According to a recent Gartner report, Gmail “should now be considered a mainstream cloud email supplier capable of competing head-to-head with Microsoft Exchange Online”.

Whilst cloud email is still in its infancy, at 3 percent to 4 percent of the overall enterprise email market according to Gartner, it is expected to grow significantly and reach 20 percent by the end of 2016.

There is no doubt that cloud services are changing the way organisations view their corporate messaging and collaboration platforms.  But why is Google Apps for Business proving such a force in the enterprise space? Here are the top issues that are driving this trend.

Improved collaboration leads to business innovation

There are two sides to cloud computing. One is that it changes the way IT is provisioned, with applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The other is that it changes the way users work together. True cloud applications don’t just run in the cloud but allow teams to meet in the cloud to collaborate.

According to a report by The Future Foundation, there is an 81 percent correlation between innovation and collaboration. Employees who are given the opportunity to collaborate at work are more than twice as likely to have contributed new ideas to their company.

Google Apps for Business provides all the personal productivity tools for individuals that you’d expect, but is streets ahead in helping teams work more effectively together.

Google Apps for Business has been built from the ground up to support the current paradigm of collaboration, with easy sharing of not just documents but ideas. For us, just as for our customers, adopting tools that support that new paradigm is going to be key to our success.

Pure cloud architecture offers superior data protection

With collaboration now a key driver for business success, users want to be able to share information easily, and if systems do not allow staff to collaborate they’ll turn to unofficial channels outside the control of the IT department - creating a whole new set of security headaches.

Google Apps for Business was designed from the ground up to let you collaborate effectively but securely in a shared distributed environment. Security is built into the DNA of Google rather than simply wrapped around hosted software originally designed for a single organisation and running from a single site. Designed to give you much tighter control over who you share your data with, Google Apps allows users to decide exactly who sees each document, on a case-by-case basis.

Because Google Apps stores all data in the cloud, information is subject to strict security and back up rules.  This removes the risk of important information being stored on users’ local machines and means that with Google Apps you wont lose data if a computer crashes, is damaged or stolen. Furthermore, all information is always encrypted as it travels to Google’s servers.

Most organisations simply can’t deploy the kind of resources provided by Google and its partners when it comes to security. With all this in place, it’s not surprising that millions of organisations, including Google, are running their businesses on Google Apps for Business.

Users want access from anywhere, at any time - with any device

Employees are increasingly using their own smartphones and tablet PCs to work while they’re on the move: 40 per cent of devices used to access business applications are now personally owned, up 10 per cent on last year. 

This growing "consumerisation" of enterprise IT is boosting staff morale and productivity, so it's not something to be discouraged. Instead, IT departments need to find ways to easily support secure access to enterprise systems from all kinds of devices, not just Windows PCs.

Because Google Apps runs in the browser, you can access the data and apps you need whether you're using Windows, Mac OS or Linux. Because Google Apps runs in the cloud, you can be connected whether you're at work, at home or on the road, and whether you're on your usual machine or at a public terminal. Finally, because Google Apps doesn’t require you to install any software locally, there's no application support headache for the IT team. In short, Google Apps lets your employees choose the right device for them.


Enhanced communications come with a simple, low total cost of ownership

Google offer a very simplistic, flat pricing model for businesses. The £2.75 per month cost of Google Apps for Business provides users with full functionality and far greater capabilities than its competitors.

When Forrester looked at the financial benefits of switching away from traditional in-house email and collaboration tools to Google Apps, they found organisations were able to cut ongoing costs by an impressive 38 to 56 percent. These savings are made from a mixture of licensing, infrastructure and operational costs.

At the same time, Google enables individual users to become more productive, with Gmail allowing them to organise, search and archive their email more easily, while spam filtering reduces clutter in their inbox.

That means that although the basic financial benefits of switching from a traditional email provider are impressive, most early adopters have found that this is just the starting point for the return they see from Google Apps.

Businesses require a platform built for the future

Historically, IT departments have spent 70 percent of their budgets on simply maintaining existing infrastructure. Forrester warn that future success will require organisations to cut these "business as usual" costs and devote the savings to delivering competitive advantage through business expansion and innovation. A key weapon in this shift of priorities will be moving to cloud computing.

As well as low total cost of ownership there are a number of ways cloud solutions like Google Apps for Business can help. Because applications are browser-based, IT departments don’t need to spend time managing software licenses, installing patches or periodically upgrading applications. It also makes it easy for businesses to add more users and to quickly roll out standard applications to new locations, allowing IT to flex and scale with business needs.

Additionally true cloud applications like Google Apps are constantly evolving, enabling users to take advantage of new features and new ways of working sooner rather than later.  And the IT team and the rest of your staff don’t need to go through the pain of a major system upgrade every few years.

Finally, because Google and its partners manage the technology, your own IT staff can concentrate on the needs of the business, making sure users have the right tools in place and know how to use them in the best possible way to collaborate and innovate.

Conclusion

Cloud computing is about more than providing low cost email and outsourcing operations. True cloud computing addresses five of the key challenges organisations face today, by being designed from the ground up to run securely in the cloud and by placing as much emphasis on team collaboration as personal productivity.

Unlike many hybrid solutions, Google Apps for Business delivers a true cloud computing experience. Designed for teams and available on any device with a browser, it allows businesses to become more effective and innovative whilst making the most of their IT budgets.