Written in collaboration with RingCentral©.

When it comes to tech companies that have had a large impact on how we work smart, it’s hard to dispute that Google has been a strong contender. In the 22 years since the company was founded, Google has changed how people (and businesses) use the Internet in countless ways.

A suite of powerful tools that includes Gmail (email), shared calendars, documents, and other functions, Google’s offerings for business, collectively called G Suite, have had a massive upward trajectory. In the 4.5 years since November 2015 (back when G Suite was still called Google Apps for Work), paid user base has tripled to 6 million paid accounts. There’s a good chance you and other businesses your company does business with are among them.

But as with any tool you’re using to support collaboration and productivity, you may wonder if there are ways you can use it better in order to make communications more efficient.

Installing RingCentral’s G Suite Add-on is one way to accelerate the collaborative benefits you’re already gaining from using G Suite. Here are five ways the RingCentral G Suite Add-on will make your life easier.

Written in collaboration with RingCentral©.

We use (and provide) a multitude of different SaaS products here at Ostratto to keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes and to improve the productivity of the business. Although I have a lot of weird love for all of the services we use, my favourite and one I couldn't live without is G Suite.

Yes one could say we are albeit biased but I'm not afraid to come right out and say it’s by far the best all-in-one business services solution on the market right now. It's affordable, easy to use and super powerful. 

Today we’ll dive into the unparalleled benefits of G Suite, why we use it and recommend it to all of our partners, and how it compares to other similar solutions on the market.

Contents

​​What is G Suite?

G Suite is Google’s suite of intelligent apps. This was formerly known as Google Apps, till it was re-branded in late 2016. We primarily recommend G Suite for clients that are needing email hosting for their business. However, G Suite is much more than just email. It also includes a variety of apps and features that can come in quite handy. In fact, you’re probably already using or are familiar with some of them.

G Suite has three different plans you can purchase - Basic, Business and Enterprise. We utilise the Business G Suite plan at Ostratto. This starts at just £9.20/user/month. For many of you, the basic plan is probably all you’ll ever need and that starts at £4.60/user/month. We have a much fuller breakdown of the individual G Suite system features on our product pages but here's a quick summary of our favourite features.

​​Gmail

Google Docs, Sheets and Slides pretty much speak for themselves. Fully fledged document processing, a spreadsheet tool and presentation suite all reside directly in the G Suite system without any software downloads needed. Should your internet connection not be available, you can still work offline and your changes are automatically synced when you connect back to the world.

Import documents to make them instantly editable, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PDF files (.docx, .doc, .pdf, .rtf, .txt, xlsx, .csv, .html, .ods). You can even collaborate and comment on Microsoft Office files without it having to automatically convert to Google’s format - great when you are working with Microsoft Office-based customers.

You can also export to common third-party formats which makes it easy to collaborate with other individuals or companies and send files back and forth, without ever needing to install or purchase additional software.

One of the best features of Google Work Suite is the real-time commenting and unlimited versions. Previous versions are kept indefinitely and they don’t count toward your storage. This makes it super easy to track changes made to a document or undo a mistake. Sharing documents with your coworkers or other individuals is also incredibly easy.

​​Google Meet

What better way to meet a new client instantly than jumping on a video call. Google Meet provides an easy and secure way to handle video calling without leaving your business system. All versions of G Suite, Basic, Business and Enterprise provide the product with 100, 150 and 250 participant limits respectively - generally way more than we have ever needed.

Participants can also share screen content, or when they are using Google Chrome, a single browser tab, which is pretty neat when you need to show somebody something. The Enterprise version also allows users to record their meetings to re-watch.

Calls are crisp, reliable and secure - our key desirables in any communication product ultimately.

​​Google Admin

The Admin console for G Suite is the like mission-control. It lets business owners easily manage everything from one single place. Do everything from adding new users and groups, configuring business apps, manage devices, configure security settings (like 2-factor authentication) and add new custom domains for your business which can be used for Gmail.

Now with the admin console being the admin console, only administrators can access the wealth of configuration available. Users can be provided different administrative levels via roles, so that only the relevant parts of the admin console can be access by users.

​

​Unparalleled Benefits of G Suite

Although there are alternatives - Microsoft 365 and Zoho to name a few - there are some unparalleled benefits to G Suite which we are yet to see overcome. Here's a few.

