Office Software & IT

G Suite (Google Apps) & Microsoft 365

Have you ever thought of hosting your email, calendar and contacts in the cloud but don’t quite know what’s involved or how to do it?  This can be achieved by using G suite (“Google Apps for Work”, which was known as “Google Apps for Business”) or Microsoft 365.  AWP Computer Services can advise you on the best solution, and set up your business on either of these popular platforms.  If required, we can also transfer your existing emails etc. onto the new platform.  Please just give us a call, or alternatively contact us through the web site, to find out how we can help.

FREE Office Software for Business

It may be surprising to hear, but there are also FREE, legitimate and legal software options to help you with your business communications and administration. Office software, which is distributed as ‘open source’, can be installed and used for your business. Open source means that the software is developed by a community, rather than one specific software company, and it is freely available for use. The downside is that there isn’t any direct support available for these software applications. However, this shouldn’t necessarily be an issue, as the programs are generally very stable. Furthermore, if some guidance with the installation, set-up and use is needed, AWP Computer Services can help you get up and running quickly and effectively.

At AWP Computer Services, as well as using G Suite (was previously Google Apps for Business and Google Apps for Work), we have Apache OpenOffice (a Free and Open Productivity Suite) installed on all our computers.  Apache OpenOffice is the leading ‘open source’ office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

Why Apache OpenOffice for my Business?

Many enterprises from corner-shops to corporate giants are turning to Apache OpenOffice to power their businesses. The flexible word processor, powerful spreadsheet, dynamic graphics, database access and more, meet all the requirements for an office software package.

Also, very importantly, OpenOffice offers a high degree of compatibility with commercial office software, but with none of the costs or license worries. For example, you are able to edit and save Microsoft Office documents, so can effectively work and collaborate with users of that software.

For more information on how Apache OpenOffice can help your business, please give us a call or contact us through our web site.

 

G Suite – Google Apps for Work

What are Google Apps – how can they help my business?

G Suite (Google Apps) is a suite of applications for small businesses.  For larger businesses, Google has additional options that include more features such as email archiving and discovery (for legal compliance).

More specifically, G Suite is a collection of web-based programs and accompanying file storage that run in a web browser, without users being required to buy, download or install specific software.  Users can simply log in to the Google Apps service to access their files and the tools they will need to manipulate them. The offerings include communication tools (Gmail, Google Hangouts and Google Calendar), productivity tools (Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides) and Google Sites (to develop web pages).

You have possibly used Google Apps, as they are included free for all Gmail users.  There are office tools, such as Google Docs for word processing, Google Sheets a powerful spreadsheet editor, Google Slides a presentation editor, and more. Also available are tools like Google Contacts for sharing contacts within your business organisation and Google Drive for Cloud Data Storage and sharing of files.

For some free unbiased advice and more information about how your business could benefit from using Google Apps, please don’t hesitate to call us or alternatively contact us through the web site.

The tools are free with Gmail or users can pay for a Premium Edition that adds more storage space and other features, which AWP Computer Services can provide as part of the Google Apps for Work (Business) Partner Program. Google Apps for Work (Business) allows your company to use your own domain name (e.g. mybusiness.com) with the service and to also customise the interface to reflect your own branding.

Google Apps are a great way to improve productivity and enhance your workflow, and all are backed by the Google Apps support team.

For free advice and more information please don’t hesitate to call us or alternatively contact us through the web site.

…or alternatively, click here to find out more about how your business can benefit from using G Suite.