Google empowers Nigerian businesses with apps for greater productivity

·         Reduces IT costs by over 35%   

Chuks Udo Okonta

 

Google recently organised a breakfast session at the Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, to provide businesspeople in Nigeria with the opportunity to learn about Google Enterprise services, with a special focus on Google Apps for Business.  

Google Apps for Business facilitates greater productivity, easier teamwork and collaboration, more flexibility, reliability and security, and also helps businesses save money.  The Apps include Google Search, Gmail for business, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Calendar, and the Google Cloud platform.  

The event, which was sponsored by leading IT Solutions companies, DataGroup IT and Descasio Limited was well attended by senior executives from small, medium and large scale organisations.

Regional Manager, Google Enterprise, Shai Morgan, through  a presentation on how Google’s Search Appliance can help customers find relevant information on business websites, explained that the Google App suite offers simple communication and collaboration tools for businesses of all sizes, all hosted by Google in the cloud, to simplify set-up, minimize maintenance and reduce IT costs.

Morgan added that with Google Groups and integrated Instant Messaging (IM), users can stay connected while on the move.  “With Google Docs, users can share files and work together in real time, ensuring that everyone is working on the same version of a document all at the same time”, he said.

Google Apps help businesses manage electronic communications effectively and at low costs. They are already being used by leading businesses in West Africa, including Transcorp Plc, Churchgate Group and Fidelity Bank, Ghana. According to President/CEO of Transcorp, Obinna Ufudo, “We operate a lean structure at the corporate centre. Our subsidiaries are located in other cities and our business requires employees to work in different locations. Therefore, we needed a robust email solution that addresses our concerns about reliability, convenience, security, ease of use and accessibility. Compared to other email solutions, Google Apps has been ideal for us.”  

Similarly, Churchgate chose Google Apps in 2012 to fulfill its need for email storage space and for consistent, constant and reliable communication between the company and its customers. Prior to the change, Churchgate was using another solution but, as Head of IT for Churchgate, Manjunath Bhat, explains, “Storage was limited because of server space and, because it has always been vital that we store all of our emails given that any one of them could contain key information, we adopted Google Apps.”  

Bhat is grateful that Descasio Limited, a Nigerian-based Google Apps Authorized reseller encouraged them to make the switch.

 “During the pilot stage of the move, Churchgate was delighted to discover that Google Apps provided exactly what we needed in terms of large mail storage space and handling communication among the different geographies we operate in,” he said.

 By synchronizing their mailbox with employees’ mobile devices, they can stay up to speed with information and updates at every project stage, no matter where they are. They are also able to reduce the cost of IT infrastructure. The Head of IT disclosed that “we have achieved a reduction in operation cost and IT expenditure of over 35 percent since switching to Google Apps.”