So this week we took the decision to transfer all our emails etc over to Google Apps, and since then it has been an eye opener just how good Google Apps for business is for any small business or startup.

As with any small business or startup, IT is paramount to running an efficient business and we were finding it tricky with so many different types of software to deal with emails, storage, social media and much more, that we really needed to bring everything together into one solution.

So spurred on by our dated email solution we took the plunge and paid to join the Google Apps for business. At first having to pay for anything like email solutions makes you think, Google Apps charge £3.30 per user per month, or you can opt to pay £33 per year, but for what you get in efficiency and an overall solution this amount is a steel.

First off, if your not using it already, the Google Chrome browser is not only slick but will enhance your Google Apps service, it allows you to use all the Google apps services much quicker as well as having some neat features thrown in on things like gmail.

Googles Gmail Email Solution

One of the biggest issues we faced was the shear number of devices we had needing email to be synced. We were always having issues with pop3 accounts, emails showing as read when they hadn’t been.

But Gmail has none of these issues, its slick, its available on all devices and it remains synced. One of the other little benefits is when sending an email from our iPhones, it picks the normal signature that we use with our standard emails, so no more “sent from my iPhone” it now send professional looking emails without anyone knowing where they have come from.

Gmails email solution is beautiful, its simple, its so easy to control filters, and what we have found hugely useful is the direct contact that can be made with so many of our colleagues, we can add any one to our Google+ circles and more, all directly within the email client.

Google Drive

With Google drive now storing, working or editing documents is a piece of cake. You get 30GB of storage within the package and the ability to buy more if you need. But what stood out was the great way you can edit online all those office documents, you can invite colleagues to edit the same documents and so much more.

Drive is a great way to keep all your business documents in one place and accessible from anywhere.