Article by David Roe
When Google rebranded its Enterprise Business as Google for Work, it signaled a return to the small business space. Now WordPress and Squarespace have announced they have joined the Google for Work Partner Program — a logical step in this refocus.
The partnerships give Google for Work users access to two of what are arguably the most agile small business content management systems (CMS) on the market.
Google And Small Business
Google for Work, formerly Google Enterprise, was already a substantial offering before the rebranding, with a number of significant partners like Wix, Weebly and Endurance, parent company of Bluehost.
While Google Enterprise made considerably inroads into the enterprise space, it was never destined to catch-up with Microsoft’s Office 365. Office 365 has become increasingly agile and cheaper, particularly for smaller businesses.
The current Google for Work offering includes: Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar, Google+, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Sites, Admin and Vault.
With these products, SMBs can create things like customized business email using Gmail — no talk of the new Inbox service here as yet — organize their work through calendars, communicate by voice and video through Hangouts and store files through Drive.
By integrating with Squarespace and WordPress, they also get easy-to-use content management, effectively dealing with most daily needs.
Integration with the products from either company is relatively easy too with APIs that enables them build Google Apps into their interfaces.
In the context of Google for Work and its rebranding, the partnerships are significant moves. They add considerably to what Google for Work can offer SMBs and something else for CIOs to think about before signing up to Office 365.
