In what is being called Google's enterprise makeover, it has developed a YouTube-like application for its Apps suite, which allows business users to upload and share videos. Google Video for Business can be accessed through most browsers, including Safari on the iPhone, in the traditional cloud-computing style. Google is hoping the service will take off with companies that might have been put off using video by the costs involved. According to the web giant, the video service could find itself being used in companies for sharing company news — "Email doesn't always carry a lot of feeling; it's not always the best means of communication," according to a Google spokesman. Instead of a repairman who is visiting a home to fix a washing machine having to recall a long-ago training session, he could access a video on mending the problem directly from his company's network over his mobile device, the spokesman continued: "Rather than having to remember a course they did six months ago, they could look at the video there and then," he added.
The application is available as part of Google Apps Premier Edition at no additional cost, according to the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. Google Apps Premier Edition costs $50 per user per year for a package of business applications that includes Gmail e-mail service, Google Talk instant messaging service, Google Calendar calendaring service, Google Docs program and Google Sites Web application. "YouTube has enabled millions of consumers to easily capture and share video at an unprecedented level, yet corporate video has remained expensive and complicated," said Dave Girouard, president of enterprise, Google, in a statement. "With Google Video for business, our customers get the ease of YouTube combined with the simple and secure sharing of Google Apps." Video owners can share videos with individuals, groups or across an entire organization. The videos can include descriptions and/or tags and be embedded in any internal Web page, including Google Sites. Meanwhile, viewers can search for any video across the organization, with access controls in place, and can view videos through several browsers, including Safari on an Apple iPhone, according to Google. Viewers can also submit ratings and comments and download videos for viewing offline. Each Google Apps Premier Edition domain gets 3 GB of video storage per user account. A Google Apps Education Edition will debut Sept. 8 with a free trial until March 9, 2009. After that, it will costs $10 per user per year for faculty and staff to share videos with students.
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I'm a user (and big fan) of Google Apps. For a small/new business, how can you NOT consider it? IMHO, the Premier Edition (at $50/year/user) is a no-brainer.
For those who need more convincing, Google has authored several whitepapers and online videos that describe how companies, both large and small, can benefit from using the suite of Google Apps. Titles include Curbing Costs with Google Apps and Google Apps: Quick Tour.
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