My Experiences Running A Business On Google Apps

A few weeks ago I posted a status update on the Ulistic FB Page (http://www.facebook.com/ulistic) where I posted about the end of my one year agreement with Google Apps.  It was time to celebrate. Ulistic is a serious growth-focused corporation with plans focused on serving the needs of the small business MSP community across North America.

This year, Ulistic will also be in Australia and the UK. Working in the IT community and being a serious player requires serious cloud computing strategies.

Ulistic runs on Microsoft Exchange allow us to communicate with impact with all our clients, colleagues and associates.  Using Microsoft Outlook with our Hosted Cloud Exchange offering simply works. Sorry, I can’t share the same experiences with Google.

When Ulistic was using Google Enterprise Apps, downtime was the flavour of the week.  Sharing meeting and calendar invites with colleagues across time zones was non-existent.  Something a corporation spanning 4 times zones really needs.  Simply put, it was not reliable and not the platform to build a growing business. Our official end with Google came last September.

Should your business run Google Apps?  The decision is really up to you!  However, my experiences are not favourable.  Business lives and breathes communication.  Microsoft Exchange with Outlook 2010 provides a communication platform my business can rely on.  No web interfaced that are hard to figure out or having to rely always on the Internet being on to work on a few emails.

A change of ownership in Ulistic did more than trigger a new year-end for our growing MSP Marketing firm but singled a new beginning and investment into IT infrastructure that enables our business to serve our clients better and with confidence. Ulistic now has a rock solid platform that will grow and scale as our business grows.

The Cloud is here to stay.  I feel a cloud powered by Microsoft is the best bet for your small business.

Thanks Microsoft and sorry about jumping ship for a while there.  It is great to be the prodigal son and come home.