​​Familiarity

When it comes to uptime, Google is one of the best when it comes to reliability. If you want to dig into the technical details, G Suite offers a 99.9% Service Level Agreement (SLA) for covered services, and in recent years they’ve actually exceeded that. Also due to the fact that email is such an important part of every business, G Suite has no scheduled downtime or maintenance windows. All of their data centres are built with redundant infrastructure.

But just like any service, they can never be up 100% of the time. Therefore, you can always bookmark the G Suite status dashboard or follow us on our social platforms for updates on all of their products.

​​It's Extremely Affordable

There are other providers out there that are cheaper, such as Zoho, and don't get us wrong, Zoho offer a truly excellent service too. However, just as we often advise our partners - certain technical aspects of your business you should absolutely not cheap out on. Your business email is one of those areas. Having an email host that you can rely on can save you money down the road.

Here’s a look at G Suite’s pricing and what’s included in each plan - you can drill further down into this here, but here's a brief overview:

For everything that G Suite includes - this really is a steal.

​​G Suite is secure, really secure

When it comes to security, Google really don't play around. The product is built on some of the most secure infrastructure on earth. It’s trusted by some of the biggest companies in the world; such as HP, Verizon, Whirlpool, and Salesforce. As Google says, they are leading with a “security-first mindset.” They have industry-leading knowledge and expertise backing each and every one of their products, including G Suite. They have a very thorough white-paper which covers some of the measures they take which you can read here. 

Some of their certifications:

​​​How to Move to G Suite

If you have read up to this point and you are keen to get started with G Suite then that's awesome - you are making a good decision. Get ready to work smarter.

We are partnered with G Suite. This means we provide setup services for our clients using our wealth of knowledge on the product. We then offer support plans after the initial commission.

There are a few options of migration depending on where you are coming from and how technically versed you are.

​​​Let Ostratto do it for you

The best way to move over to G Suite is to let us handle it for you. We have handled many migrations from various legacy systems with ease and we can help you today. Don't make the mistake of handling the migration yourself and losing years of important business data - it's simply not worth it.

For a quick quote or for more details on our migration and setup services just get in touch, I'm excited to chat with you and I'll try not to nerd out too hard.

​​Other Options

That being said, Google have provided extensive documentation on migration methods from various sources and if you are feeling technically confident then be sure to check out their guides:

In Closing

So there we are, a quick overview of why we go on about G Suite so much. Hopefully it's been of use to you and provided a half-decent run-through for you. If you have any questions about the product or if you want to get started today, just holla at us.

VoIP Has Huge Advantages Over Traditional Phones

The cost is the biggest reason that people choose to switch to VoIP, but it’s not the only thing to consider - there are also great features that will save you time and money, and simply aren’t possible with the traditional phone line options available for small businesses.

Large corporations have the budget to setup and maintain a complex PBX system with a receptionist and extensions for each desk. But you don’t need to bother with all that by using VoIP, which has those features and a lot more, built right in to a low monthly fee.

• Call Forwarding can ring on all your devices, can ring on multiple phones at once, and you can set rules to forward calls only during certain hours.
• Auto-Receptionists make your business sound more professional with prompts such as 'press 1 for sales' etc.
• Automatic Call Recording can record all inbound and outbound calls.
• Extensions let you use a single main number to reach everybody (with direct lines for each person).
• Conferencing allows you to give your clients a number to call in so everybody can be on the same conference line easily.
• Powerful Voicemail will send you emails with the voicemail, and can even transcribe them to text.
• Non-geographic numbers allow you to pick whichever area code your business needs, without actually needing to be based in that area.
• And dozens of other features and integrations into the rest of your business.

So, in short, cloud-based VoIP can give your business a national presence, helping you to appear well-established. They’re also portable – if you move offices and change phones, you won’t need to change your number – and they can be redirected onto different phone lines, for example your mobile, if needs be.

Which one looks more legitimate and established to you?

The Good

Cost

Cloud computing works on a pay-as-you-go basis. You only pay for what you use, similar to a utility bill. This eliminates the need to spend money on the expensive (and ever-changing) hardware that comes with hosting on a server. Instead of worrying about servers, you’ll be able to focus on your business.

