It’s a cyber world and Google seems to lead the way with their extensive search engine, email account, maps, translator, shopping, blogger, books, mobile and the list of applications created by Google can go on and on. This is why almost 3,000 people turn to Google and why Google logs 2 billion searches a day. Not to mention the familiar phrase “Google it,” has turned into the universal response when someone doesn't know the answer. What year was George Washington born? Google it! So why shouldn't Google continue to expand their comfort zone and reach new areas of interest that can keep their regulars happy? They are! Google’s latest trend, Google Docs is finding its way into our cyber world. Google Docs is known as “the one stop drive where you can create, share and collaborate online with documents spreadsheets or presentations.” There is no need to keep emailing a co-worker your updated proposal when you can each edit that proposal at the same time! There’s no need to worry if it is saved since Google Docs automatically saves it and you can see everyone’s latest revisions and comments. The best part of the application is… IT’S FREE!
So why wouldn't any company want to use Google Docs? It seems like the best kept secret that is slowly making its way to top and trying to pass Microsoft Office on its way up. But as great as Google Docs sounds, it simply would not benefit my company. Google promises that Google Docs operates in real-time and revisions are saved instantly but that doesn't seem to be the case. After using Google Docs in my INFO class there have been instances where my revisions appeared that minute but there were times when it took almost 24 hours for my updates to show! That’s a huge concern for my company. We promise our clients that we deliver up to the minute updates on our registrations and we need to uphold that promise. Since Google Docs cannot be consistent with their “real-time” update, we simply cannot rely on the application.
Currently, my company uses an online program for our registrations where we provide our clients with live links to their registration database. With a simple click, an excel spreadsheet opens up on their computer, thus providing our clients real-time information on their attendees’ registrations. For instance, if John Smith registers at 4:08pm and our client opens the link at 4:09pm we are 100% sure that the new registration of Mr. Smith will populate on the spreadsheet. Same scenario, if we manually update Jane Greene’s registration on the website with her travel information at 11:33am and our client clicks on the link at 11:34am, we can be certain that she will see the added note that Ms. Greene will be arriving late to orientation on May 18th. Using Google Docs instead of our current program would effect our revenue as it could sacrifice the loyalty of our clients to our company if we are not providing real-time data. For example, if we make 20% on a meeting that cost about $900,000, we could potentially lose $180,000 of revenue due to the fact that our registration updates were not actual real-time numbers. Our clients need to fill their room blocks at a hotel by a certain date before their attrition clause takes affect. If the room block is 500 for the night of May 23rd and the attrition date is May 1st our client needs to have 500 attendees staying the night of the 23rd or they would have to pay an attrition percentage to the hotel. With that, if the updates are delayed because Google Docs is taking 24 hours it will cause our clients to pay more to the hotel. This could be avoided if the numbers are updated in real-time. This could potentially sacrifice a client that is disappointed in our services and push them to one of our competitors. Along with losing this one meeting of 500 attendees, the client would also withdraw any other meetings they contract with us. Although the program we currently use comes at a monthly cost, we are confident that the expense for the product provides us the right results that our clients are searching for, which in turn, allows our company to make good on our promises of providing up to the minute information.
So why wouldn't any company want to use Google Docs? It seems like the best kept secret that is slowly making its way to top and trying to pass Microsoft Office on its way up. But as great as Google Docs sounds, it simply would not benefit my company. Google promises that Google Docs operates in real-time and revisions are saved instantly but that doesn't seem to be the case. After using Google Docs in my INFO class there have been instances where my revisions appeared that minute but there were times when it took almost 24 hours for my updates to show! That’s a huge concern for my company. We promise our clients that we deliver up to the minute updates on our registrations and we need to uphold that promise. Since Google Docs cannot be consistent with their “real-time” update, we simply cannot rely on the application.
Currently, my company uses an online program for our registrations where we provide our clients with live links to their registration database. With a simple click, an excel spreadsheet opens up on their computer, thus providing our clients real-time information on their attendees’ registrations. For instance, if John Smith registers at 4:08pm and our client opens the link at 4:09pm we are 100% sure that the new registration of Mr. Smith will populate on the spreadsheet. Same scenario, if we manually update Jane Greene’s registration on the website with her travel information at 11:33am and our client clicks on the link at 11:34am, we can be certain that she will see the added note that Ms. Greene will be arriving late to orientation on May 18th. Using Google Docs instead of our current program would effect our revenue as it could sacrifice the loyalty of our clients to our company if we are not providing real-time data. For example, if we make 20% on a meeting that cost about $900,000, we could potentially lose $180,000 of revenue due to the fact that our registration updates were not actual real-time numbers. Our clients need to fill their room blocks at a hotel by a certain date before their attrition clause takes affect. If the room block is 500 for the night of May 23rd and the attrition date is May 1st our client needs to have 500 attendees staying the night of the 23rd or they would have to pay an attrition percentage to the hotel. With that, if the updates are delayed because Google Docs is taking 24 hours it will cause our clients to pay more to the hotel. This could be avoided if the numbers are updated in real-time. This could potentially sacrifice a client that is disappointed in our services and push them to one of our competitors. Along with losing this one meeting of 500 attendees, the client would also withdraw any other meetings they contract with us. Although the program we currently use comes at a monthly cost, we are confident that the expense for the product provides us the right results that our clients are searching for, which in turn, allows our company to make good on our promises of providing up to the minute information.
