Google Rolls Out Business Apps Profiles on Google+
Almost in stealth mode Google rolled out Business Profiles on Google+, its social network, limiting access, in the first instance, to those who have Google Apps for Business (the service costs $5 per month to use and you do need to have a website). The intention is to work out the kinks before the service goes global a little later in the year, which should be well before Christmas.
While Google App users will be busy setting up their Business profile accounts and the rest of us who don’t subscribe to Google Business Apps wait for the global roll out it’s a good time to take a look at the functionality on offer.
Regular users of the Google Plus social network have already become familiar with its easy sharing options, the control over privacy and data and the impromptu video group video conference ability of Hangouts. All of these are, obviously, present in the new Business Profile accounts plus:
- The ability to seamlessly create multiple users on one account and allocate specific sharing rights and controls from a central control point.
- The ability to collaborate across the company group with departments or individuals sharing data but also screen shots.
- Real-time collaboration across the company network.
- Analytics integration with the ability to now measure the effectiveness of social sharing of data.
- The potential to socialise Google Ads.
With Google+ offering such an enabled, from a functionality point of view, business profile it will have the ability to allow a seamless multi-media connection with other business in a B2B environment. This will pose a potential threat to LinkedIn whose recent functionality update notwithstanding, is still a lot less interactive when compared to Google+.
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