Google Drive

In today’s day-to-day business activities, sharing and syncing online files is the norm. This has become a mainstream essential for productivity in many corporations. The daily task of collaborating work within employees or clients is key to productivity. What we take for granted as a simple and easy task, can have adverse consequences when the unpredictable happens. Most companies share, save and collaborate files on a network drive. This works great if the project is only handled within the employees that have access to the same network. But what if the network drive goes down, or what if you are out of town on business and your VPN token gets lost or simply not working? You would have to call IT for support and based on the location and time of your business region, your IT support may have to assist you outside of work hours. This causes more overtime to IT personnel, productivity loss and may even lose the account or client, which equivalents, to increased cost.

Google drive is a tool that companies can greatly benefit from if utilized wisely. It’s a solution that can have a huge impact on work productivity and also save money.

Employees and clients can share, access and edit files from different locations or devices.  It allows employees to work from home or any other location as long as they have Internet connection. Implementing this tool requires little expense. Accessing, editing, sharing, saving or navigating your way around this drive is not much different from using a network drive. This tool is user friendly and it’s a quick access to your pertinent files. In most corporations, if there is new software that can create efficiency in work productivity, the software is applied and employees are trained to use it. The long-term effect of cost saving outweighs the initial cost of implementing the program. Utilizing this tool requires little or no support from IT. You don’t waste time fishing through your emails looking for specific files because Google drive can house it for you in one location. It helps employees stay organized and not lose valuable time. It allows employees to work together efficiently and quickly even if they are in different locations. Although, currently there are limitations on what you can do with power point, it’s a matter of time before it’s improved.

My recommendation would be to incorporate this tool in businesses. Google drive can have a huge impact on saving valuable time in accessing pertinent information. My overall thought is not to replace the company’s network drive but to use Google drive as an added benefit at a small internal cost. This tool will be essential when there is an active project. Google drive allows you to have 15 GB for free and for adding 100 GB more there is an additional $1.99 monthly fee. Therefore, for business purposes, Google drive should be utilized on active projects. It doesn’t have to be a permanent storage location for files but can be used as a temporary storage location for active projects. As an employee traveling across the nation, meeting with clients, giving presentations and selling products, time is of the essence. Google drive facilitates the process of accessing files and making last minute changes that can make a huge difference in a sale.