When it comes to office software, people generally think first of Microsoft. But the reality is that Google Workspace is used by over 11 million paying organizations and boasts more than 3 billion monthly active users globally.
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Many of my small business clients use Google Workspace to send emails, create documents and spreadsheets, host meetings and store files. And yet most are only scratching the surface. It’s often frustrating to witness so many businesses not taking advantage of all the capabilities of Google Workspace, even though they’re paying for it. That’s a waste of money.
If used the right way, Google Workspace can scale right along with the growth of your business, provide excellent collaboration features, and can be cost-effectively managed and secured without requiring expensive IT firms.
For starters, centralize everything.
If you’re going to use an office platform like Google Workspace, it’s best to lean into it fully. Mollie Plotkin, who runs a successful talent and speaker agency in Philadelphia, says Google Workspace is the “shared backbone” of her company. She uses Google Meet, Calendar, Chat, and Drive to “create an ecosystem” so that everything is in one place.
“Work is much more manageable when everyone had equal access to the same systems regardless of where they were working,” she said. “Instead of relying on multiple versions of files being e-mailed around, our teams work from one live document at a time, which dramatically reduces confusion and duplication.”
Plotkin also says that her internal team saves time on searching and improves efficiencies by consolidating all files and data in one place.
“Important information lives in shared spaces instead of individual inboxes, which makes collaboration faster and prevents bottlenecks,” she said. “We use shared templates, collaborative planning documents, and centralized project tracking so our team can move quickly without reinventing processes each time.”
Cheryl Friedenberg, a founder of High Key Impact, a digital marketing firm in Blue Bell, says that sharing calendars has significantly reduced “all the back and forth” for scheduling client calls and managing deadlines.
“Google Drive and Docs make sharing files simple, without endless email chains,” she said. “There’s no confusion about versions or missing attachments.”
Friedenberg always tells her clients to go the extra yard and make sure to also use Gmail within their own website domain and not as just a Gmail address.
“Using a generic @gmail.com address on proposals, invoices, or your website can make your business look less professional,” she said.
Automate everywhere
Once your team is using Google Workspace as a primary office management tool, it’s important to start automating tasks wherever possible.
Milan Baria, who runs Blueclone Networks, an IT services firm in Princeton, says that with Google Workspace you don’t need a developer to automate repetitive tasks. “We use simple scripts to bridge the gap between Google Sheets and Gmail to automate client follow-ups.”
Andy Williamson, one of the founders of Wilmington-based training firm ONLC, says that Google Workspace Studio, with Apps Script, lets a non-technical user describe a workflow in plain English and have it built.
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“The new agents can read the email that came in, decide what kind of request it is, draft the reply, pull the right doc, and only come back to you when something actually needs a person,” he said.
Williamson says that it’s not difficult to create automation so that a company’s data power dashboards or other applications.
“Apps Script used to be just for programmers, but this has been changing recently,” he said. “Everyone in the business is becoming an agent builder, not just the developers.”
Leverage AI
Even if you’re not ready to automate with agents, Google Workspace comes with many AI features right out-of-the-box.
Friedenberg says that by leveraging AI, a user can turn a simple prompt into a fully designed presentation in minutes.
“You’re starting with something polished instead of a blank page,” she said.
In addition, and instead of hiring a videographer, Friedenberg encourages her clients to use Google Workspace to make short professional-looking video.
“You can make a spokesperson-style video without being on camera,” she said. “The voice-overs sound natural enough that most viewers wouldn’t know they were AI-generated. Many small business owners don’t realize it’s already included in a tool they’re probably already paying for.”
Joe Henderson, a Philadelphia-based expert with Google premier partner Promevo, says that another underused application is Google’s Notebook LM, a premium feature with many paid Google Workspace plans.
“Notebook LM is an AI research assistant that analyzes your documents, then generates summaries, answers questions, creates study guides, timelines, podcasts, and other content based solely on your uploaded sources,” he said. “Our clients use it to input raw documents, industry articles, vendor videos and automatically turn that chaotic information into easy-to-understand explainer videos, short audio podcasts, quizzes, and custom study guides. It’s like a proactive operational brain sitting within Google Workspace.”
Finally, lean into Workspace’s IT management tools
Baria says that most owners don’t realize that they easily can restrict Workspace access based on the user’s location or device security status like any experienced IT professional.
“High-level security isn’t just for enterprises,” he said. “Small businesses can set up simple rules that prevent employees from accidentally emailing out sensitive information and use Workspace’s license and user management tools to eliminate unnecessary applications and archive user accounts to save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars a year.”
Plotkin agrees.
“You don’t need a massive IT department or expensive infrastructure,” she said. “Workspace allowed us to add team members, improve collaboration, and manage more clients without drastically changing our operational structure.”
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