The cost of a download, a cautionary tale

 

Did you know that users not knowing how to use #googledrive effectively can actually cost your company in storage? 💵 (And in person hours.) 

❓ What does your company's storage cost look like?

When employees treat Google Drive files as if they were offline and upload/download them, and send them by email, they create version control issues and generate unnecessary storage costs. 

📂 Version control issues: When multiple employees upload different versions of the same file, it can be difficult to track which version is the most up-to-date. This can lead to errors and rework, which can cost your company time and money. 

🌩️ Storage costs: Every time a file is uploaded to Google Drive, it takes up storage space. And when employees send files as attachments instead of sharing them, they're using up even more storage space in Gmail.

These costs can add up quickly. 

So, what can you do to reduce the cost of ineffective Google Drive usage?

🤝 Offer information management consultation and training. 

☁️ Once your employees are trained, encourage them to use Google Drive for most of their file storage and collaboration needs.

By following these tips, you can reduce the cost of ineffective Google Drive usage and improve the productivity of your employees. 😀

KloudGem is happy to help: 💎 https://www.kloudgem.com/

Meet your new research assistant: NotebookLM

Google is brought another AI-powered tool under the Google Workspace Core Services umbrella: the tool is NotebookLM, a note taking and research assistant.

💎 Watch the video to see how NotebookLM works.

❓ How would you use this tool?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter 

AI-assisted video creation in minutes with Google Vids

Google is making available a new tool in Google Workspace.

Google Vids is becoming part of the Google Workspace Business ecosystem, starting from the Business Standard edition. (More on Google Vids availability here and  here.)

With this tool, you can create videos just from a prompt and some AI magic.

💎 Watch the video to see Google Vids in action.

❓ What would you use this tool for?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter 

Tabs in Docs?? 🤯

We are all pretty much used to seeing tabs in Google Sheets: they help us segment, visualize, and cross-link data, right?

But what if I told you that you can similarly segment a Google Doc with tabs?

While previously, Google Docs files felt like long endless documents even if you had a clickable Table of Contents, now they gained a 3rd dimension through Tabs. 

💎 Watch the video to see how you can add a 3rd dimension to your Docs with Tabs.

❓ Have you tried this?

Need help with Google Workspace? Schedule a Discovery Session:

https://www.kloudgem.com/contact-us 

KloudGem tips: 

https://www.kloudgem.com/follow-resources/newsletter 

KloudGem picks up where the job of your IT Help Desk ends

KloudGem picks up where the job of your IT Help Desk ends: 

💎 we consult with your users or teams to smooth out or reimagine their workflows within the Google Workspace ecosystem,

AND 

💎 as necessary also work with them and your IT Team to provide custom-tailored training and company-specific guidance, 

so that your IT Team and your company can reap the intended cost- and productivity benefits of working in Google Workspace.

Mistake 6: IT KPIs - 6 Costly Mistakes When Rolling Out Google Workspace — and How to Avoid Them

When it comes to measuring your IT Help Desk's effectiveness, we believe that we need to look at it 2 ways:

🛠️ Fixing issues

⚙️ Thinking through workflows

Traditionally, metrics only look at the first.

For the former, the more traditional metrics work well: how fast was the person able to solve a technical issue, how many times a user had to contact the Help Desk.

For the latter, a simple fix-it-quickly approach is not going to work: there, you need your consultant to be able to put themselves in the user's shoes, really understand what they are trying to accomplish, and be their problem-solving ally. This requires a very different type of skill set. It requires an operations expert. And it cannot be measured with the traditional Help Desk KPIs.

Mistake 5: MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE TOOLS - 6 Costly Mistakes When Rolling Out Google Workspace — and How to Avoid Them

Working in Google files speeds up collaborations, but IT departments need to be keenly aware of any Microsoft office/file usage needs across your organization. Why? Because unbeknownst to you, there could be segments in the organization who need them for reasons outside of their or your control, perhaps because of file format requirements from outside agencies, working with outside partners, legacy files, etc. 

When this needs arises, it is advisable to deeply understand the why and the constraints. If it's just a preference, then sure, you can encourage Google tool use, but beyond that, if there is a specific non-negotiable need (as mentioned above), they might be experiencing file corruption issues when they use Google Drive's native compatibility feature that translates Microsoft files into the Google format. If this will inevitably cause dissatisfaction with the IT tools and IT's support, as well as #ITcost for your company in storage. Because, likely, people will start uploading and downloading Microsoft files, perhaps even emailing them instead of sharing, creating multiples of the same, resulting in increased storage costs and slowdown in productivity due to version control. And when the dissatisfied voices get louder about Google tools, it's hard to mitigate the damage.

So why not provide solutions instead? Consultations can ensure that those who need it, have Microsoft Office, and can use it in conjunction with Google Drive: raise awareness about how to store files in Google Drive, and share best practices for when to use Google Drive via Chrome vs. Google Drive for Desktop for natively editing Microsoft files.

Be or provide consultative guidance to your users so they can comply with IT's requirements and still get their work done.