In my role as Senior Web Application Developer at Mannix Marketing, I frequently set up user-friendly email services for our clients on the Google Hosted Apps platform. Google Hosted is a domain branded version of Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Documents and a number of other services.
We have been providing Google Hosted for our Mannix Marketing, Inc. clients for some time now and most businesses that we have setup to use this system are completely satisfied. The Standard Edition is available for up to 10 users for FREE, with other editions for Business, Education, Government and Non-Profits.
- Anti-Spam – Google has always had some great anti-spam and malware protection in the Gmail system, but in July 2007 they purchased Postini, an E-mail and Web security firm that has a highly rated anti-spam filtering service. Postini is not included with Gmail out of the box, as this is a premium option, but some of the technology has trickled down into the e-mail platform and helps protect you on a daily basis from potentially malicious messages that we all seem to receive.
- Plugins (Labs) – Employees at Google are encouraged to work on a system of 80/20. This is where 80% of the time is spent on core projects, and roughly 20% (or one day per week) on “innovation” activities that speak to their personal interests and passions. Many Google products and services have either begun in the 20% zone, or have seen great increases in functionality from this time investment. Gmail is no exception, and all users have access to Gmail Labs which gives added functionality to your Inbox. Some of the other Google services have Labs too, like Calendar.
- Priority Inbox – This started as a Labs feature in Gmail, but has graduated to standard functionality. Priority Inbox analyzes your new incoming messages to predict what’s important, considering things like how you’ve treated similar messages in the past, how directly the message is addressed to you, and many other factors. I have found this very important in my day-to-day activities as it allows me to see what is important, such as a message from a client, and what is not as pressing, such as a message containing a report of a data import from a database. Get more information about Priority Inbox.
- Collaboration – Google Hosted Apps allows for domain level security that will give your users the ability to share documents, calendars and other business related items within your organization. Google Documents has real-time multiple user editing, allowing two or more employees to work on the same document or spreadsheet at the same time. Direct chat messaging is also built in, so employees in different locations can also communicate with each other at the same time.
- Multiple Accounts – Gmail allows you to setup multiple accounts so you can pull in messages from another e-mail account via POP, giving you the ability to have all your mail in one place. You can also set up the additional account so you can send messages out as that account. An example of using an additional account is to use [email protected] as your primary e-mail account and you also check mail in the account [email protected]. Now you can pull in that mail, setup a filter to mark the messages with a label, and you can have all the same messages from any computer and your mobile device, synchronized and ready to use!
If you would like to know more about how Google Hosted can help your business, please contact Mannix Marketing,Inc. We will be happy to assist you in moving your business into the cloud with Google Hosted (additional fees may apply).
