Tag Archives: Google Apps for Work

How Expensify employees work from the beach with Google Apps

Posted by Matt McNamara, Director of Engineering at Expensify

Editor's note: Today’s post comes from Matt McNamara, director of engineering at Expensify, a company that provides “hassle-free expense reporting built for employees and loved by admins.” Read how their team uses Google Apps to work abroad for at least one month every year.

At Expensify, we’re all about making mundane tasks (like expense reporting), a pleasant, less time-consuming experience. Google’s no-sweat, work-in-real-time tools have helped us achieve these goals since starting our company in 2008. We considered alternatives like Microsoft and Zoho, but we found that no other solution could compete with the simple, intuitive interface and ease of use of Google Apps.

Google Apps is a natural extension of our company culture, which I like to think of as “Family Style.” Whether or not we’re in the office, we encourage people to work flexibly and with people on different teams. Building this type of open, supportive culture depends on ensuring everyone has an equal voice — and tools like Gmail play a huge role in making this happen. We encourage transparency and participation by adding every employee to all internal email lists from day one. It might sound like a lot, but anyone can opt out and choose only to follow what’s relevant to them.

Our annual month abroad also contributes to our overarching family culture. For one month every year, the entire team has the opportunity to work (and bring their families) abroad. We run as the same business, but from somewhere awesome — last year we spent a month in Thailand. Thanks to the flexibility of Google Apps, our only requirements for this trip are a beach, power and Internet access.

We rely on our employees to give us feedback about the tools we use, and Google Apps is probably the only product no one has ever asked to replace. We’ve tested bringing on some other enterprise and productivity platforms, but we always come back to Google Apps. Their integrations, like single sign-on with Intercom, make our lives easier. We can quickly onboard new employees, and don’t have to worry about former employees accessing sensitive content.

Because it’s so easy to use, we hire zero IT support, and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon. Even non-technical employees can set up accounts without any problems. It just works — whether we’re at our headquarters or on the beach.

Mid-size businesses, you have more incentive than ever to go Google — we’ll help cover the costs

Posted by Neil Delaney, Director, Global Inside Sales / Mid-Market, Google Apps for Work

Back in October, we made it easy for companies locked into an Enterprise Agreement (EA) to switch to Google Apps by providing our productivity suite for free until their existing contracts expired. We even helped prospects with the deployment costs of going Google through the help of our Google for Work Partners. And if interested companies weren’t under contract, we offered to help pay for their migrations from other solutions to Google Apps.

Since then, nearly 200,000 additional users have gone Google. We’ve also received tremendous interest to make the program available to smaller companies. So today, we’re excited to announce we’re extending the global program until the end of 2016. Companies between 250 and 3,000 that currently have an EA with another vendor can qualify for zero-cost Google Apps licenses for the term of their existing EA. And now, companies with 100 users (previously 250) to as many as 3,000 can qualify for a Deployment Voucher. This greatly expands the number of companies that can take advantage of the Deployment Voucher.

In addition to saving money and improving business productivity, the security benefits of Google Apps are especially valuable to mid-market businesses. For mid-market customers that sign up for this promotion, Google will pay for a Security Workshop, to the value of $750USD, through our trained Partners, to help them maximize the security and data protections Google Apps offers.

One example of those data protections are Security Keys. To help get customers started with security keys, our security partner Yubico will provide a limited number of free Security Keys for mid-market customers. These keys help protect users from phishing, account hijacking and other attacks with 1-touch encrypted, 2-step verification. They’re state-of-the art in account protection. They’re also a great example of the security benefits of Google Apps. Additional Security Keys can be purchased at a 50% discount.

Finally, with this announcement, a number of our Recommended for Google Apps for Work partners are announcing additional cost-savings for Google Apps mid-sized companies. Customers can now get similar savings when they build structured document lifecycles and workflows with AODocs and Powertools, move business phone systems to the cloud with Dialpad, use a tightly integrated CRM from Prosperworks or manage projects online with Smartsheet.

Our EA program gives new customers the opportunity to influence the move to Apps — and gives decision makers the final incentive to make the switch.

