These days, running a small or start-up business at home is possible. You already have the tools you need, many of which are already in the cloud. You can access them anytime, anywhere.
Some of the most popular ones are Google products, such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Meet. If you aren’t using them yet, it could be because you have plenty of questions about these tools.
This blog post attempts to answer the most common queries:
1. Is It Safe to Use Google?
It depends on how you define safety. If you’re concerned about hacking, Google already experienced a massive data breach in 2018. Back then, its engineers discovered that at least 5 million user data had been compromised. Over the years, the mega search engine warned of stolen e-mail usernames and passwords.
Note, though, that virtually all online systems are prone or have already been exposed to cyberattacks. One of the biggest was Yahoo in September 2016, when over a billion accounts had been compromised.
If you’re worried about third-party access, Google assures it doesn’t sell, trade, or exchange your user data. You can always read the fine print of their privacy policies and opt-out on subscriptions anytime. You can also request the company to wipe your data.
2. What’s the Difference Between Google Drive and G Suite?
Google is one huge ecosystem. It has e-mail, social media, data storage and backup, virtual meetings, and collaboration apps. It isn’t surprising that many confuse one service over the other. The most common is telling the difference between Google Drive and G Suite.
G Suite is a service designed for businesses. It already comes with a myriad of apps or tools that promote collaboration, project management, and corporate organization and branding. For example, the team can use Gmail for e-mail, but they can customize their addresses to include their primary domain name (e.g., from name@gmail.com to name@business.com).
G Suite is a paid service, but you can always look for a G Suite partner if you like discounted options. You can also customize the tools for your team.
Google Drive is the company’s data storage and backup and is already part of G Suite apps. Here, you can upload, keep, and share all sorts of files, from documents to spreadsheets, slides, and images. You can still communicate with your team, but the collaboration won’t be as extensive as when you have other apps in G Suite.
3. Does Google Offer Unlimited Storage?
The answer is no. It offers only 15GB of storage for your e-mails, Google Drive files, and stored photos. This can be enough if you’re using Google for personal reasons. It’s also a good number for small businesses.
However, as your business grows, your need for storage can also increase. If this happens, you have two options:
- Buy extra storage.
- Upgrade to G Suite where you can get unlimited storage (depending on the account or number of users).
Google apps are not perfect, so you still need to be proactive by safeguarding your passwords and adjusting your controls. However, it remains one of the most reliable. Hopefully, by knowing the answers to your questions, you’ll learn to be more confident to use it.