Quick Accessibility

Many cloud computing services come on-demand, so increasing computing resources can happen efficiently. No more complaints from your users that the X drive is down, or that the business-critical services are running slow.

Scalability

This is a big one. With cloud computing, you have the ability to scale 'elastically'. In other words, your website or app receives the right amount of resources (bandwidth, storage, etc.) when it needs them. And when it's time to take on more employees as your business grows - there's no concerns whether your infrastructure can handle the additional users. Also - when your business decides it's time to move into a larger building - no more weeks of planning on how servers and equipment are going to be moved. It all moves with you without lifting a finger!

Optimal Performance

Most cloud computing services providers (definitely Google) run through secure local data centers that are maintained around the clock, to a much higher standard that is generally possible when IT is done in-house. 

Easily Shared

The easy accessibility that comes with the cloud computing makes it very simple to share information across the globe. Data replication technologies are used to ensure that a user is always retrieving the closest copy of any data, from anywhere in the world.

This all happens automatically, with no need to configure peer optimisation of any sort.

Reliability

In cloud computing, data backups occur routinely making disaster recovery easy and inexpensive. With the before-mentioned data replication technology, data can be found on multiple devices at redundant sites on a cloud provider’s network.

Often providers guarantee 99.9% uptime - a number often not achievable in conventional business IT.

The not so good

Security & Privacy

Although cloud service providers often implement high security standards and industry certifications, storing data and important files on external service providers can introduce risks. Any discussion involving data must address security and privacy, especially when it comes to managing sensitive data. We must not forget what happened at Code Space and the hacking of their AWS EC2 console, which led to data deletion and the eventual shutdown of the company. Their dependence on remote cloud-based infrastructure meant taking on the risks of outsourcing everything.

Of course, any cloud service provider is expected to manage and safeguard the underlying hardware infrastructure of a deployment. However, your responsibilities lie in the realm of user access management, and it’s up to you to carefully weigh all the risk scenarios.

Though recent breaches of credit card data and user login credentials are still fresh in the minds of the public, steps have been taken to ensure the safety of data. One such example is the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR), which was enacted in the European Union to provide users more control over their data. Nonetheless, you still need to be aware of your responsibilities and follow best practices.

Vulnerability to attack

In cloud computing, every component is online, which exposes potential vulnerabilities. Even the best teams suffer severe attacks and security breaches from time to time. Since cloud computing is built as a public service, it’s easy to run before you learn to walk. After all, no one at a cloud vendor checks your administration skills before granting you an account: all it takes to get started is generally a valid credit card. This is why training on your business system users is vital.

Limited control and flexibility

Since the cloud infrastructure is entirely owned, managed, and monitored by the service provider, control is inherently removed from the customer.

To varying degrees (depending on the particular service), cloud users may find they have less control over the function and execution of services within a cloud-hosted infrastructure. A cloud provider’s end-user license agreement (EULA) and management policies might impose limits on what customers can do with their deployments. 

Customers retain control of their applications, data, and services but may not have the same level of control over their back-end infrastructure, at least, often not to the same level of control provided with an on-premise system.

Vendor lock-in

Vendor lock-in is another perceived disadvantage of cloud computing. Easy switching between cloud services is a service that hasn’t yet completely evolved, and organizations may find it difficult to migrate their services from one vendor to another. Differences between vendor platforms may create difficulties in migrating from one cloud platform to another, which could equate to additional costs and configuration complexities. Gaps or compromises made during migration could also expose your data to additional security and privacy vulnerabilities.

Luckily this is becoming less of an issue as more migration tools are provided by providers such as Google's extensive migration suite.

Where is the cloud?

Cloud storage generally ­relies on hundreds of data servers across multiple locations around the world. This provides redundancy (should an entire data center fall over) and also optimal performance (always able to provide data from a close location). This means that your emails and business files are stored several times-over, across the globe in super secure data centers, waiting to be opened or written to.

Generally the Google data center in Ireland is most commonly used by our Ostratto partners as this is the closest full data center.

In closing

Cloud services are now fully available in today's business environment and the options of providers are vast. Ostratto are a firm believer of cloud technologies - they enable our partners (especially the smaller businesses) to scale freely and at a low cost which is vital during the early life of a business.

If you are interested in speaking to someone about how cloud technology can empower your business, get in touch with us today.