Google Apps Setup - Quick Market Research

[borisp]

Hi Everyone,

My first post here, so I apologise if I am violating any rules of etiquette. Please let me know if I am, and I'm sure a moderator will be happy to remove the thread.

What I'm hoping to get is a feel for whether a service has legs, so - brief summary. I am looking to offer Google Apps Setup services as follows:

Option 1 - Free setup of Google Apps Premier - unlimited users (although there is an ongoing charge from Google of $50US per user per year)
Option 2 - $50 setup of Google Apps Standard - up to 5 users

Please let me know if it would be appropriate to post a quick summary of the two apps offerings (3 sentences, though one of them is long), or whether that would be too much like spam.

So, the questions:

In general, I think Option 1 is:
(a) A reasonable service that I would be happy to recommend
(b) Are you kidding, anyone can do this themselves!?!
(c) Not something anyone I know would be interested in because...<please specify>
(d) Other <Please specify>

In general, I think Option 2 is:
(a) A reasonable service at a reasonable price that I would be happy to recommend
(b) Are you kidding, why are you charging for something anyone can do themselves!?!
(c) Not something anyone I know would be interested in because...<please specify>
(d) Other <Please specify>

Obviously, I would appreciate any other feedback you would be willing to offer.

[FS Concierge]

Hi borisp,

Welcome to Flying Solo.

In answer to your question about etiquette, it would be great if you could pop over to the http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums/...duce-yourself/ section of the boards and share some details about yourself and your business. After people know who they're talking to they're more likely to make some comments on this thread.

Please also check out our guidelines here: Welcome to the Flying Solo forums: please play nicely!, and the specific guidelines at the top of this page, which pertain to community reviews.

The guidelines should help you work out whether the descriptions you're talking about are appropriate - in which case, please feel free to go ahead and post them.

Shoot me a PM if you have any questions!

Thanks for joining us
Jayne

[borisp]

Thanks, Jayne.


Please see my intro post here

[Melinda B]

Who would your service be for? What market are you aiming at?

Why wouldn't they do it themselves?

What are the benefits of you doing it for them?

(and a side question, what exactly is Google Apps? I've got no idea...)

[borisp]

Hi Melinda,

The first two of your questions are what I'm trying to answer - what is the market (if there is one). I have zero marketing knowledge, so maybe I'm going about it the wrong way, but I was hoping a few people's answers would be a good place to start.

Google Apps is a product that brings gmail's functionality to business domains (ie you@yourbusiness.com), and adds online spreadsheet, presentation, wordprocessing software, as well as intra/internet sites, intra-business video sharing etc. There are two versions that are relevant - Google Apps Standard (free) and Google Apps Premier ($50US per user per year). Google Apps Premier offers additional storage space, blackberry integration options, enhanced spam filtering etc.

If you don't mind, I'll hold off answering benefits questions as I don't want to give people ideas before they answer - I'm trying to gauge the initial reaction.

[JohnSheppard]

I don't think there is anyone who would pay for such a service, apart from as a package along with general computer tutorials and training services.

If they can't figure out how to install it themselves they're not going to figure out how to use it, i.e. they're going to need more help than just installation.

On top of that, if they are not already aware of what it can do for them it's going to cost you a whole lot more than $50 to educate them......

Then....what are the benefits...why not just use Microsoft Office? Anyone who has to pay $50 to be taught that stuff is not going to be into Groupware....

My 2 cents.

[borisp]

Hi John,

Thank you for the feedback!

[Samot]

If I understand correctly your trying to sell an alternative to an microsoft exchange server.

Putting small business on gmail apps with microsoft out look connected.

I think there is a market for this and your charging way too cheap. Microsoft exchange cost a small fortune in licenses per year let alone buying the hardware to run it and the software.

For a small business I'd offer the configuration of gmail apps with their phones,computers and anything else for probably 100$ a month as my fee and then charge them for each user.

This would include initial setup and ongoing support for that year, I think gmail is pretty reliable and wouldn't need to do too much support.

[Dardee]

My brother-in-law does this. He set up a largish company with 100+ users on Google Apps and it saved the client tens of thousands of dollars compared to a hosted solution. "Cloud" apps is definitely the way of the future so you are correct in thinking there is a market. I think it will be with larger businesses with many users rather than small business.

[Samith]

Hi Boris,

You are right on the money with this idea, you can create a nice business out of this. There are many companies in Aus providing Google App implementation for Large companies. Try not to focus on the Small Business owners tho, you'll spend most of your time trying to convince them the need, cos most Small Business Owners wouldn't be convinced they need a another person to set these up for them. Medium size Business owners are a way different breed, they would do anything to get someone else to do implementations so they can focus on the core of the business. Before targeting any market make sure you are an expert in Google Apps, setting up Google Apps would be pretty straight forward but when something goes wrong answering questions would be hard.

Best Regards,
Samith.