October 3rd, 2007
Google Apps becomes a more viable enterprise solution
One gripe I have with Google Apps for enterprise use is the lack of control companies have over their data. If an email isn’t delivered or something happened to an email account by accident, the administrator can do nothing but say “I will send Google a message and I will let you know what they say”. I know from experience that an answer like that does nothing but frustrate end users and make them want Exchange.
Well, Google took a huge step forward in that department today. Enterprise users (the ones that spend $50/year/account) now have access to the powerful features of Postini through the Google Apps dashboard. Postini was acquired by Google earlier this year, and at the time we wondered if it would be available as a free feature for Google Apps — turns out that only paying customers and those signed up for the education package can take advantage of it.
I know I would be more willing to pay $4/month/account for Google Apps now that I have access to Postini. There are always users who actually believe Gmail “isn’t working” and everything would be perfect if they just had Exchange (even though 99% of the time their problems can be attributed to user error). Now, on a per-user basis, you can easily route messages to alternate mail servers — like Exchange if you must. That is just one small example that illustrates how Postini can make an email administrators life much easier.
In addition to Postini, Google is now offering 25 gigabytes of storage per account too. This much space should satisfy even the users who use email the most within an organization. What do you think? Is Google Apps becoming a more viable enterprise solution? Is it ready to compete with Exchange yet?
Garett Rogers is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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