“Even before we made the official switch to Google, many of our employees used Apps without involving IT. Our entire international team migrated on their own before the roll out, because our previous solution didn’t mesh with their workflow,” says Sam Davidson, systems engineer at The Motley Fool. “Our previous solution was sluggish, with pretty consistent outages. We wanted to move to Google Apps, but we were locked into a three-year contract with our previous provider. The [EA] program allowed us to make the switch much sooner.”

Mid-size companies don’t always have the same resources as larger enterprises, and constraints (like contract lock-in) shouldn’t hinder collaboration or efficiency at work.

Additionally, companies with basic EAs and no dependencies have the potential to cut costs by up to 70 percent through switching to Google Apps for Work.

“Peterborough City Council took advantage of the EA program when the previous provider wouldn’t let us move from on-premise to the cloud without breaking a contract. Our council felt comfortable making the switch after evaluating companies and other councils that had already gone Google,” says Richard Godfrey, Project Director at Arcus Global and formerly Assistant Director, Digital at Peterborough City Council, England. “We’ve come to expect the pace of innovation that Google offers, as well as the flexibility it enables for our team. Google Apps will give us the freedom to work anywhere; all our employees need is a Chromebook, mobile phone and an internet connection.”

Learn more or call 844-420-0601 to get started now!

BigChange Apps improves mobile workforce productivity using Google Maps APIs

Posted Martin Port, BigChange Apps CEO

Editor's note: Today we hear from Martin Port, BigChange Apps CEO. Read how BigChange Apps helps its customers improve mobile workforce productivity, efficiency and their bottom line with Google Maps APIs.

Many companies that require fleet and workforce tracking waste too much time, money and fuel managing their mobile workforces because they’re using old technology, manual reporting or paper-based systems. At BigChange Apps, we set out to change that by building a mobile workforce management platform called JobWatch that combines a back-office application, vehicle-tracking and mobile apps for drivers. The platform connects a company’s back-office processes to their mobile workforce while also allowing their end-customer to place new bookings, check the ETA and status of existing jobs and even view historical information and documents such as invoices. Companies can manage jobs and create reports in real time directly from JobWatch, improving workforce productivity and eliminating manual processes like providing paper project quotes.

Maps are at the heart of what we do — they power the mobile apps for drivers and our back-office web app for dispatchers and other staff. When we started, we used a different mapping solution. But it wasn’t keeping up by adding new features. Pricing was too complex, and we couldn’t get the help we needed. So we switched to Google, which gave us great tools in Google Maps APIs and advice on how to use them to improve JobWatch. And since Google Maps sets the standard for the way people interface with maps, we spent less time training our customers how to use JobWatch.

The back-office web app uses the Google Maps Javascript API for its Maps tab, which lets our customers track vehicles in real-time. Dispatchers can see where all their resources are. So if there’s a problem out in the field, they can immediately send help by dispatching someone nearby.

On the drivers’ side, the iOS mobile app for drivers is powered by the Google Maps SDK for iOS, and the Android app uses the Google Maps Android API.
We’re big fans of the Google Maps Distance Matrix API, the Google Maps Directions API and the predictive travel time feature because they help our dispatchers more efficiently schedule drivers. When customers call asking when a driver will be arriving, dispatchers can give them an exact time.

What’s also great about Google Maps APIs is they integrate so well with other systems, like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. We’ve built a widget that imports contacts, then passes them through the Google Maps Geocoding API, which translates addresses into geographic coordinates so they can be more accurately mapped.

JobWatch means big savings for our customers — in two recent customer case studies, our customers have reported a 10 percent reduction in fuel use, 10 hours less of travel time per mobile worker per month, an extra four jobs finished per driver per month and eight hours of office administration time saved per mobile employee. Happy customers translate into growth for us — our revenue grew from £337,000 in 2013 to £2 million in 2015. By 2020, we forecast having £4 million in recurring annual revenue. For that, we have Google Maps to thank, by providing the tools to help us build a single platform uniting drivers and the back office.



