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Google, one of the tech giants leading in innovation for decades, has a long history of working with businesses to stay up-to-date on the latest tools out there, but what might you be missing in your Suite?
Cloud Computing
It’s where it’s at.
Businesses are migrating to a Cloud or Enterprise solution in flocks for a myriad of reasons. At The Real Estate CPA it has allowed our team to work virtually, while still allowing us to collaborate and to move projects forward. Whether at home or on the go, on a computer or a phone, we can access the software and files we need in a secure, encrypted form.
As a real estate syndicator or fund, this can be the perfect solution to help you and your team to manage confidential data such as your investor's information from anywhere.
What's more, data has consistently shown large increases in efficiency and business growth while decreasing IT costs for companies that switch to a Cloud solution. SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) has also become increasingly useful and integrates smoothly with Cloud and Enterprise solutions, allowing for better pricing plans and not having to rely on expensive data centers to securely store and manage sensitive company files.
Microsoft or Google?
$150/year/user, or $50/year for unlimited users. The cost savings alone make a world of a difference.
With a team of only 10, Google costs a fraction (3%) of Microsoft for Cloud Office solutions. On top of this, collaboration features are greater, there are seamless integrations with other SaaS tools (and the rest of the G Suite bundle), and as a business owner, you don’t have to worry about losing files when staffing changes happen.
So, what’s the downside?
The one challenge many are facing before making the plunge relates to training. Google’s products are powerful if you know how to use them, but the interface and hotkeys are different from Microsoft and if you’ve been using Microsoft for years it will take some additional training to find out how to use Google to its maximum potential. If you don’t plan out how to train your team, your team may not see the benefits offered in G Suite. However, there are many resources available offering this very type of training and won’t be difficult to implement.
Gmail: The Golden Standard
Gmail has been around for decades and made lots of changes over the years. They have stayed up with the newest innovations and integrate with countless apps and extensions. But what is our number one reason to use Gmail? One word: SSO. Okay, Single-Sign-On might be more than one word, but here’s how it works. You’ve seen this button before on websites:
This button lets you sign in to each of your supported SSO tech solutions without having to create accounts and remember a bunch of passwords. Instead, it logs in through your Gmail account. It also prevents those outside your company, those who shouldn’t have access, from logging in as it recognizes your company domain and only accepts users who are set up in the system based on this domain. What other email offers SSO to simplify and protect your team?
Apps, Extensions, Plugins, Oh My!
The sea of options is staggering.
From integrating directly with other SaaS services (QuickBooks, Podio, etc), imbedding utilities into your existing solutions (i.e. Last Pass), or allowing you to build out your own solutions (the amazingly powerful Google Apps Script), the options are endless.
Integration across systems is something we take pride in and this can sometimes be tricky without a development team building out connections between the API’s. With Google, much of this work has already been done by others who share their work allowing you to save on Developer costs. In addition, for those integrations not already built out, the Google Scripts Editor offers fantastic power with an easy interface that is easy enough that anyone can learn it.
Oh, did we mention the plethora of training videos available on how to use Google Scripts Editor, along with forums dedicated to helping you solve your integration coding?
Putting it All Together
We at The Real Estate CPA love innovative tech. We are constantly looking at new tech startups as much as we review more established tech giants looking to improve our existing solutions. Google provides a merging between these two, offering the grounded foundation and unified system to build out of while adding new apps almost daily to explore.
Intrigued?
Reach out to us to find out more about how we use G Suites in our everyday lives and how it can make your real estate business more efficient, more effective, and more profitable!