Background
I have to confess that a couple of years ago I did not see any way with which it could compete with Microsoft's Office package, even though I know a little about free software (open source) and I have used Open Office, the day seemed very far away. in which there was a set of tools that would make it a real competition.
Surely you have used google.com as a search engine on the Web, however this company has a wide set of tools that will allow your company to become more competitive in different topics such as collaboration, communication, storage, page Web, calendar management as well as other tools that are used for the marketing of your website.
The first thing we must understand is that Google's business model is very different from Microsoft's, since Google does not charge users for using its tools in contrast to Microsoft, which charges hundreds of dollars to use its operating system and tools such as the Office.
Introduction
The intention of this document is to introduce the idea and concern to readers so that they can explore in greater depth the different tools that Google offers to turn SMEs into more competitive development cells. Today, a business could be operated using Google's set of tools without requiring the purchase of Microsoft Office. For some packages the functionality is not yet available, however in general companies do not use more tools than Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook.
In Latin America there is not a strong technological culture, which is why I consider that the price of acquiring Office packages is a very important real barrier for which many companies do not optimize their operation with the help of a computer and systems. Another interesting aspect is that to support Google tools you will not need to manage licenses, patches, technical updates or virus problems.
Different business models
Google's business model is based on generating income through advertisers who pay to promote the content of their websites, while Microsoft's business model has been based on developing easy-to-use software and through its great power of distribution create a monopoly in certain software and operating system segments. The same business model has led these companies to seek to achieve different core competencies - Microsoft continues to focus on its own products, architecture and commercial distribution, while Google does not intend to charge for using its tools such as email, the search engine or others. tools such as the reader or blogger.
Tools to use in the office
Google Docs & Spreadsheets vs Microsoft Office
Google Docs will allow you to create new documents and save them in html, Word, Open Office, RTF or PDF formats, which will allow you to exchange information with other companies and people even when they use Office or any other package. In addition to having this facility, it also has a powerful collaboration tool in which a document can be created by one person and invited others even when they are in another country to review and modify the document.
Don't worry about maintaining version control as this functionality is included in the tool without requiring any configuration. The interface is friendly and quite intuitive, which is why you don't need to be an expert to use this tool. Other benefits is that it does not require having very powerful computers or large servers to store your documents since this Google tool will allow you to store your documents online as well as publish and share them with everyone.
Microsoft Office on the other hand is the most used system in the world for word processing with its flagship product Word, now the discussion is not aimed at saying that this tool does not work or that it does not have extensive functionality, since it would be a Big lie, but what is important to note is that since it has a cost for a small company of several hundred dollars, coupled with the fact that it is required to install and maintain it. For a company that starts investing from 2 to 10 thousand dollars in office software it represents a high sacrifice in many cases, which is why they choose not to acquire it or use it illegally. In addition to the initial investment, there is the problem of technical support and maintenance of licenses, which implies a greater operational expense in systems or administration personnel.
To conclude with this comparison I will give a simple example with 2 scenarios, today I start a company for which I need to make a cover letter, now I will explain how I should do it with each of the tools presented above:
Scenario 1 - Prepare a cover letter: You must prepare a cover letter for your company, you only have a computer and an Internet connection.
With the Google Docs tool, all I need is to use a computer connected to the Internet to sign me with my username and password, press the button to create a document, write it, save it, publish it and print it. Total cost $ 0 USD, time 20 minutes.
With the Word tool, I would first need to buy the software, which we suppose costs at least 200 USD, I must install it on a computer, register the product and then write the document, save it on the machine's hard disk and print it. If you need to publish it or work in a collaborative environment, it would require implementing many other Microsoft products that cost thousands of dollars and are complicated to manage and install. Total cost $> 200 USD, time 3 hours.
Scenario 2 - Correct and present the cover letter to a client: Imagine that your partner is out of town and you require that he also review the cover letter before sending it to your first client.
With Google Docs you can share the document and invite your partner to collaborate on the document online, that way he can make his comments and corrections on the document, with the version control tool you can decide which changes to accept and finally save the final version in the format that is most convenient for you, you could even publish your cover letter to send your cover letter by email to your clients. If you need to update your cover letter, you can modify it online and others will see it updated a few seconds later.
With Word you would be forced to mail the document to your partner so that he can work it independently, and then return the document to him by email, this with the inconvenience of having several versions of the document traveling by mail, sometimes They corrupt the files and you cannot work on them, which is why collaboration can be complicated, since everyone actually works on the document at different times. It should also be noted that when working with Word files it is likely that they will be infected with a computer virus, which causes problems on the computers and networks that are infected. Now, finally, you must send the cover letter by email to your client, which if you need to update later, you will have to send it again.
The comparison between Google Spreadsheets and Excel is very similar to the previous one, just now let's think about a budget or a list of activities in a work plan for which many people in different cities and time zones need to participate. In this case, Google Docs would also turn out to be a more flexible and easy-to-use tool.
GMAIL vs Hotmail-Outlook
Any company that wants to be competitive should use email as a basic collaboration tool, however many small and medium-sized companies do not use it either because they do not know how to do it or because they believe that the free email options are not of interest. GMAIL allocates 2 gigabytes of space which is enough to be able to work for several months and the most interesting thing is that it has an integrated anti-spam filter as well as tools to archive and classify emails, another important point is that it does not have so many ads or images like hotmail or yahoo, which makes it look more professional and comfortable to use.
Another important aspect is that it is integrated with the chat and Google Talk functionality, which is a tool that allows you to talk over the network as well as a messenger similar to MSN Messenger. Finally another benefit of GMAIL is that it is comfortable to work without requiring the use of any other software to manage emails.
Even though we all have a Hotmail account and we have a sentimental appreciation for it, fewer and fewer use it frequently and much less for work issues, since it has the problem of having many spam emails, as well as having less capacity storage than other free email options, and the browsing content has many ads and banners that make it look less professional. Hotmail can be used from the Web page or also from the Office software known as Outlook. The problem with Outlook, in addition to being costly to use, is that it consumes many resources (RAM) of the computer, in addition to the fact that it frequently gets infected with viruses and requires configuration and installation of patches.Finally, another problem in Outlook is that when the mailbox is very large it gets corrupted and there is a high risk of losing that information.
Benefits and trends of online tools
The first and possibly most important benefit for an entrepreneur with little capital is that he can be even more productive using Google tools than Microsoft, since it facilitates collaboration, eliminates the payment of licenses as well as the administration of the systems internally. I am personally convinced that as this concept and these online tools are strengthened, the market share of Microsoft Office will be reduced, but the most important thing is that there is already an alternative for underdeveloped countries to have online tools that will allow the microenterprises in Oaxaca (MEX) or Tucumán (ARG) compete with companies in Houston (USA) or Amsterdam (HOL).
With the introduction of what is known as Web 2.0, there is a greater democratization of technology, which opens the door for many more people and companies to play internationally with greater equality of conditions since the commercial distributor does not require have a satellite to make more precise maps of its distribution routes since it has Google Earth, or the Mexican company will not be afraid to call its clients to Chile since with Skype, Google talk or other technologies it is becoming cheaper to do cheap international calls.
conclusion
I invite entrepreneurs, businessmen and managers not to buy Microsoft Office, since they do not require it to start their operations, better invest those 2 or 3 thousand dollars in what allows them to increase their sales. Do a little research regarding the tools described in this note, you will see that you will be surprised.