UK County Council ranked first for flexible working with Google Apps for Work

Posted by Tonino Ciuffini, Head of Information Assets, Warwickshire County Council, Warwick, UK

Editor's note: Today we hear from Tonino Ciuffini, Head of Information Assets at Warwickshire County Council, the local authority for Warwickshire, UK. The council handles social care, highways, public health, the fire service, economic development, education and more for the region’s 540,000 citizens. Read how £260,000 a year is just the start of their savings with Google Apps for Work.


The best thing about the work we do is the sheer range of ways we help people. While one group works to bring broadband to small businesses, another will tackle a fire or care for children in need. So when the government cut our council budget by 20%, we knew we faced tough decisions. For IT in particular, a £2,000,000 cut to our budget meant we had to look at all options for new ways of operating, and helped drive the decision to replace our 20-year-old email system. But it wasn’t just about saving money in the short-term. We wanted to share our facilities more effectively, improve the flexibility of our IT for staff and make it easier to work with external partners. Google was a perfect fit.
 
Tomino Ciuffini, Head of Information, Assets, Warwickshire County Council
Deploying 5,500 Google Apps accounts was much easier than I had imagined. With the help of Cloud Technology Solutions, who provided migration tools, advice and support, we migrated 3,000 users in just 8 weeks. Now Google Apps saves us £260,000 a year that we would have spent on our old system: £100,000 on licenses, £100,000 on infrastructure and £60,000 on support staff. But the really significant savings go deeper than that, and come from efficiencies made right across the organisation.

Saving time by working together on Drive. Instead of multiple versions of a document flying around on email, or saving documents to unrestricted servers, staff can work together on a single document on Drive, comment, make changes, choose their own access settings and even share documents with external agencies. This has also led to increased collaboration between staff and teams.

 The mobility of web-based apps frees office space. We now have the flexibility to not only work from home or elsewhere, but to also work more closely with customers and partners. When working on-site with the police or health workers, council staff can essentially take the office with them.

 Saving on transport costs with Hangouts. Face-to-face meetings with the citizens we serve are still important, but cutting out the financial and time costs of travelling to internal meetings generates further savings.

Cutting bureaucracy with Docs and Sheets. Taking notes during meetings on Docs eliminates the need to type notes afterwards. Everyone can leave comments, which improves accuracy and transparency, and voting with Forms gives us immediate, presentable results in Sheets.

Google logins make working simple. We no longer waste time dealing with forgotten passwords or typing separate logins into different applications. And being able to use multiple logins on a single device saves money on hardware, too: teams going to trade shows can share a single Nexus 9 tablet and log in simultaneously instead of using one device each.

Automatic upgrades saves on IT maintenance and keep us ahead of developments. In the four years that we’ve used Google Apps, every upgrade has felt like a natural evolution, and we’ve never had to implement new training to accommodate changes.

Google Apps has improved our effectiveness, too. Our team of four roadworks inspectors use Apps on tablets to be on the road for 80% instead of 50% of their day, significantly improving compliance with timetables for roadworks. And our family social workers use Calendar to advance safety by ensuring teams know where they are.

We also use notes on Drive to improve security and save paper with digital notes. At the top of our organisation, most of our elected county councillors have other jobs and don't work in our offices. Now they use Google Apps on a device of their choice, instead of clunky remote access systems, and check in more often to keep track of progress.

Budget cuts made life complicated for everyone at the council, but satisfaction with our IT system has actually increased during this difficult period. In the year we introduced Google Apps, our staff satisfaction scores increased in all 55 categories of an independent benchmarking run by a UK society of public service IT organisations called SOCITM. And last year, we ranked number one out of 60 UK councils in the SOCITM benchmarking survey for flexible working practices. That flexibility generates real savings without compromising on quality, and it was all made possible by Google Apps for Work.

Reminders come to Google Calendar on the web

Posted by Erick Johnson, Software Engineer

(Cross-posted on the Official Gmail Blog.)

Starting this week, we’re bringing Reminders in Google Calendar to the web so you can keep track of your to-dos alongside your events.

