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Why integrate with Google Apps? Aspasia Cloud Informational Series – Key Chapter
SAY ‘GOOGLE’ AND most people will think of the search engine brand that now dominates the industry. Many may also be aware that Google provides very sophisticated and free email and mapping services. Largely through the provision of these services they have become a huge presence in the IT world, challenging the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Oracle in innovation.
there is much more to GooGle! Google prides itself on an engineering heritage
and is known for employing only the brightest and most capable people who are nurtured in an environment which fosters creativity. Many of their products are simply astonishing in their brilliant combination of technical engineering prowess with simplicity of use, and gain huge loyalty from their many millions of users. Google and Amazon are leading exponents of cloud computing which is rapidly becoming a seismic disruptive force changing the face of IT and which, of course, represents the core underpinnings of Aspasia Cloud. Our first article in this series discussed what we mean when we refer to cloud computing technology, and a key motivation for us to move into the ‘cloud’ was to use the skills of companies such as Google to integrate various web based services to enhance Aspasia beyond what we could do ourselves. Aspasia Cloud will demonstrate the complex
technical integration of many of these Google provided core services, the more obvious ones being email, calendaring, document sharing and contact management across any Internet connected computing platform from PC to mobile phone. Moreover, these and other Google services will combine with Aspasia Cloud to provide a radically different optional business opportunity for lettings agents which we plan to launch next year.
so what are GooGle apps? Perhaps the simplest way to think of Google
Apps is as a collection of those Google based services which are appropriate to many organisations. They are not as sophisticated as some of the familiar applications like Word and
Excel but they provide more than enough functionality for most of us and few agents involved in residential property sales and lettings would have needs left unmet. In other areas like email and calendaring the Google equivalents are arguably superior and easier to use and offer many unique features emanating from their Internet heritage which help them to outshine desktop products like Outlook. Google then starts to differ with Apps that
don’t necessarily have core equivalents from Microsoft, such as video (similar to YouTube) and Google Sites heading up a growing list of services launching off the back of email. And this is where Aspasia Cloud will move the industry forward by introducing new ways of doing things utilising many of these clever, user friendly features. Google Apps are provided either free for personal use or with minimal cost. More than two million businesses have already converted to Google Apps including such names as Jaguar, Land Rover, Guardian Newspaper Group and many others. The reasoning in nearly all cases is vastly reduced cost and greater business effectiveness and the ability to work cooperatively with others.
why have we inteGrated with GooGle apps?
Other editions in this series will focus on the detail of the various individual elements of Google Apps and how their integration within Aspasia Cloud will benefit agents. Last month we dealt with the changing face of agency communications – a good example. But overriding everything is the recognition that the Internet is gradually irreversibly changing so
Aspasia Cloud is the first fully integrated cloud technology software solution for agents involved with residential sales, lettings and property management. This informational series has been designed to explain how the software differs from other solutions and what that means for agents who use it.
For further information and to read the full series, please go to
www.aspasia.net.
PROPERTYdrum DECEMBER 2011 31
many of these areas, that traditional solutions need rethinking and re-engineering to offer agents long term success within a changing, digitally aware and oriented society. Customers will increasingly expect to interact with agents by means of these new mediums of online communication and at a time that is convenient to them, often outside of normal business hours. Very soon it will be the majority who are used to dealing with so many other organisations, including government concerns, in this fashion. Google Apps is the enabling technology to allow this to happen, certainly in the case of Aspasia Cloud, recognising that there will be alternative solutions from other providers in time. But currently Google are well ahead of the competition and show all the indications of staying in front. Google have invested heavily in their future vision as evidenced in their development of the Android mobile device operating system which is gaining such significant adoption worldwide by producers of mobile phones and in their, recently released, Chrome operating system designed for fast, secure Internet access from a range of computing devices. As these new operating systems gain traction in the market place Aspasia Cloud will have the benefit of seamless integration with all the Google communication based opportunities inherent in devices using Android and Chrome even where they are incapable of running the full version of the Aspasia Cloud software in a browser. In summary we, through Aspasia Cloud, have the ability to provide the industry with uniquely focused software for property related transactions which exploits the huge skills and resources of Google. With Google Apps particularly we can provide excellent communication and sharing tools that customers will want to use in their dealings with agents in the future via the Internet connected device of their choice. This integration is opening up various opportunities for us to rethink many aspects of agency work, particularly those related to residential lettings with its large administrative content ripe for redevelopment. More on these latter developments next year.
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