Google+ Wants Your Small Business

A couple of weeks ago, SmallBizGoMobile writer Nick Muntean wrote a piece outlining reasons why he thought the new social networking site Google+ is Not Yet Ready for Business. Maybe Google read his piece, because recently, the company has rolled out its plans to let businesses create Google+ profiles, similar to a LinkedIn or Facebook Page.

Google is planning to run a small beta experiment within + with a select group of businesses that will enable them to create a business profile and try out tools and features aimed at productivity and further sharing news and information about the business/brand. Google product manager Christian Oestlien announced on YouTube that the Google+ business profiles will include “things like rich analytics and the ability to connect that identity to other parts of Google that businesses might use on a daily basis like AdWords.”

So imagine if you already use Google Apps for Business. The ability to share your documents, email conversations, calendar events and other Apps data/content with individual users or all of your businesses Google+ Circles may push Google even higher up on your “One stop shop for ALL your business needs” list. Furthermore, a Google+ profile may be even more valuable than your LinkedIn or Facebook business profile due to the possibility that more than just sharing information and connecting with other users may be happening over on your businesses Google+ profile.

Currently, that’s all speculation due to the fact that the Google+ for business beta hasn’t rolled out yet. But you can’t help but wonder: Will a Google+ personal, profession or business profile be worth the trouble of adding yet another social networking site to the list of stuff you have to manage? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Mobile Google Docs Improves Sharing Features

You don’t really need a native mobile app to view, edit, and share your documents stored in the Google Docs cloud. The mobile site does a dandy job of letting you do what you need with just a data connection. Now users have even greater sharing capabilities to make sure your colleagues and clients have access to all the right documents, no matter where you are.

According to the Google Mobile Blog, all you have to do is visit the site, drill down to the correct document(s), press the Share button, and select Share, get the link to share for public or unlisted docs, or Email as an attachment. This method is nothing new. In fact, it’s the same way you would share a document if you were using the full desktop version of Google Docs.

There’s nothing like getting a phone call or email, stating that your colleagues or clients “did get it” (even though you know for a FACT you sent them the document). Since “the customer is always right”, it just makes more sense to understand the situation at hand, and mak sure they get what they need. with the Google Docs mobile site, you can share your documents with ease even if you’re on the go, so you can go back to enjoying your day.

Google+ Not Yet Ready For Business

Last week, Google unveiled Google+, its latest attempt (following Wave and Buzz) at crafting a social networking platform potent enough to lure users away from Facebook (and, to a lesser extent, Twitter).  Though Google+ is still in an early beta phase—registration is currently closed, so prospective users will have to wait for the G to re-open its gates sometime in the near future—it seems like this may be Mountain View’s big push into the social networking arena.  While the future success of Google+ will largely be determined by whether users embrace the new platform—either in lieu of Facebook, or as a supplement to it—we’re most concerned with how Google+ might enable small businesses to enhance their sales and online presence.

This is a big question, especially since Facebook’s offerings for businesses are somewhat limited; through Facebook, businesses can directly advertise to particular demographic groups, and/or create company profile pages, which users can then “like,” and follow.  These limitations aren’t particularly surprising, as Facebook’s initial imperative focused on providing social connectivity features for individual users, allowing the site to build a critical mass of users, from which, it was hoped, profits would somehow follow.

By contrast, Google is building its platform long after achieving significant mind-share amongst the world’s Web-enabled citizens; as a result, it’s probably safe to surmise that commercial considerations and companies’ needs were given high consideration throughout the Google+ development process.  Indeed, Google has pro-actively assured small business owners that they will soon be able to create company “Pages” on the new platform, while also asserting that “initially we wanted to make sure that we optimized for the individual use case…[b]uilding great consumer products is a necessary prerequisite for compelling business products.”  Sure, Google knows that it has to attract users before the platform will have any real value for businesses and advertisers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t planning for the future.  For instance, Nexus 4G users have found that the Google+ mobile app features NFC integration: Though the NFC functionality is currently quite limited, Google is likely planning to integrate its Google+ NFC tech with its recent Google Wallet and Google Offers NFC-based mobile applications (you can check out our previous coverage of Google Wallet here), which could provide some really innovative new ways for businesses to build relationships with their customers.

