Millions 'go Google' - join us on Twitter

We recently launched our biggest corporate marketing campaign of the year to increase awareness of Google Apps and leverage momentum as more and more businesses 'go Google.' We're asking customers to tell us why they've switched from Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes to Google Apps, and the response has been strong. We're using various media channels to spread the word and want to get our partners in on the action.

To learn more about the campaign and how you can participate on Twitter, join our live webinar this Thursday.

#goneGoogle Marketing Campaign
Thursday, August 27, 2009
10:00 am PDT, 1:00 pm EDT
Register

Get a sneak peak of what we've done...

Billboards in four major US cities share some of the typical IT frustrations that might make people want to switch.



We also developed two resource centers that share customer stories and address specific benefits around switching from Microsoft Exchange (google.com/apps/exchange) and Louts Notes (google.com/apps/notes). We're doing various types of online advertising to promote these so you may see our 'gone Google' banners around.

Don't know much about Twitter? Just want to learn more about this new campaign and how to align your marketing message? Don't forget to register for our webinar this Thursday.

Live Webinar: How to Pitch Google Apps

This Thursday Tom Mills who runs our mid-market sales team for North America will walk you through how he pitches Google Apps to customers. This webinar should not be missed!

How to Pitch Google Apps
Thursday, August 13, 2009
11:00 am PDT, 2:00 pm EDT
Register

Tom will take you step-by-step through the updated Google Apps Overview presentation available in the Learn to Sell section of the Solution Providers site. He'll provide talking points for each slide, tips on how to present the information, and share his experiences selling to customers. Tom is a dynamic speaker and is sure to provide invaluable information that will help each of you sell more effectively.

For those of you who are not available at this time, we will be posting the recorded webinar in the Webinar Archive section of the Solution Providers site. You can also find presentations and recordings from past webinars here.

New! Google Apps is Out of Beta

This year we've focused on making it as easy as possible for large enterprises to switch to Google by launching new features and removing key barriers to adoption. Today, we're taking this one step further. Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk are now out of beta, alleviating doubt that Apps is a mature product suite.

We're also continuing to implement procedures that offer our Apps customers even greater reliability. These include live replication of data to other locations for near-instant disaster recovery, and special handling of business users' data in our data center operations.

Finally, in the coming weeks we'll be launching email delegation and retention to help companies manage email and comply with industry regulations. Both features are in testing and will be rolled out to Premier Edition customers as soon as they're ready.

All of these new features together highlight that now is the time to switch to Google Apps. To make it easier for enterprise IT managers to access tools and learn more about switching, we've built out resource centers for Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes. Take a look to see how we're positioning Apps to these two key audiences. For more details on the new launches, read our post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog.

New Google Apps Script - Limited test available

We're excited to announce a limited test of a new feature which lets people add customization and automation to Google Apps, starting with spreadsheets in Google Docs. We call this feature Google Apps Script.

Google Apps Script provides the ability to automate a variety of spreadsheet actions, such as reading and changing values in cells and ranges, changing formats and formulas, and creating custom functions. It also reaches outside of spreadsheets to allow you to send email or create calendar entries.

You can check out the Google Apps Script overview and watch our example of sending email from Google Spreadsheets. Also, you can get involved in Google Apps Script now by applying to join this limited test phase.

New for Google Apps Admins: An Online Community

Based on feedback from Google Apps admins who are looking for a way to connect online we've just launched a new site where Google Apps admins can meet one another, discuss topics unique to their roles, and share best practices.

We used Google Sites to make the site relevant and easy to use. We also integrated Google Maps, Moderator and Forms. Check out the Admin Community map to see where members are located, or the "Share your perspective" tool to give input or vote on community comments.

You can share this forum with your customers and prospects so that they can come in, find out more about what Google Apps offers, and help create a dialogue that can help all of us learn.

New Cloud Computing Whitepapers for Your Customer Prospects

Share with your customers our 2 new whitepapers written with CNET and ZDNet and posted in the portal's Marketing section. These are especially useful for customers, particularly SMB, who are new to SaaS or cloud computing and who may be familiar with Google Apps but want to learn more.

1) Cloud Computing — Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future? This whitepaper provides an overview of Cloud Computing, emphasizing its game-changing capabilities and evolution.

2) Cloud Computing — What is Its Potential Value for Your Company? This whitepaper outlines many cloud computing benefits for businesses, and references four examples of organizations ranging from Telegraph Media to the City of Washington D.C.

New Google Sites Features: Go Gadgets!

Today, we announced three new features in Google Sites that will make gadgets more useful for Google Apps Premier Edition customers:

1. Start Page template, so site owners can let users personalize areas of a site, such as an internal sales portal;
2. Private gadgets, which IT admins can upload and only domain members can see and add;
3. Encryption, whereby if a Google Site is encrypted, then your gadget data will be encrypted from the source code to the browser.

Developers can learn more about developing private gadgets here.

Avago Successfully Deploys Google Apps

This morning we broadcast a webinar with Avago Technologies, who recently deployed Google Apps to their more than 4000 employees. Hear how Avago expects to save over $1M annually from its move to Google Apps from Microsoft Exchange 2003. Avago's Director of Enterprise Infrastructure also discusses the pilot criteria, cost savings metrics, deployment and migration plans, and lessons learned from Avago's project.

You can see more examples of success stories, 3rd party analyst reports on cloud computing, and Google Apps tips on our Solution Provider marketing section.