A great opportunity for small associations
August 28th, 2006
Today, Google unveiled an integrated package of services that should be quite beneficial for small associations. Presented under the less-than-exciting name, Google Apps for Your Domain, organizations enrolled in this program can use Google’s excellent e-mail, instant messaging and calendar tools on a private label basis, as well as Google Page Creator, which is a WYSIWYG website design tool. Google is making these tools available for free, a price that certainly is hard to beat.
If you’re a small association leader, and particularly the leader of a chapter with little or no staff, I urge you to consider signing up for this service. All you need is a domain name for your organization and you can work with these tools. If you are already hosting a website elsewhere, using Google Apps for Your Domain will not interfere at all. Just a few minor tweaks to your existing configurations, and you’ll be ready to go. Gmail is an outstanding Web-based e-mail interface that is far superior to Outlook, and you can use Google Talk to experiment with IM with a small group of users. Google Calendar is a new but very useful service that will give you a shared calendaring function you can share with members.
In short, Google Apps for Your Domain is worth a very close look for every small association. If you have any questions about it, check out the link I’ve provided above or e-mail me at jeffpi1@gmail.com.
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Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, Announcements, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, Simplicity
Ben Martin and P.I.
Association exec Ben Martin, CAE is P.I.’s Architect of Participation. Jeff and Ben help clients harness the power of the Web through the strategic application of social tools.
The AST Executive Summary
The executive summary of the groundbreaking Association Social Technologies survey project is now available for download! The full report will be available in October.