Just like on Android and iPhone, you’ll get the following:

  • Reminders stick around - If a reminder isn't completed, it will appear at the top of your calendar until you mark it done.
  • Reminders work across Google - Reminders you create in Inbox, Keep and the Google app will also show in Google Calendar. 
  • Reminders sync with mobile - Reminders created in mobile show up on the web and vice versa. So you can stay on track from just about anywhere. 

With Reminders alongside your events on the web, Android and iPhone, you now have a single way to manage your day.

Bringing simplicity to Enterprise Mobility Management

Posted by Sumit Chatterjee, Program Manager

Simple to use enterprise applications can sometimes seem like a misnomer. While enterprise software has remained complex, consumer software has gravitated towards simplicity. For Google Apps administrators, we believe in providing an EMM solution that’s as simple to operate as changing your personal Gmail settings, all the while delivering enterprise-grade security.

We recently launched three new capabilities that make it easier for Apps admins to set up mobile management and define policies:
  • Mobile Management can now be set up with one click 
    By simply clicking MANAGE NOW on the Admin console landing page, admins can set up Mobile Management with a predefined set of security policies:
  • Android for Work can now be set up with one click
    No longer must admins complete fifteen steps spread across different pages in the admin console, cutting and pasting security tokens, to set up Android for Work. With a single click, admins can begin managing and whitelisting mobile apps (MAM) for their Android for Work devices in their domain:
  • Device management settings are now easier to find and use
    With the continued evolution of our device management and application management capabilities, an ever-growing list of policy settings on a single page has become unwieldy for admins. Hence, we’ve redesigned the device management experience by logically categorizing all device policy settings, making them easier to find and use:
  • Enterprise mobile devices can now be managed from anywhere, anytime
    With the latest version of Google Admin App, we now offer mobile device management capabilities at admins’ fingertips. Our admins don’t need to reach their desk to handle a device security breach. They can view the list of all managed devices and take remote actions like account wipe or even block user devices right from our Admin app anywhere, anytime:
As we continue to improve Google Mobile Management, our goal will always be to make it simple for admins to keep their employees productive while keeping work data secure on their mobile devices.

For the latest news and resources about Google Mobile Management, including launch announcements, product updates or user guides, please join our Admin community at Google for Work Connect.


ProsperWorks runs its business in the cloud with Google Apps and Ringcentral

Posted by Bret Knobelauch, Senior Director at ProsperWorks

Editor's note: Today we hear from Bret Knobelauch, Senior Director at ProsperWorks, a SaaS provider of next generation CRM solutions and — along with RingCentral — a Google Apps partner in the Recommended for Google Apps for Work program. Read how this rapidly growing technology company uses Google Apps to radically simplify customer facing sales and communications. And register here to join our Hangout on Air, on March 29 at 9 a.m. and learn how ProsperWorks went all in on the cloud with Google and Ringcentral.

ProsperWorks is the world's first “zero input” CRM. Designed specifically for Google Apps, ProsperWorks helps companies sell faster by identifying, organizing and tracking sales opportunities right in Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive. Our company was founded in 2011 with the vision to empower small business sales and marketing with a fantastic user experience for CRM.

Going all-in with Google Apps and the cloud

When we started the company, we were already committed to leveraging the benefits of Google to run our business. After all, we build a SaaS CRM solution that is deeply integrated with Google Apps. So, in addition to choosing Gmail as our email platform, we went all in with Google technology for various aspects of our business. This included:
  • Google Hangouts to interact with prospects and customers who are Google Apps customers themselves
  • Google Drive for onboarding and sharing our sales assets with a rapidly expanding team of sales development reps and account executives
  • Google Sheets for exporting and reviewing sales reports using the ProsperWorks integration

We soon discovered the need for not just any, but the right cloud-based, enterprise-class phone solution. There are two key features that our cloud phone solution must have:

  • Ability to make and receive calls directly from within Gmail. My sales team spends 60-80% of their day at their desktop engaged in prospecting and sales calls. The ability to make and receive calls directly from a phone number within Gmail and ProsperWorks CRM keeps my team super productive. Plus users can see their communications history including call logs and voicemails, directly from within Gmail.


