Google Apps for Your Domain

Web Workers often face a dilemma when trying to collaborate with co-workers, that is having access to the electronic tools to access and collaborate with team members. Sometimes we’re given great collaboration tools like Microsoft SharePoint or similar enterprise collaboration tools. However these present hurdles, namely working with a corporate IS department who may not be as responsive as we web workers would like them to be.

This is why Google launched Google Apps Team Edition. Google Apps for Your Domain has been around for quite some time, but this set of tools requires someone from your IS department to administer it. Groups inside companies can easily subvert IS involvement by just entering your corporate email address and clicking on a link inside the resulting sign-up email.

That’s right, with no permission or approval forms, you can do the following with your co-workers:

• generate and share documents, presentations, and spreadsheets with Google Docs
• easily schedule appointments with Google Calendar
• IM and conduct VoIP calls with Google Talk
• share a combined start page with a common iGoogle start page

Additionally, Google Apps Team Edition shows you others in your organization who have also signed up for Google Apps, enabling you to conduct the above mentioned activities with ease.

This is indeed an underhanded way to get Google Apps inside the enterprise. We at Web Worker Daily think Google Apps is a great way to collaboration on documents. The old school way of interfacing on documents centered around sending documents, spreadsheets, and presentations through email. The enterprise standard Microsoft Office Word has a “Track Changes” option which generally works well. However, what happens if not everyone on your team has Microsoft Office or worse yet: different versions of Microsoft Office? Being able to use Google Docs to generate the document and “Share” it with your colleagues is an attractive option.

On the other hand, having documents behind the firewall on centralized file servers has its advantages as well. Enterprises expend resources to ensure sensitive information stays in front of the proper audience. Having documents that may contain intellectual property is not a welcome thought to many companies. Additionally, having IM conversations that are unencrypted or archived may present legal, intellectual property, and human resource issues.

Google Apps Team Edition presents a fantastic option for lightweight collaboration among those who share documents. Also, being able to chat instantly and share calendars can present an attractive option for teammates. However, if intellectual property is a concern in any way, your organization should look at SharePoint, Jive’s ClearSpace or other offerings they have access to.

Which collaboration tools are your team working with? What tips would you have with working with the IS department?