UPDATE: On September 29, 2016 (Happy birthday to my brother!) Google changed the name of Google Apps for Work to G Suite.
Setting up Google Apps for Work is one of the first steps I take for a new starter website project. Here are just a few of the reasons why.
Branded business email
Never pay for hosted email again. Set up custom email addresses for each team member (firstname.lastname@yourstartup.com). Web based with 2x the storage limit of personal Gmail accounts. This feature alone makes the $50/year price tag an incredible bargain.
Storage
Each user gets a whopping 30GB of content storage for free with the option to purchase more if you ever run out. Seamless storage sharing between email, Google Drive, and Google Photos. Ditch Dropbox and upload files to share and store.
Google Docs
Collaborative and completely web-based alternative to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Work on a document or presentation in real-time with clients or colleagues. Stop the madness of multiple drafts, emailed attachments, and messy version control. Comment, suggest, revise and modify simultaneously. Revisions are stored so you can restore older copies at any time.
Sharing Settings
Control who sees or edits your documents. Keep them private to only you, share with one person, your whole team, the whole company, or even outside your organization. You can be as strict as you want and make changes to the permissions at any time.
Hangouts
Send messages, make phone calls, even host group video calls. For free. Apple, Android, device or desktop – each person can be anywhere on anything.