Google Business Apps and the Real Estate World

RE/MAX Select Properties looked a number of different collaboration tools for real estate.  We looked at four different main factors: security, ease of use, cost, and ability to scale.  After some time we picked Google Apps for Business.  So far they have been a very good choice.

As you may or may not know, Google as a company is comprised of 85% engineers.  The company is constantly designing and refining their product.  As a result the great majority of the sales for Google is outsourced.  As a result almost all businesses that sign up for Google go through a Google "Reseller".  These are companies that focus on deploying Google Business Solutions to customers in the field.  Bottom line, if you want Google Apps of Business you will go through a 3rd party company that specializes in deploying Google services.  For obvious reasons, it is important to pick the right company.  In the Virginia area we have had a great experience with Valley Apps.  They are a great company that can support Google deployment and much more.

Below are some of the quick and easy ways in which Google Business Apps improved our collaboration.

• GMAIL allows for emails to be sent and received from multiple email accounts.
• This allows agents to continue to use their email within the company email space.  Agents can have an email address for the company (username@companyname.com) and also an email for their personal branding (username@janedoesellsrealestate.com).  Many successful agents have their own branding, and they do not want to use the company email.  This allows the best of both worlds.  It get's everyone on a company wide email and allows them to maintain the individual marketing.
• Google Calendars is very user friendly
• Google Calendars is extremely user friendly, and takes just minutes to learn how to use.  This calendar system synchronizes with almost any other platform with ease.  In addition, it is very easy for administrators to establish and share company wide calendars such as a master company calendar, on-call agent of the day, conference room scheduling, etc.
• Google Documents provides plenty of cloud storage
• Agents are always on the go, so portability is key. Google Docs allows agents to save documents to the cloud and then access them from PDAs, Tablets, laptops, etc.  That way agents do not have to worry about that contract or addendum being saved to the computer back in the office or at home.  Once a document is saved to the cloud it is accessible by any device with an internet connection
• Contact Management
• If you own a smartphone, and most agents do, managing your contacts is simple.  All contacts that are saved on Google will be accessible via your phone, and vice versa.  If you save a contact to your phone it will be automatically backed up to your Google Account.  If your phone is lost, stolen, or broken you will continue to maintain all of your contacts.
• Google Search 
• Google is the company that brought us the incredible search capability of Google.com, these same capabilities are brought to bare in all of the Google Applications.  If you can remember part of a clients name or part of the address, Google will comb through all of your emails and documents to find any information you have.  It almost eliminate the need to organize any of your emails, almost.

There are many more capabilities that Google Apps for Business brings to the table, but just "Out of the Box"  Google makes great improvements to any real estate company.  For RE/MAX Select Properties the experience has been great.  Click HERE for more services that Google Advertises for real estate agents.