Currently there are two main options that you can use for your cloud based business email. They are the solution from Microsoft which is part of Office 365 and the solution from Google which is Google apps for business. In this blog entry we are going to have a look at the option from Google.

Gmail, the Google email service, is one of the most popular email services in the world. Google have employed some of the best minds to work on this email platform, it stands to reason therefore that Google would produce a great product. It also stands to reason that when Google developed this email platform for personal use that they would look to maximise the returns from it in other ways.

One way Google is doing this is by offering businesses the opportunity to use the Gmail backend or to put it another way the Gmail cloud platform to host business’ email. This essentially means you use the standard user-friendly Gmail interface, which we are all familiar with, but you can have your company domain name for your email i.e. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and not This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

As a business it is vital that you have your email set up using a domain that represents your company and not one of the free types of email. If you are using a free email address; for example @yahoo.com, @eircom.net or @gmail.com you will not give a very professional view of your company.

You have two main options when you are setting up a Gmail account for your business. These options are the free version of the platform or the paid for version.  The free version is a taster to get you using the platform and the hope is that as your company grows you will keep using the system.

With the free version, you can have up to ten people in your company using this as your email platform. This makes it ideal for small businesses, teams, voluntary organisations and even your own personal domain. The free version gives you 10GB of email storage per user and this is more than enough for many years of email.

Once you go over the ten user mark or you want to make use of the advanced Google apps features, you need to pay $50 per user per year.

You can compare the Free version and the paid for versions here: www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html

Here are some of the reasons you may decide to use the Gmail platform for your business email:

Enterprise Email without a Server

You do not need to spend 1,000 euro + on buying a server to install your email on, instead you are able to leverage the power of the cloud. The fact that you do not need a server also means that you do not need to spend extra money on managing, servicing and upgrading a server.

Your Email Will Be Mobile

The Gmail platform has been designed around a web interface so you can access it anywhere you have a web connection. You can also access it on your smart phone, tablet and Blackberry.  Important for some, on your PC or Mac, you can still set your account up to use Outlook or Mail.

Shared Calendar and Contacts

If you are currently using a POP email account, then you will not have the ability to have shared contacts and calendars in your company. The Gmail platform will give you the facility to do this. In the past you would have had to have an email server in your office to do this.

Ten Gigabytes of Online Storage

You will get a massive 10 gigabytes of mail storage per user in the free account and 25 gigabytes per user on paid account. This could be between 10 and 25 times more storage than you are getting from some email providers for your whole company. This means your important emails can be kept for much longer.

Your Email is Backed Up

As long as it is setup correctly, all of your emails are backed up in the secure Gmail web data storage system. This means you will no longer have the problem of losing all of your emails after a hard disk crash on your computer or server.

Your Email has built in Spam Filter

The Gmail system has an excellent spam filter that will get rid of nearly 98% of all the spam that may be going into your inbox currently.  This spam filter also learns from your actions which is a big plus.

Email will be Available 99% of the Time

The current uptime of the Google apps service ranges from 99.98 to 99.99%. This is a very impressive number and is one that most email providers would kill to have.