Your experiences with Google Apps?

[JJRM]

I'm running an Exchange Server in our small company but I'm really trying to "outsource" if you can call it that. Being a small company, I have many other things to do and my time would be much better spent making money instead of supporting the system.

Whats your experiences with Google Apps? Is standard reliable enough? Or do I HAVE to go premier?

 

[Tsimo]

it is awesome. i use it for my private domain and a few friends as well. i have not had any problems.. the standard version is most useful and i have not had the need to get the upgraded version. the ads dont make any difference to me since i use POP and it is supported. if you need more than 25 accounts i think you can apply for more. my domain is 100 used capable.

 

[Tsimo]

i would recommend starting at standard and if you must upgrade to premier.

 

[mh348]

+1 for Google Apps. I use it for company mail and also setup several clients using it. Works great, haven't had any problems.

 

[justtech]

I have switched over two of my clients to Google Apps, and they are very pleased with it. The standard version is more than enough.

 

[JJRM]

Problem is I have convince the decision maker that it's reliable and safe i.e. confidential company info is secure and downtime is a minimum

 

[icyrus]

Problem is I have convince the decision maker that it's reliable and safe i.e. confidential company info is secure and downtime is a minimum

Google's servers are an order of magnitude more reliable that our internet connections so your reliability concerns will be entirely focused on your connection - which I don't see how it can be any different than your current setup.

If there really is a need for confidentiality then you should be using some form of encryption. Otherwise it is just pointless lip-service from your decision maker and a sure sign that they do not understand the environment.

 

[justtech]

It's probably more reliable and safer than running the services locally, especially if you do not currently have an extensive disaster management system in place for in case your server dies.

Other benefits are that you don't need to worry about backup and mail is scanned for viruses before they reach you.

If you install Google Gears on the machines, downtime is also not such a big concern because the users will still be able to access all their data while offline.