The coronavirus pandemic has forced a whole lot of businesses to suddenly rethink the way they operate.
For some, this meant all hands to panic stations as they tried to figure out how to use their old technology to set up new working from home capabilities.
Others were taken by surprise by how easy the shift to remote working was. Most of these companies had already started using the latest collaboration tools in their day-to-day business.
One of those tools is the so-called G Suite.
What is the G Suite?
The G Suite is a collection of Google-designed apps and products which make remote working simple.
It’s a fully cloud-based system, which means you can use it all via your web browser. You can do this on any sort of device – even mobile ones. The G Suite contains all the tools you need to:
- Connect with your team – Google Meet and Google Chat let you message, chat and hold meetings.
- Collaborate and create – you have Google Docs, Sheets and so on, all of which can be securely stored and shared.
- Control who accesses your data – with the handy ability to set granular permissions for different users and different devices.
How the G Suite makes remote working easier
1) It keeps things simple and central
Small and medium businesses of all kinds have migrated to the G Suite for two pretty simple reasons. To put it bluntly:
It does a whole bunch of very useful things. And it isn’t that complicated to use.
What the G Suite does is provide a variety of tools that all businesses need and which make remote working very straightforward. All of these tools are very user-friendly. All of them can be used via any modern web browser you prefer (though, as you might expect, Chrome is best).
None of them needs to be downloaded or jury-rigged to work with the others.
2) You can collaborate in real-time
All of the various apps included in the G Suite designed to work together. But there are extra tools which help your team work together too.
Everyone can access the same Google Doc or Sheet, for example, and work on a project collaboratively. They can also use Google Chat or Google Meet to discuss things alongside.
Google Chat, in particular, is much pretty much the epitome of how a chat platform should work. You can create a “room” for specific conversations, start video calls with set groups or individuals and much more.
It takes barely a click or two. The people you’re working with might as well be sitting at the next desk.
3) It makes project management simple
Tracking the progress of a team which is remote working can feel like a bit of a headache. The G Suite does away with that.
Not only can you dip into any project at any time, but you can also use Google Calendar to project manage and track deadlines and progress. You can even launch that update meeting you set up directly from the calendar!
When multiple people are working on a single file, you can use the version history to see who made changes and when – and roll-back any changes to any point.
4) It boosts your security
With your team separated by distance, it can feel risky to pass valuable information around. Not so, with G Suite. The powerful, multiple layers of protection of the system include:
- DDOS protection
- High-level firewalls
- In-transit and at-rest data encryption
- Synchronous data replication
- Regular third-party security audits of the system as a whole
You also have some pretty impressive security controls built-in on your end.
For example, you can give individual users and devices different permission levels. You can remotely lock or even wipe data if a device is stolen or lost. You also can’t be subject to ransomware attacks when you’re using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms or Drawings.
That’s all in addition to the increasingly smart email protections against phishing, spoofing and other dangers which Gmail comes with.
G Suite – remote working made simple
Every part of the G Suite is designed to work with every other, enabling your team to work with each other no matter where they are. It also gives you a big increase on the security side.
Currently, there are over 2 billion active monthly users of the G Suite. So these are definitely things which increasing numbers of businesses are starting to find out for themselves.
Might your business benefit from migrating to the G Suite?
Let’s chat about it. Dial A Geek is the go-to choice of nearly 1000 businesses in and around Bristol when it comes to solving all kinds of IT problems.
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