I seem to spend so many of my waking days in Microsoft Office. When I get the chance, I like to switch it up and use another application for writing. After spending the last year using Dropbox Paper to write blog posts, I switched over to Google Docs and I’m finding out I like it.
Here’s why:
Continue reading “Building the better G Suite administrator”
I’ve written about G Suite and other cloud productivity tools or a while now. Furthermore, I’ve had the chance to explore the intersection of Microsoft Office and G Suite for technical writing and user productivity.
G Suite can represent some significant cost savings for *some* organizations. It’s not going to happen by taking G Suite live and sending your enterprise users a URL. Outside of a solid implementation plan, the role of the G Suite Administrator plays a crucial role in the successful launch of G Suite.
When staffing the G Suite Administrator role, remember the key role this person has in making G Suite successful within your organization.
I recommend taking a holistic approach to filling this important job. The G Suite Administrator could find themselves involved in some business critical functions including:
Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Sites, Gmail and the other applications all have their own management tasks.
Post-implementation you should allow your G Suite administrator time to tweak G Suite application settings. If you are moving from Microsoft Office, expect to receive some user feedback!
Office productivity applications such as word processors and spreadsheets power many business processes making it helpful if the G Suite Administrator has a bit of a business analysis bent. Such a bent can go a long way to help users adapt their existing business processes to G Suite.
The Google Apps Marketplace is a game changer for creating enterprise productivity solutions. Your administrator can integrate G Suite with other apps without needing to write a line of code!
The introduction of Google Apps is going to change how your organization manages security over documents. Gone are the shared network drives and SharePoint sites you are already familiar with and in comes the new model that Google Apps uses. There are also security considerations for deploying Google Sites for collaboration.
While online collaboration is valuable for productivity and communications it can still be new territory for organizations implementing G Suite for the first time.
There are G Suite apps available for iOS and Android devices giving your enterprise an onramp to mobile productivity. The better G Suite administrator needs some mobility expertise to troubleshoot issues that might arise.
Microsoft Office is never going to go away regardless of what the technology journalists and pundits say.
Even if you drop Microsoft Office from your organization, you won’t be able to cut it from your customers, partners, and vendors.
Your G Suite Administrator is in the ideal role for taking the lead in managing G Suite/Microsoft Office compatibility issues. They can do the following:
The introduction of G Suite is also going to have an impact in user assistance. There might be new end-user documentation and training required. While Google does a credible job with their own online documentation, your G Suite administrator is going to have to fill in the gaps including:
What are some other important duties of the G Suite Administrator that enterprises might overlook?
Originally published at willkelly.blog on February 11, 2018.
I’ve come around on my feelings about G Suite after years of working in Microsoft Office-dominated organizations for years. My skepticism for the product has gone away as the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) improves across the cross platform. One thing that I still think that Google has always gotten right is the ease of integration with G Suite and other cloud applications through the Google Apps Marketplace.
Here are my three favorite Google Apps integrations:
