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Going Google

We are moving to Google Apps!

We’re pleased to announce that our company has chosen Google Apps for its new email and calendar platform.

What’s Google Apps?

Google Apps is a suite of web-based messaging and collaboration applications that Google hosts on its own servers. Google provides these applications as a service, rather than as software to download and install. To access Google Apps, you simply use a web browser on a computer that’s connected to the Internet or your smart device.  

For a quick overview of Google Apps and why we’re so excited about the switch, check out the video below:

Why did we chose Google Apps?

We looked for an email and calendar solution that could provide with us the following benefits: 

  • Lower infrastructure costs — Our email will be stored securely on Google’s servers, so we’ll no longer need to maintain email servers on-site
  • Ability to consolidate our platforms — We can eliminate redundancy by moving all of our email and calendar platforms to Google Apps
  • Lower support costs — Because Google hosts the email and calendar services, there’s no more email client software to maintain on individual computers
  • Innovative solutions — We can leverage the ongoing creative and technical solutions of the Google Apps platform to provide employees with powerful, easy-to-use tools for getting their work done
  • Highly scalable environment — With Google Apps, our email capacity will grow automatically as our company grows, and we’ll avoid the complexity of internal systems
  • Access to services from anywhere, anytime — A key benefit of the Google-hosted solution is that we can access email, contacts, and calendar from any computer or mobile device with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world
  • More collaboration features — With Google’s next-generation applications, we can collaborate with colleagues, customers, and partners more easily and efficiently than ever before
  • Instant messaging — Because Google Apps includes Hangouts, we can now implement an instant messaging system for our company

What does Google Apps include?

Your new Google Apps account will include the following services: 

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logo_gmail_32px logo_calendar_32px logo_groups_32px. logo_docs_32px logo_sites_32px logo_hangouts_32px logo_drive_32px
Gmail Google Calendar Google Groups Docs, Sheets and Slides Google Sites Hangouts Google Drive

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Here are some of the key benefits we think you’ll enjoy: 

  • Lots of storage: You get a full 30 GB of online storage for your email (much more than you have now), so you can archive all of your email online. You’ll no longer need to worry about deleting messages or saving them in offline folders.
  • Enhanced message organization and retrieval: With Gmail, you’ll spend less time managing folders and looking for messages. Use tags, or “labels,” to organize, store, and find your messages more efficiently. And with the Google-powered search feature, you can find any message quickly and easily, whether it’s in your Inbox or stored in your message archives.
  • Easier calendar sharing: Google Calendar lets you and your team members quickly and easily share your calendars with each other and specify the details you want to show. Calendar sharing is a great way for you and your coworkers to keep each other informed about your schedules. Now it’s easier than ever to find out if someone is in a meeting, on a business trip, or on vacation.
  • Better mailing lists: With Google Groups, you can manage your own subscriptions to mailing lists—called groups—without the need to make requests to the IT Department. You can even create your own groups for your projects, teams, special-interest groups, and more. Not only do groups make it easier to send email and calendar invitations to groups of people but they also simplify sharing documents, files, sites, and more. You can even use groups to create full-featured discussion forums.
  • Integrated chat and video-conferencing: With Google Hangouts, you can communicate instantly with your coworkers right from Gmail, as a chat or video-conference. You can set your chats to be automatically saved in Gmail, so you can always retrieve important information.
  • File storage and sharing: With Google Drive, you can store just about any type of file, open it and work on it right in your web browser, and quickly invite others to work or view it. You can access Drive from any smart device.
  • Real-time collaboration: Using Google Docs, you can create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and you and your team members can view and edit them at the same time. You can still use your [Microsoft Office/other] products, but now you’ll have more options for storing and collaborating on your documents. <<remove if not continuing use of Office>>
  • Easy-to-build team web sites: With Google Sites, your project team can quickly publish an internal web site with shared information, such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, files, and videos. You can even embed Google calendars and other gadgets (applications) on your site.

Is Google Apps the same as the personal (free) version of Gmail and Google Calendar?

They’re similar, but we’ll be using the business-class edition of Google Apps, which provides more features, more storage, and more support.

Will my email address change?

No, your email address won’t change! You’ll continue to receive all your email at your current company address.

Are you migrating my email and calendar to Google Apps?

Yes, we’ll migrate all of your email messages, calendar events, and personal contacts from [Microsoft Outlook/Lotus Notes] to Google Apps during non-business hours, so they’ll be ready for you when you sign in to your new Google Apps account.

Do I need to do anything after I get my Google Apps account?

You’ll just need to complete a few simple tasks to complete your migration, such as re-creating any email rules you used in Outlook as Gmail filters, and setting up your mobile device to access your services from anywhere.

Will the IT department provide assistance during the transition?

To get you up to speed quickly, we’ll provide plenty of documentation and training resources. Members of the IT team will also be available to answer your questions or resolve any issues you encounter. You can also visit the Google Apps Learning Center for guides, tips and examples of how to make the most of your new services.

How much time will it take to set up and learn how to use Google Apps?

You’ll be able to master the basics, like sending and receiving email and viewing and scheduling meetings, very quickly. It may take more time to really learn to make the most of your new services, depending on how you currently use Outlook. For example, for a typical email and calendar migration, expect to spend a few hours over the course of a week or so to take the training, review documentation, and set up your services. If you also access email on a mobile device, plan on spending a bit more time.

Can I still use outlook to check my email?

Yes. We recommend you check your email by using Chrome and going to http://www.gmail.com but if requested, we can set up Outlook to check your Google hosted email. You can also download the Google apps sync tool to sync your Outlook email, contacts and calendar with Google here .

What do I do after the migration?

What do I if I don’t want to use Outlook to check my email (recommended)?

  • Download Google chrome (if it is not already installed) at http://www.google.com/chrome and use this to check your email/contacts/calendar. It is recommended you set it as your default browsers.  You can log in at http://www.gmail.com/ with you full email address and password.
  • Gmail groups emails with the same subject into one line in email. If you don’t like this, you can turn it off https://support.google.com/mail/answer/5900?hl=en .
  • If you would like to create filters (equivalent to rules in outlook) that send emails to folders, here are the instructions https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en.
  • If we enabled two-step authentication, you will start seeing notices when you log into your email that you need to enter your cell phone number in. It is IMPERATIVE that you do so asap.  After a certain date, you will not be able to access your email without this.
  • If you are choosing to use http://www.gmail.com to check your email instead of outlook, please do not try to use outlook after this sync the information will not be in sync.
  • If we migrated you from Outlook, your old contacts and calendar will still be in Outlook for reference but we do not recommend you use that since they will not sync.

We think you’ll enjoy your new Google Apps services, and we’re committed to making this a smooth transition.

More information to follow soon!

Abuzz Technologies

https://www.abuzztech.com

(215) 600 – 1771

tech@abuzztech.com

“Improving your business and life with technology”