Create a calendar for a project and share it with team members.  You can now track meetings, events, and project deadlines.   Adding member names to entries helps track responsibility and expectations; color coding helps flag priorities.

Team members can also create a task list on the side of the calendar.  Members can check-off completed tasks, making it easy for teammates and project leaders to get a sense of project status at-a-glance.

Need a way to track issues that come up each day?  Have team members add issues as “all day” events, colored in red.  Fellow team members can see critical issues at a glance, each time they check the calendar.

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Helping your team understand and use Calendar in more advanced ways can improve team productivity.  Both of our self-paced Google Apps training solutions step people through the process.  Contact us to learn more about Boost eLearning and Synergyse.

 

1st of 5: More Ways to Collaborate in Google Apps

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Google Apps is designed for secure sharing and collaborations.  Many users, however, still rely on the back-and-forth of email to get their work done.  Here is the 1st of 5 other ways to collaborate in Google Apps.

Use Google Groups for your Group

Google Groups is designed to facilitate discussions among its members.  Create a group for your project team and your team members can read and respond to threaded discussions on the group’s home page, as well as by email.   Once created, you can subscribe or invite members to join (or require members to subscribe themselves).  And, you can invite and include project team members from outside your organizations.

Team members can post questions, ideas, issues, and get a quick response from teammates.  And, all project discussions are organized in a single location.

Groups also let you manage distribution lists and security.  Invite a group to an event using Calendar, and all members get the invite.  Share a document of folder on Drive with the group, and all members get access.

Since members can elect to be notified of every message immediately, or via daily and/or volume-based digests, individuals can still manage their inboxes as well.

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Helping team members learn how to best use groups to collaborate is easy, as “Google Groups Training” is included in the Google Apps Training service from Boost eLearning. Contact us to learn more.

 

 

 

Moving to the Cloud: Cost Savings

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Green_GaugeThis post is the second in a series addressing concerns organizations may have that prevent them from moving the cloud-based solutions.

Will moving to the cloud save money?

The answer is a definite, absolute … maybe!

Whether or not a move to the cloud saves money depends on the in-house services being replaced and the cloud-based services taking their place, as well as the impact the change will have on related IT services and your business.

In our experience, most companies see savings over 3-year and 5-year periods of 30% or more.  Some companies see total cost of ownership (TCO) savings of up to 70%

When looking at 5-year TCO, organizations must make honest projections on IT spending to maintain the status quo and/or upgrading systems.  Beyond projected hardware and software replacements and upgrades, the analysis should include the cost of services and supporting systems (backup, anti-virus, security, etc.).  The analysis should also assess soft costs for administration, support, and estimated down time.

The challenge remains making the comparison equivalent.  For example, moving from a single in-house Exchange server to Google Apps for Business is a move from a system with several single points of failure to a highly redundant and highly available service.  If improving availability is an objective of the move to the cloud, the comparison should include the cost of upgrading the Exchange environment for redundancy.

A final consideration should include any business enablement that comes from the move into the cloud.  Will the cloud service enable the business to operate more efficiently and/or in new, more productive ways?  Improved collaboration, real-time communications, and access to information are all examples of how Google Apps for Business enables businesses over traditional email services.

In straight dollars and cents, not every company will see savings when moving to cloud-based solutions.  With better availability and expanded capabilities, cloud computing solutions can deliver better value, even when the price tag is higher.

Next Post in the Series:  Provider Reliability

Previous Post in the Series:  Moving to the Cloud: Security

 

Cumulus Global to Feature Web-Based Learning at MassCUE 2012 Conference

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Westborough, MA – October 8, 2012 – Cumulus Global (www.cumulusglobal.com) announced it will feature web-based learning solutions at the company’s first-ever participation in the MassCUE Technology Conference.  Cumulus Global will conduct live demonstrations of how Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education combine to provide students with better access to educational resources, expand collaborative learning, and improve student-teacher interaction. Cumulus Global will be at Booth 219 on October 24th and 25th.

“Google Apps is much more than email, it creates a learning platform that empowers students and teachers to work together, providing students access to productivity tools without expensive hardware or software,” stated Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global.  “Chromebooks give students a fully web-connected computer at a fraction of the cost of laptops and netbooks and without the expensive administrative overhead.”

While many schools begin with carts, providing Chromebooks to students in specific classes and subjects, districts are starting to deploy Chromebooks as part of a one-to-one program.  As a web-centric device, students can access educational applications and resources without the limitation of an “app store”.

“While other devices get more press, Chromebooks deliver more value in the classroom”, notes Falcon.  “Students can write and edit papers, create presentations, and work with video.  Schools can manage Chromebooks without the complexity and cost that comes with iPads and traditional laptops.”

With a full keyboard, mousepad, 12.1” screen, and HD audio and video, Chromebooks enable students to complete papers, presentations, and projects with the ability to share, collaborate, and get feedback directly from teachers.  Chromebooks are more secure than laptops, with automatic operating system updates, built-in malware protection, and no local user profiles or local data. The ChromeOS Management Service gives administrators full control over the devices without monthly updates and expensive imaging/ghosting systems.

Do Your IT Choices Help or Hurt Your Ability to Hire the Best Talent?

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When you think of your IT decisions, you probably think of features, functions, cost, operations, and, hopefully, how well your IT decisions support your business goals and objectives.

Have you, however, ever considered if your IT decisions impact your ability to hire the best talent? Just like your reputation as an employer, office space, and benefits package make an impression on prospective employees, so does your IT.

Case in Point: Blackberry.  As recently as two years ago, most companies picked a carrier, a few models of phones, and provided them to employees.  Blackberry was on top.  With the rapid expansion of smartphone capabilities, a growing number of employees chose to opt-out of the company option and use their personal device.  Businesses obliged and “Bring Your Own Device” is becoming the norm (as are Android and IOS devices).  After all, why limit your employees to a lesser solution that makes them less productive?

Why would a potential employee want to work at a company where the technology is a step backward?

With the adoption rate of cloud computing solutions, such as Google Apps, at universities, high schools, and even grade and middle schools exploding, your future employees are already used to working in an IT environment that enables communication and collaboration in ways traditional in-house systems cannot.

The people you want to hire already …

  • Use on-line and real-time collaboration.
  • Expect secure access to information from any device they choose, wherever they are working, without the headaches and challenges of VPNs and remote desktop solutions.
  • Take advantage of integrated communication services.
  • Expect constant improvements in the IT services they use.

So when the people you want to hire walk into your business, what do they see?  Do they see the dynamic, responsive, IT infrastructure that they know and love?  Or, do they see reliance on centralized information silos, collaboration via email attachments, limited access to information and their peers, and an environment that only sees improvements every three to five years?

As you plan your next round of IT upgrades and changes, avoid inertia and look beyond the next version of the status quo.  Look at IT solutions that can fundamentally change and improve the ability of your knowledge workers to communicate and collaborate — to use their knowledge.  Look at IT solutions that scale as your business evolves.  Look at IT solutions that give your business the power of continuous innovation.

Look at Cloud Computing.  Look at Google Apps.