As it stands now, Google+ doesn’t really have much to offer small businesses, with Google (rightfully) focusing on building out a sufficiently large user base before inviting commercial interests to the party.  Of course, Google’s investment in this platform isn’t altruistic, it’s commercial, and when all the various pieces are considered as a whole, it seems as though Google is on the cusp of offering a fully integrated system that will combine features of Yelp, Foursquare, Groupon, Facebook, and Twitter, powered by a combination of mobile and desktop devices, and utilizing NFC technology at every possible turn.  There’s a lot of promise here for small business owners, let’s just hope there’s enough user adoption for these services to come to fruition.

Three Productivity Updates to Google Sync for iPhone and iPad

Adding Google email accounts, contacts, and calendars to their iDevice is one of the first things Google software addicts do when they get their shiny new Apple hardware. Google recognizes that a huge chunk on their mobile customer base carry Apple gadgets, so they have updated some of their Google Sync features to further enhance the Google experience on the iPhone and iPad.

Now you can search through ALL of your emails versus just the range of messages you selected to sync on your device. Before, you had to access the mobile-friendly Gmail site to search all of your mail (live or archived) on your account.

You can also accept, decline, and edit calendar appointments directly from your device. Now I can turn off all of those email notifications to alert me somebody sends a calendar appointment!

Finally, “Send Mail as” works in any account you have set up on your device. In other words, if you manage multiple accounts from your device (I personally manage 5), without physically switching accounts, you can select from which account you want to send or reply to a message. For example, if somebody sends me a message to my personal account, I can [passive-aggressively] send them a reply from the right account by tapping the “From” field and selecting that address.

The new features work for both Gmail and for all the small businesses (myself included) using Google Apps accounts. Google Sync is a must-have if you live by Google software AND by Apple hardware. Visit the Google Mobile Site to learn how to setup Google Sync on your iDevice.

[via: Google Mobile Blog]

Chrome Notebook: Business in the Cloud

“The cloud” is hot – you’d have to have your head buried in sand to have not heard the word “cloud” from the tech sector this year.  Apple has introduced iCloud, Microsoft has Windows Cloud and Amazon has introduced their Cloud Drive product. Although all of these products show great promise, I think that the Google Chrome notebook might be the coolest cloud product so far (given, that my definition of ‘cool’ means ‘getting business done’).  In fact, I’m writing these very words on a virtual machine mock-up of a Chrome Notebook made via Parallels 6.

A Google Chrome notebook is really any laptop that runs Google’s Chrome browser.  Yup, that’s it.  How can an OS be this simple?  Web apps.  The entire Google Chrome way of working is  a cloud-based version of  “there’s an app for that”.  You can use Google documents for your word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.  You can even edit and store photos.  Outside of heavy design work or software development which requires a local Integrated Development Environment, there is pretty much nothing that this machine hasn’t been able to do for me.  Angry Birds is even available for free!

The consumer product is available in several flavors, including both 3g and WiFi models.  Acer makes a couple, Samsung makes a few, and all are less than $500.  The machines are simple, but quick – dual atom processors, 2gigs of ram (non upgradable), and 16gigs of solid state memory.  The unimpressive hardware is forgivable since most of the computing takes place in the cloud; additionally, it makes the machines very affordable.  Geek out to the full teardown over at iFixIt.

The great thing about the cloud is that your business can lose its attachment to physical devices.  The machine doesn’t matter- it’s a throwaway, a burner.  All your work is in the cloud. If your sales rep is on the road and pours coffee into their laptop, it’s no longer an IT emergency.  They can go to the local Best Buy, put $400 on the corporate card, log back into the Google account and keep working.  The rep’s pipeline is there, the sizzle reel is there, their contacts are all there…in the cloud.

