Google Apps Email

[Postforce]

Hi all

Thinking of switching to Google Apps Email from outlook - anyone had any experience of it? 'My tech man' has told me its the thing to do - what thinks you?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jim2k]

If you are happy with the way everything is running then I wouldnt change for the sake of it. Google Apps however is a cracking platform with some great features. Try the non paid for version first to get a flavour.

 

[sanjiv]

Are you currently using Microsoft Exchange? I prefer Outlook to Google Apps but its up to you really.

 

[GDavies]

It does rather depend on the application of it, I think, i.e., the nature and complexity of your current setup.

In any case, there's no reason why the Google email can't be picked up through Outlook (or any other client). I don't know whether Outlook currently integrates with Google Calendars but, in my case, I run my Google emails into Apple's Outlook equivalent, Mail, and my Google calendars into iCal. Works fine.

The handy thing with Google Apps, for me, is being able to set up shared iGoogle start pages (i.e., with useful news feed widgets set up on it, etc.) and collaborative document editing via Docs.

I suppose the bottom line is (1) Are you unhappy with your current arrangements, and if so why? (2) If so, will Google Apps solve your problems and/or introduce new ones? If not, it's probably more trouble than it's worth to change.

 

[sanjiv]

Google Mail doesn't seem to work so well in Outlook with Archive and Delete.

I think the paid Google Apps come with Contacts and Calendar sync.

 

[ecenica]

If you are happy with the way everything is running then I wouldnt change for the sake of it.

Very good advice.

Also. Like everything, Google Apps/Mail has it's pros and cons.

Things you might want to look into are the legal small print, data-privacy, support response, and network security.

If you need to closely monitor email usage in your business, Google Apps might not offer the level of tracking you need.

There is also the consideration of whether you want your property (in this case your email data) within the Google cloud.

The free Google Mail is ad-driven so again you may want to weigh up if you want your email data-mined for Google's benefit.

Hopefully some food for thought...

Rich.

 

[JElder]

Good:
Available almost anywhere - phone, web, desktop
Flexible in terms of autoresponders, forwarding, etc
Some good tools with spam checking, filters, etc, all updated automatically.
Integrates well with Thunderbird

Bad:
Expensive if you need multiple users with separate accounts
NO SHARED MAILBOXES - this is a pain - you have to pay for another account
Some recipients will continue to show gmail in the from address, even when you use your own domain