  • Sales call analytics and reporting. From my mobile phone, I can regularly check on the call productivity of the team. For example, I can check on inbound versus outbound calls following the launch of a campaign. I can see trends and intervene if there seems to be an issue that needs to be addressed.


    Why we chose RingCentral

    We switched from a vendor we worked with prior because RingCentral offered the enterprise business capabilities that we truly needed. I’m responsible for our sales development reps and account executives, and call activity is a key measure of productivity. RingCentral has robust call analytics and reporting that helped us gauge and increase productivity.

    I didn’t want to take any risks with security and reliability, so the fact that RingCentral had been vetted by Google meant a lot. I also appreciated that RingCentral was an overall leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications in the cloud, and most importantly, the user experience and integration with Google Apps was fantastic.

    ProsperWorks’ vision is about simplifying the CRM user experience. RingCentral shares this vision for business communications, and Google shares this vision for work productivity. Google Apps has proven to be a great unifying platform for partner solutions such as ProsperWorks and RingCentral. Empowered by Google Apps and RingCentral, we couldn’t be better equipped to serve and empower our own customers.

    Spanish gamechanger BQ builds a new way of working with Google Apps

    Posted by Adan Muñoz, co-founder and Director of Operations, BQ, Madrid, Spain

    Editor's note: Today we hear from Adan Muñoz, co-founder and Director of Operations at BQ, a producer of smartphones, tablets, e-readers, 3D printers and educational robots based in Madrid, Spain. Founded in 2010, BQ now has a global team of more than 1,300 people at offices in Germany, France, Sweden, Russia, Italy and the UK. See how Google Apps for Work has played a central role in BQ’s rapid growth and unique work culture right from the start.

    We don’t just want our customers to use our devices, we want them to understand what they’re using. That’s the core idea behind all of our products, whether it’s our “flatpack” 3D printer, our customisable smartphone or Zowi, our educational robot. Our goal is to get people thinking about technology, because the next great idea could come from anyone, anywhere.

    With the same emphasis on engagement, we try to run BQ as a team of equals, where everyone has a voice. We know we do our best work when colleagues in design, engineering, technical, marketing and sales are free to bounce ideas off each other. But with 1,300 people at 10 offices, open communication can bring challenges. That’s why we built our business around Google Apps for Work from day one. Its forward-looking, simple and powerful tools have allowed us to shape our ideal working environment and work team.

    Transparent and connected, not bureaucratic
    • Drive gives us an open central platform that everyone can access. If we receive product information from a third-party, for example, we save it in Docs for anyone in the organisation who’s interested to read and leave comments or queries. That gives us oversight and transparency so that we can avoid problems before they occur.
    • Instead of an email hierarchy of labels and folders, Gmail’s powerful search lets us find what we need in seconds on any device, and links directly to Docs on Drive and meetings on Hangouts. We don’t need to subdivide and separate projects and personnel, so teams develop more naturally.
    Supercharged project management
    • Every prototype we make is run through a series of tests by different groups before teams go back to the drawing board. With Drive, all of the information from every test is immediately available, and because we only have one version of the results on Sheets and Docs, we always know we’re working from the correct files.
    • Google Apps makes it easy to coordinate teamwork. At the beginning of every project, we create a plan of action on Sheets for colleagues to keep track of progress. Rather than trade emails, now when someone wants to organise a meeting they go directly to Calendar, check someone’s availability and create a meeting, adding a link for a video call on Hangouts when they can’t meet in-person but still want that person-to-person time.
    One tight team
    • Hangouts allows employees hundred of miles apart to feel that they work in one office. We use Hangouts daily to ensure maximum staff contact while saving on travel costs, video conferencing hardware, telecom bills and even time spent looking up phone numbers.
    • We keep minutes of meetings in Docs so that staff can add to the same document simultaneously and leave comments on the public document after the event.
    • Intuitive interfaces and simple administrative setup mean that when we bring on someone new, we can swiftly integrate them with our team. We even give them a Form asking where they will sit and what materials they need, so that we’re ready for their arrival ahead of time.