I’m not quite ready to let go of my macbook, but I am very impressed with the Chrome notebook.  It embodies the true spirit of mobile productivity.  I had no problem blogging,  social networking, handling money management or any other task I do daily.  The machine only fell down when tasked with heavy design and development work that isn’t common to non-software developers.  Yay cloud.

Taskforce brings fully featured tasks to your Gmail account

Though Google Tasks has been available to Gmail account holders for several years, users may have noticed that the applet isn’t on Mountain View’s high-priority list, as Google has failed to provide any significantly upgraded functionality for Tasks since its initial release. Third-party developers, however, have created a number of excellent mobile Tasks apps, which allow users to sync their Tasks entries across devices. Despite the best efforts of these third-party developers, they’re still hindered by the inherent limitations of the Google Tasks API. For those who demand a more fully featured task application, yet still require seamless integration with the Gmail environment, there is Taskforce, who has reimagined the Gmail task management experience by creating their own bespoke task management add-on, which promises to deliver a number of productivity-enhancing features aimed at business and enterprise users. Sounds good so far; let’s see how it works!

Installing Taskforce is simple; just go to their website, enter your Gmail address, download the Taskforce browser extension (available for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari—sorry IE users!), restart your browser, and log-in to Gmail. The Taskforce toolbar will now be floating in the upper-right-hand corner of Gmail, allowing you to view existing Tasks, create new Tasks, and monitor your “Activities,” which are automatically generated when you share your task with a collaborator (the Activities function works regardless of whether or not your collaborator has installed Taskforce on their computer). Multiple collaborators can be brought in on the same Activity, and specific emails can easily be associated with a particular Activity just by clicking on the “Add to Existing Task” Taskforce button that appears above every email opened in Gmail. Collaborators can comment upon an Activity, and everyone else associated with that Activity can then view those comments. There’s a lot of potential here for small business owners who frequently work with outside vendors, or are seeking to promote collaborative efforts amongst internal staff members.

The Activities function is really the highlight of Taskforce, as it provides a very simple, yet powerful means through which to link specific tasks with their relevant collaborators and corresponding email communiqués. Taskforce also does a pretty commendable job of converting emails into tasks, though as one might expect, this feature does occasionally require some post-hoc editing.

In its current iteration, Taskforce has two notable downsides. First, when you send a task to a non-Taskforce-enable collaborator, the program doesn’t provide any confirmation that the task has been sent, or received; if you’re working on a tight deadline, this omission could prove to be more than a mere nuisance. More problematic, at least for our readership, is Taskforce’s lack of mobility; the program is currently usable only on laptops and desktops running full versions of the compatible browsers. The only way to load Taskforce on a mobile device is through a special login on Taskforce’s website, which offers limited access to existing tasks and activities, and provides no integration with mobile versions of Gmail. If the majority of your correspondence and scheduling is done in the office, this might not be a deal-breaker, but if you’re handling the majority of your communications and logistics from a mobile device while on the road, Taskforce’s limited mobility could be a real source of frustration.

My advice? Try it for yourself: What Taskforce does, it does very well, and its mobile functionality is likely adequate for occasional use. At the very least, there’s a lot of promise in this app, and I’ll definitely be following its future developments. Who knows, maybe Google will take notice, and start to include some of Taskforce’s features into future iterations of Google Tasks.

Google Wallet and Google Offers Bring Huge Opportunities to Small Business Owners and Consumers

Today we were at Google’s press conference in NYC, it just concluded, and we have to say, the implications could be huge for small business owners, with Google announcing two key new Android apps that will potentially enable your customers to pay you faster by using their mobile phone. The primary app, Google Wallet, will securely store and communicate financial information from users’ phones to merchants’ NFC terminals. NFC (near field communication) is a wireless technology that has been around but is becoming more popular.  The other app announced was Google Offers, which serves as a complement to Wallet, integrating coupons and loyalty programs to the transaction experience.  Let’s take a look at the features offered by each app, and then consider the implications for small business owners.

