BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Many Google Apps enterprise users out there are scratching their heads about using Google+. “How can I use this in my organization?” “Is it securing enough for internal communication?” Or simply, “What is Google+?” Since this is a hot topic among our clients, it is worth reviewing Google+ Best Practices as well as Domain Security Considerations to see if it is a good fit for your organization and culture. Let’s start out with some of the Google+ basics. We think of Google+, not as another version of Facebook where people are posting status updates like what they ate for breakfast, but as a virtual meeting place, where colleagues can share ideas, info, and collaborate in real time or on their own time, ultimately bringing people together to share knowledge. And we all know that two (or more) heads are better than one! On Plus, companies and users can create their profiles to introduce themselves to colleagues they may not have met yet, follow others who provide interesting content in their industry or just interesting content in general. Associates can “hang out” on a video conference, while sharing screens or Google Docs, and even chat back and forth. The cool thing here is that Plus is integrated into the Google Apps world that users are already familiar with, and it continues to become more and more integrated with the GA user experience, it’s not just another tool. And did I mention it is fun? Now, before we get to the fun stuff, let’s review a few things from the domain security perspective. First of all, it is important to note that Google+ is platform with public facing capabilities. We usually hear from our customers that they have a lot of concern around the fact that Google+ is not a company only platform. This can be a showstopper for many organizations. However, it may be helpful to think about this concern much like those of any other social media or messaging platform. The same risks for publishing internal content to the public exist whether the user accidentally sends an internal email to the wrong person, tweets about something internal, or posts about it in Facebook, as exist in Google+ today. So using Plus, in fact, is no different from using the other tools, there are risks, but the company can do many things to prepare their users and preventing these risks from happening.

Answer the following question.

Q1. What is Google+? Discuss its importance in internal communications.

Q2. Give your comments on “Google+ is not a company only platform”