Google Apps lightens load for IT managers

Move should make life easier for IT managers

Google has announced that it is adding its Groups services to its enterprise application packages.

In a blog post the firm said that the move would help firms to set up working groups and share documents and other material in a secure and useful way. This should, it said, help to lighten the load on IT managers, who usually have responsibility for administering such activity.

"Blogs, wikis, social networks, YouTube and Twitter are changing how many of us connect with others. Yet within most businesses, especially large corporations, the software hasn't evolved much over the last decade," wrote Rajen Sheth, senior product manager at Google Apps.

"While traditional business technologies give companies the necessary security and controls, they do so at the expense of rapid innovation. Businesses shouldn't have to make this compromise."

Writing on the firm's enterprise apps blog, product manager Shimrit Ben-Yair detailed many of the new features for businesses. For example, any group discussions would be automatically saved, and that any documents archived would be searchable and accessible from the web, he explained.

Ben-Yair added that the features would have a staggered rollout, and advised IT managers to keep checking their Apps system throughout the next 24 hours.

"Google Groups will be rolling out to Google Apps Premier and Education Edition domains over the next day, so if you don't notice these features right now, you should see them soon," he said.