Wallet will roll out this summer, though it will initially provide NFC services only with Citi Mastercard and/or a pre-paid Google account.  Google promises that more account types (Visa, American Express, non-Citi Mastercards, etc.) will be added in the future, but they didn’t name any specific partners, nor did they offer up any sort of timetable.  Despite the limited number of launch-time partnerships, the potential for Wallet is huge, as it’s the first NFC system that allows users to maintain multiple credit accounts within the same NFC client.  As Wallet gains wider adoption, more banks and credit agencies will likely jump aboard, which will provide users with an NFC commerce experience as flexible and robust as the current, leather wallet-based transaction process.

For small business owners, Google Offers promises to be a real game-changer.  Google demonstrated how seamlessly Offers integrates with both Wallet and users’ desktop browsing experience; a desktop Google search for “denim shorts” might yield a digital coupon, which can be added into the user’s Offers account through a single click, and then redeemed in person, via Wallet, at the local point-of-sale.  Even more exciting is the integration of location-specific coupons and offers into the Android ecosystem; a phone-based search for “sandwiches” could yield offers from nearby restaurants, generating greater first-time customers for local businesses and international franchises alike.  Offers will also manage and track customer loyalty programs, which could definitely help transform occasional customers into regular patrons.  Google is selectively launching Offers in Portland, San Francisco, and New York this summer, though once the initial bugs have been worked out, the program will likely quickly spread to other cities.

Google also outlined some features that will likely be added to Wallet/Offers over the next several years; digital receipts, transaction-based prizes and games, and eventually the ability to integrate drivers’ licenses, health insurance cards, concert tickets, and hotel keys.  What remains unknown, though, is who will be responsible for securing the data of these para-transactional experiences.  For the financial information of the transaction itself, Google has partnered with FirstData to provide secure transmission and storage of relevant data, but it’s unclear if FirstData would also be responsible for managing loyalty card information and the like.

There’s a lot of potential here, but what can small businesses expect in the short-term?

To be honest, not much.  Currently, the only Android phone sporting an NFC chip is the Nexus S, and it’s hard to build an entirely new commerce ecosystem around a single phone.  More NFC-enabled Android phones will likely arrive later this year, but it will take at least several years before a significant number of consumers have Google NFC technology in their pockets.  And, with rumors circulating that Apple has an NFC platform of its own in the works, it’s unlikely that Google’s initiative will move forward without some competition from its rivals.  The short-term potential of Wallet/Offers is also tempered by the aforementioned lack of launch-time financial partners; how many people have both a Citi Mastercard AND a Nexus S, and how many consumers look forward to regularly refilling a bespoke Google debit account?

Sure, the immediate potential of Google’s announcement is pretty limited, but with NFC terminal readers costing less than $10, merchants won’t be staking a significant financial investment in the technology, should it fail to find widespread consumer adoption.  And the long-term potential for small businesses is absolutely huge; if Wallet and Offers become widely adopted by consumers, smaller merchants and local retailers will be able to engage in the type of targeted advertising and sophisticated customer loyalty programs (with their accompanying analytics…) that are today affordable only for medium-to-large companies.  If you’re a small business owner in one Google’s trial cities, becoming an early adopter of Wallet/Offers could pay considerable dividends down the road, as your familiarity and expertise with the infrastructure could provide a key competitive advantage, should Google’s NFC become the transactional experience of the future.

Google Announcement Today

I’m on the train headed to NYC today to blog & broadcast from a Google announcement that also involves other partners will be today at 12noon. It’s been highly speculated what it’s about (And yes I do know, but can’t share just yet). In our business many times we get the scoop on something but have to honor what’s called an embargo. It’s a way of enabling the companies to share info they are about to announce with the media but the media has to wait to speak about it til the announcement happens or some other specified time limit. This is what makes “exclusives” so special being able to get the news scoop ahead & the ok to announce it before anyone else.

