A screenshot of Gmail
There was a time, not that long ago, when sending an e-mail from a Gmail account was a surefire sign of a business amateur. Not only did one of these web-based e-mail addresses demonstrate a lack of professionalism, it also made recipients question if your company owned a website (i.e. electronic proof that your organization exists).
In just a few years, we've come a long way. Today, there is no need to be ashamed of a Gmail address. Since Gmail (and other tools from its provider Google) exist in the cloud, leveraging a @gmail account can make good business sense, especially for small business owners. Here are five reasons why a free Gmail account might work for you.
1. Access in the cloud
Cloud computing is one of the most popular concepts of 2010. This term describes services that live online, tools that allow you to interact on the Web and store your information there. With a Gmail account, this means that you can manage your e-mail from any computer with Internet access. As the work force continues to be more mobile, this anywhere-any time access makes communicating easy.
2. Massive file and storage limits
Unlike most desktop e-mail apps, Gmail allows you to send and receive messages up to 25 MB in size. This mean that you can manage large file attachments (although if the recipient doesn't have Gmail, they may have trouble getting your file). Also, in total, Gmail offers up to 7 GB of free storage (so you can archive all your e-mail content and never have to worry about running out of space). For business owners who need more storage, you can pay a small fee to upgrade.
3. Integration with Google tools
Google is constantly launching new services that sync up perfectly with existing tools from the search engine giant and other software providers. For example, Google Calendar plays nice with Outlook and Google Docs tools, such as Spreadsheets, work seamlessly with Excel.
4. Better features and functionality
The Gmail user experience is a breeze to adopt. With quick labelling (tagging), making organizing e-mails easy, and built-in features like Chat, you'll quickly discover a lot of power within this Google product. Also, Gmail does a good job threading conversations (putting related e-mails into a single conversation), although it can take some time to get used to this new way of e-mail management. Finally, your company doesn't need to invest in expensive IT services to manage e-mail servers and new functionality since Google takes care of this for you.
5. Manage multiple e-mails
Having a Gmail account doesn't mean that you have to give up on your other e-addresses, just simply push all of these accounts through to your Google inbox. You can also set up your mail so you can change your reply address in case you want to use an account address other than Gmail.