If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
A popular argument among IT consultants has to do with the inability of Google to produce a Sharepoint alternative that truly offers the same features and functions for companies.
The main arguments against Google Apps for business have been-
Document management. Traditionally it has been much simpler to share and collaborate on documents via an in-house Sharepoint server, as enterprise users can be allocated permissions and documents are stored on a local server. Integration with Active Directory is a huge plus, due to varying permissions between departments, users, and special security requirements for say, an HR department.
Brandable interface. While this critique has lessened with the introduction of Google Sites a while back, it is useful when allowing outside vendors access to reinforce whose website they are on.
Storage requirements. This has also lessened recently with Google expanding storage space, but if you put a Sharepoint server on a 500 TB storage array, you get all the storage space you wish to provide.
Legacy files. Sometimes that old program needs a 1997-2003 MS Word format, or it outputs a report in an older format. Google’s Apps for Business is an all-in proposition: if you want to cling to the past, you are going to have some headaches as you attempt to support two different worlds of technologies.
But suddenly in the middle of 2016, many of the arguments against Google Apps for Business in favor of Sharepoint have been completely destroyed.
Google announced in June that they are revamping the way Sites works for businesses. There’s currently a beta program where companies can sign up for access to the new and improved Sites feature.
So what’s new?
- Responsive design – your Google Sites pages will work on any device and will look and function great! You can put your logo anywhere and design every single page to look just the way you want.
- Apps integration – want to post your department schedule so only those employees can view it? It’s as easy as embedding the group calendar on the department’s Site page. Want to share the HR handbook for new hires? You can make it a default document in every user’s Google Drive. Want to setup an “Apps” page with links to popular web applications for photo editing, email campaigns, and more? You can!
- Storage limits – by paying more per user per month, a Google Apps domain can have unlimited storage – that’s right, unlimited! So no more worrying about running out of space for all of your shared documents and uploaded files.
- Search across documents, emails, calendars, and Drive contents with the new Springboard feature – Google has provided a simple and efficient method to find anything you’re looking for.
- Embedding – Word documents, PDF files, Google Forms, really anything in the Google universe directly onto a page that you can design in minutes.
Here’s an example of a group collaborating to design a Sites page
Check out this short video on creating a page in the new Sites
As you can see, Google has really done a lot of work in their attempts to produce a Sharepoint killer. And they needed to do this – enterprise customers have been reliant on Sharepoint to serve as their intranet/document management/collaboration portal for many years, and they had valid reasons to stay put. But when the Sites/Springboard rollout to the public happens, I don’t think any of those reasons will exist anymore.
If you are a small or medium business using Google Apps, we hope you are excited about this revamp! Google was really producing innovative apps and features consistently for years after Google Apps released, but their development on new features has really slowed down over the past couple of years. This is a big step in making their Apps offering competitive with Microsoft’s 365/Sharepoint package.