Anyway, i spell all this out because as you may see online people are already talking about what’s going to be announced & there must have been a leak somewhere, probably from someone in the media who just wanted to release it first, but the bottom line is I’m holding true to the embargo which is removed at 12noon today.

So, I will bring you photos, video and some behind the scenes while there at today’s event & as soon as I can give details I will.

Stay tuned to this blog & at SmallBizGoMobile

What do you hope will be announced today?

Monday App Roundtable

Every week on Mario’s radio show (5-6pm on SiriusXM channel 128), the Small Biz Go Mobile writers and friends get together to discuss some of their favorite apps.  Here’s what we took a look at this week:

Terrance’s Pick: Gigwalk

Small Biz Go Mobile’s Terrance (@Brothatech) is talking about a way to put the millions of iPhone owners to work, by offering them payments to complete tasks and take pictures? Gigwalk let’s you create gigs for freelance walkers to collect business info and photographs, verify map information, and capture the retail experience at your location.

Are you a freelancer looking to make some extra cash? The Gigwalk app lets you pick up these jobs, ranging anywhere from a few hundred to more than a thousand dollars. Take some pictures, write some descriptions, and get paid, all from within the app.

Though it hasn’t been rolled out across the country, Gigwalk is currently available in the following major areas: Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, South Florida, Boston, and Chicago.

Get Gigwalk from the iTunes store.

Ramon Ray’s pick: Qik

@RamonRay writes for Small Biz Technology, a site that shares weekly business tips with us here at SmallBizGoMobile.  His app pick this week is Qik, the easiest way to share video because it streams it right from your phone or tablet device.  With no need to edit or upload anything, your viewers can check out what you’re recording like right from Qik’s site.

Head on over to Qik’s website to get the app for your device.

Shy’s pick: Chrome to Phone

With so many people trying out Google’s Chrome web browser this week to take advantage of the free Angry Birds app for Chrome, I’m sure a lot of people are wondering what makes Chrome a better browser than say, Firefox or Internet Explorer.  One extension that I use all the time is  Chrome to phone which lets you send links and phone numbers easily to your Android phone or tablet. Need an easy way to download the apps we’re talking about today? If you had Chrome to phone, you could just send this page to your device and install the apps from the market links I’m including.

http://youtu.be/pQb243niMlg

Google’s Cloud Laptops Announced at I/O Conference

It looks as if Google is ready to let loose its Chromebooks on the masses. What’s so different about a Chromebook? The fact that the operating system, security options and programs/apps are all stored in Google’s cloud. This means that there really is nothing that will actually be saved to the device, which makes for a faster computing experience (8 seconds to boot up according to Google). The Chromebooks can connect either via WiFi or you can add a 3G option that will make the device self-reliant when it comes to a network/data connection.

At its I/O conference, Google has announced the first two Chromebook models that will go on sale at Amazon and Best Buy starting June 15th. The first is made by Samsung and it’s a 12″ model with a dual-core processor and an HD webcam that will cost around $429 for WiFi only and $499 if you opt for the built-in 3G (monthly data charges apply).

The second device is a slightly smaller and lighter Acer version that has almost the same features but with the addition of an HDMI port. The Acer model is WiFi-only and will cost $349. Google will also offer Chromebooks for Business and Education uses that add extra protection, security, and IT policy compatibility.

Maybe it’s just me, but it sounds as if Google’s Chromebooks, with their smaller and lighter frames, faster boot times, and the ability to save/share/sync ALL of your data to the cloud, might just give the uber-fashionable tablet device a run for its money…and I didn’t even mention how cheaper they are to the leading tablet device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVqe8ieqz10&feature=player_embedded