Google Apps, Zoho and Scribd

Google Apps, Zoho and Scribd

Software as a Service (SaaS) is all the rage and for good measure. Several times in recent weeks I have had "issues" with customers not being able to sign into a WebEx session that I was hosting. In all but one of those cases I was not trying to share a desktop application but simply showing a presentation or document. The persistent problem has been incompatibility of the Webex client with Windows Vista, a problem I reported to Webex and the help desk response instructed me to download the client from the downloads section of their website and install it manually vs. the automated install launched when you log into Webex. I don't know about you, but if I have to do tech support for a SaaS application just so my customers can see a presentation, I'm looking quickly for alternatives.

The solution for me was to use Google Docs' presentation module. If you don't have a Google account yet, you need to upgrade that old 56k modem access to DSL and get with the program. Google's online "docs" applications include a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program. The best feature in all of these is the collaboration, allowing you to share the document with others, have everyone with the document opened simultaneously and all are able to edit with each user instantly seeing the other's edits. This sure beats emailing the same document, spreadsheet or presentation multiple times to multiple users to get the final edits in place. Google docs also keeps revision history and versioning, so you can roll any document back in time if you mistakenly overwrite or delete a cell in a spreadsheet for example.

Anyway, to get around my Webex issues I simply uploaded my presentation document and Google's presenter application imported the slides and created an online, sharable, publishable presentation. I was able to choose between sharing, which would require users to have a Google account to gain access, or publishing which allowed public access to a URL.

I also have a Zoho account since Zoho has many more online applications available and was first to make them available with offline versions. Interesting note: Zoho has built their offline apps using Google Gears - and had that functionality available before Google did with their own apps. I ran into one issue where neither Google Docs nor Zoho allowed sharing of a PDF file, so I jumped over and used my Scribd account to upload and share a PDF file for an online presentation, again avoiding becoming a Webex non-paid support technician.

Why do I have so many overlapping online SaaS accounts you ask? Well, each has features that the others may not have and so I use whatever works for the project at hand. With Google Docs, when I share a document with other registered Google users, we can collaborate within the document simultaneously, chat using Google's built-in chat feature and I have versioning built in. Zoho's deep portfolio of applications gets more interesting every day so I look forward to testing them all, and Scribd fills some very specific needs.

So, if you haven't made the jump to SaaS apps like Google Docs, Zoho or Scribd, I highly recommend that you do.