Google is retooling its Enterprise Cloud Services with a new name and better accessibility for smaller businesses. Google has renamed its enterprise platform Google For Work.
On the Google Official Blog, Eric Schmidt, the company’s executive chairman introduced the new services explaining:
“Work today is very different from 10 years ago. Cloud computing, once a new idea, is abundantly available, and collaboration is possible across offices, cities, countries and continents. Ideas can go from prototype to development to launch in a matter of days. Working from a computer, tablet or phone is no longer just a trend–it’s a reality. And millions of companies, large and small, have turned to Google’s products to help them launch, build and transform their businesses, and help their employees work the way they live. In other words, work is already better than it used to be.”
Here’s Google’s brief video overview of the new service:
Google for Work is free to try for 30 days. After that, users who want to continue using the service must pay either $5 per month (for 30GB of cloud storage in Google Drive) or $10 per month (unlimited storage) per user.
Some of the most accessible features include Google Apps for Work. Every user who signs up for Google for Work gets access to their own business email address. This email is run through the Gmail platform. Users also get access to the suite of Google’s cloud services, like Calendar, Hangouts, and Drive. (These are, of course, enhanced premium versions of the free services Google provides to all its users.)
There are pro versions of other Google apps too. One such app is the pro version of Maps which can also be purchased on a monthly subscription basis. The pro version of Maps has a variety customization options which enhance its functionality when compared to the free service. According to the Maps Pro page, you can even import addresses from a spreadsheet onto a Google Map. You can then take and manipulate that data, plan business trips more effectively, or develop business strategies based on customer locations, for example.
Another service in Google’s premium suite is Cloud Storage. This is largely for app developers who can use the space to test and run applications. But, of course, it can be used for data storage as well, just like many other cloud services. In fact, it seemed significant to see the move from Google so soon after Dropbox and Amazon made similar options available.
Google has provided a calculator to help you determine how much storage you’d need per month and it is billed based on those needs.
Other “for Work” services being provided by Google for an additional subscription rate are Google Search for Work and Chrome for Work.
Search for Work allows you to not only place a Google search box on your company’s website. It also includes a separate feature that comes with an actual Google box. This feature of Search for Work allows you to comb through company files and data, all powered by Google’s search technology.
Chrome for Work sorts your business bookmarks and search histories, according to the company’s site.
Image: Google for Work
Aira Bongco
I think it is pretty cool that you can finally search through your files with Google’s technology. But I don’t think ‘work’ is the right word for it. There could have been a better word.
Google Work sounds great in concept but somehow having more businesses compete over multiple services that Google Work would provide a one-stop source seems better for all small businesses in the long run. In other words, Competition is King.