How to Manage a Small Business Using Google Applications

Are you a small business owner or manager ? Do you need software that can help you and your employees collaborate on business documents and share spreadsheet data? Would you like to manage all of your employees' schedules, meetings and to-do lists using a single calendar program? Would you like to do all of this and more, no matter whether you and your employees are in the office, at home or at the coffee shop?

Best of all, would you like to do all of this for free?

If so, try the suite of Web applications offered by Google. You're probably already familiar with -- or at least have heard of -- Gmail, Google's free Web-based e-mail service. And of course, most Internet users already use Google for Web searching.

But there are many more options available if you know where to look, and they're right up the small business owner's alley.

To get started, you and each of your employees will need a Google account. They're free and easy to sign up for at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount.

1. Use Google Docs & Spreadsheets to share word processing files and spreadsheets among your staff. Once you've got your Google account, go to http://docs.google.com. You can create word processing documents and spreadsheets from scratch, or you can import them from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice. You can share them with your employees by opening a document, clicking the "Share" tab and entering your employees' e-mail addresses. They can then edit the documents themselves. As a bonus, you can click the "Revisions" tab to get a thorough editing history, so you can see who made which changes in each document. If you're sending a file to a client who would like it in a Microsoft format, you can export the document as a Microsoft file.

2. Use Google Calendar to coordinate your business schedules and tasks. Go to http://www.google.com/calendar. You can add and delete events. By going to "Settings," you can share your business calendar with your employees by entering their e-mail addresses, and they can do the same with you. You can also have your employees give you the power to edit their calendars. Once the calendars are shared, their events will show up in your calendar, and vice-versa, with each employee's events color-coded. If you want to schedule a business staff meeting, for example, you could check your calendar -- and everyone else's at the same time -- to find the best date and time, and then add the event to everyone's calendar at once.

3. Use Google's custom homepage to keep up with business and keyword-specific news. At http://www.google.com/ig, you can set up an iGoogle home page. You can you add widgets showing current news headlines, stock prices and other information. You can also customize your news by keyword. Go to "Add stuff" and search for "Customized News." Add the "Google News - Customized" widget to your home page. Edit the widget to search for a keyword in the news. If you're in the plastics business, for example, simply make your keyword "plastics." Google will keep your news widget up to date with all the news stories it finds that contain the word "plastics." You can add many customized news widgets to your homepage, so you can keep up with a variety of subjects.

4. Use Google Talk to communicate with employees. Whether you and your staff are in or out of the office, you can keep in touch by instant message or voice using Google Talk. At http://www.google.com/talk, you can launch a Web version of the instant-messaging program or download a copy to your computer (whichever you prefer). You can instant message anyone with a Google account. If you really want to talk, you can start a voice chat. On a high-speed Internet connection, the sound and call quality are excellent. You will, however, need a microphone and speakers (or headphones) of some sort.

There you have it -- four easy, free and portable tools you can use to manage your small business. Because they're all part of Google's massive suite of applications, they're highly customizable and can be used along with other Google programs. For a full list of Google products and services, go to http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/ and check them out.