    Our work at BQ is part of a long-term project. When we teach children how to program and design their own Zowi the robot, we’re not just teaching them basic robotics, we also want to prepare them for a future in which technology will play an ever greater role. Google is the perfect partner for that mission, with its understanding of the fast-evolving tech landscape and the constant updates to its Apps. Ultimately, our goals are aligned: we both want to give people the tools to empower themselves.

    Top ways to save time and #maketime with Google Apps

    Posted by Matt Charman, Senior Product Marketing Manager

    Today we’re launching the #maketime website, which builds on the movement to hold uninterrupted time on our calendars during the hours when we’re most creative. The website helps you prioritize time for the things that keep you inspired, over the things that just keep you busy.

    Did you know that we spend 2.25 hours a day on average answering emails and 86 hours a month on average in meetings? The workplace is changing. We have the freedom to work and collaborate across any device and the flexibility to finish tasks and create from wherever we are. But we’re also more accessible.


    Use the #maketime website to look at how you spend your work hours, so you can stamp out needless time takers, and not just save time, but #maketime for the things that are important to you.

    Here are a few ways you can save time to #maketime with Google Apps.

    Save time with Reminders in Google Calendar


    Use Reminders in Google Calendar to combine an evolving and editable to-do list with your scheduled events. See the items on your list that you haven’t “checked off” yet at the top of your calendar each day, until you give them that triumphant swipe “complete!”

    And Reminders sync with your contacts, so you can add phone numbers and addresses. When it’s time to call in dinner reservations at a favorite restaurant, dial directly from the Reminder.


    Save time with machine learning and Inbox


    From Inbox, use Smart Reply to respond to emails without typing out the reponses yourself. Machine learning recognizes emails that can be answered with short replies and creates natural language responses instantly — often with a few versions to choose from.

    Save time by researching and collaborating in Docs


    Switching between tabs and tools costs incremental time that adds up. In Docs and Slides, you can use the Research tool to do a quick Web and file search for terms you need to gather more info on. And now you can do the same on the go within the Docs app on Android.

    From Docs, Sheets and Slides, you can also use the instant comments feature on the Web or your Android or iOS device to add teammates to the conversation by simply adding their names (just start typing names and contacts will appear in the comment box). So when you’ve got some great feedback on a line of text or a table of data, you can add a note right next to it that sends an email. No need to go back into Gmail to draft an additional note.

    Also in Sheets, Explore deciphers your data for you and automatically creates charts and insights that illustrate trends. The time cost on your end: seconds.


    Save time by converting image text


    One of the coolest recent innovations in Drive for Work is the Optical Character Recognition that converts text in images into text documents to collaborate on. You can take a photo of a whiteboard brainstorm or an inspiring message on the other side of the subway window and turn that photo into a shared doc.

    We can’t stop the clock — or to a large degree control the number of emails that flood our inboxes or the amount of traffic that slows our work commutes. But we can find ways to make more minutes meaningful.

    Google Apps identity, easy and secure single sign on for popular work apps

    Posted by Shashank Gupta, Google Apps for Work Product Manager

    Millions of businesses rely on Google to protect employee logins to Google Apps services like Drive and Gmail. And we continue to make it easier to extend that ease and security to more applications with Google Identity, providing organizations a single place to manage identity and security for all of their SaaS/IT applications.

    Last year, we announced support for SAML 2.0 where Google is the identity provider. Today, we're adding pre-configured support for Microsoft Office 365, Facebook at Work, Panorama9, New Relic, Concur, Coupa, Box, Slack and more. This adds to the hundreds of apps we already support through the Google Apps Marketplace and OpenID Connect.


    Google's identity services provide even more security on mobile when combined with Google Apps enterprise mobile management controls like password strength, lock screen requirements and app management. These can work in tandem with the increasing number of mobile security options, from hardware such as fingerprint readers, to software such as Google’s Smart Lock. Our Google Smart Lock features are available to all Google Accounts, including those used at work, and we provide identity services and enterprise mobility management (EMM) as part of Google Apps for Work at no additional cost.

    Learn more about how you can use Google identity services for work in our Identity whitepaper or by easily integrating the apps you use direct from the Google Apps for Work Admin console.