20 Best Small Business Applications That Integrate With Google Apps

Google recently announced the launch of Google Apps Marketplace where business applications providers will be able to sell their applications that integrate with Google Apps.  According to Google, over 2 million businesses are now using the cloud hosted Google Apps for their day-to-day activities.

Google Apps is a fantastic service for small businesses as it provides a hassle-free solution for majority of small business requirements such as email, scheduling, document storage, publishing, collaboration etc.  Businesses, however, continue to use specialized applications for tasks like accounting, payroll, CRM, sales and marketing etc.  With the introduction of Google Apps Marketplace and the availability of business applications integrating with Google Apps, the users will not be required to use different applications.

In this post, we will look at web based business applications as well as desktop applications that integrate with Google Apps and can serve different small business requirements.

Finance, Accounting and Payroll

1. FreeAgent – A simple accounting application targeted at freelancers and small businesses.  It can be used to manage expenses, invoicing, time tracking and tax preparation.  Allows using Google Contacts data for invoicing and exporting invoice and tax payment dates to Google Calendar.  Available as a pay-as-you-go subscription.

2. Freshbooks – A web-based time tracking and invoicing solution for small businesses and teams.  Freshbooks offers several customization features such as using company’s logo on invoices etc.  The pricing is based on the number of clients invoiced using the application.

3. Intuit Online Payroll for Google Apps – An online payroll solution from Intuit, Inc. that allows for anywhere anytime access to payrolls. Payrolls can be processed from anywhere.  Integrates with Google Calendar, Gmail & Docs and allows employees to generate paystubs themselves.  Pricing starts from $39 per month for one employee and $1.50 per additional employee.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

4. Zoho CRM – A web-based CRM solution that now integrates with Google Apps.  Zoho CRM allows for complete Sales Force and Marketing automation starting from lead generation to reporting.  It is free for up to 3 users and $12 per user per month from the fourth user onwards.

5. BatchBook Social CRM – A simple CRM application that differentiates itself with its social networking capabilities.  Apart from usual CRM functions, it allows for tracking activities of your contacts on several social networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr etc.  Batchbook offers a free account with limited features and the paid plans start from $9.95 for a single user.

6. Salesforce for Google Apps – Salesforce for Google Apps integrates Gmail, Google Talk, Calendar, Docs and Start Page with Salesforce data.   This solution is not available in the Google Apps Marketplace but it is available for all Salesforce subscribers free of cost.

Workflow & Process Automation

7. Cordys Process Factory – This application allows for creating rules based applications and workflows for data recording, collection etc. using Google Apps.  Small businesses can use it to create workflow for processes like leave requests, time reporting, filing claims etc.  Pricing starts at $95 per user annually.

8. frevvo Live Forms – frevvo is a web form building application using which anyone can create rich web forms.  With Google Apps integration, frevvo connects forms with Google Spreadsheets for saving forms data.  The integration is available for free for all frevvo users.

Calendar, Scheduling and Appointments

9. Tungle.me – Lets you publish availability online and lets people view and schedule time with you for meetings, even those who don’t use Tungle.me.  With the integration, it will allow for scheduling right from Gmail or Google Calendar and sharing with Outlook, iCal and Notes users.

10. Appointy – An ideal solution for professionals such as Consultants, Yoga Instructors, Technicians and businesses like salons and fitness centers.  When integrated with Google Apps, Appointy allows for publishing your Google Calendar using which people can view your schedule and request appointments.  A free (ad-supported) version with limited features is available to start with.

BookFreesh is another similar application that integrates with Google Apps

11. TimeBridge Meeting Manager – This application automatically finds the best possible meeting time that is suitable for all the participants.  Allows publishing and sharing Google Calendar privately or publicly with people outside the organization to view availability and request appointments.  Has advanced features like SMS alerts, phone and web conferencing, delay notifications etc.  The basic version is free and paid versions start from $12 per month.

12. Google Calendar Time and Activity Report – This application integrates with your Google Calendar and calculates and charts time spent on various calendar activities across event and activity owners.  It is a free application that can be used by people who don’t want to use complex time tracking and reporting solutions.

Document Management

13. Box.net Cloud Content Management – Google Apps integration with Box.net allows for accessing and sharing files stored on Box.net from within Gmail and Google Calendar.  It also tracks revisions to Google Docs and the final versions can be easily published to Google Sites.  The service is free for existing Box.net business users and for new users it is $15 per month per user.

14. OffiSync – A Microsoft Office add-in that lets people who are hooked to MS-Office applications continue using MS-Office applications while enjoying the benefits of Google Apps.  OffiSync lets MS-Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 users to save files online as Google Docs, search for files using Google Search and use the collaboration features of Google Docs from within MS-Office.  OffiSync is a free MS-Office add-in.

15. Harmony for Google Docs – A Microsoft Outlook add-in that allows for easily accessing, editing, and sharing Google Docs from within Outlook.  You can open Google Docs in Outlook, share Google Docs as links eliminating the need to attach files and save Google Docs in MS-Office formats using Harmony for Google Docs.  This add-in is available free of cost.

Project Management & Collaboration

16. ManyMoon – A fantastic web-based project management and collaboration application that is available free of cost.  Allows for attaching Google Docs to projects and individual tasks, share Google calendars and use gadget for managing tasks in Google Sites.  ManyMoon is very promising product and has been around since 2008.  I had an opportunity to talk to ManyMoon team and demo the application in its initial stages and it really has progressed a lot since then.

17. Smartsheet Project Management for Google Apps – Extends Google Docs for managing projects.  Lets the users use Google Spreadsheet data in Smartsheet online project management, use Google Docs in the Smartsheet as attachments and view attached MS-Office Docs as Google Docs.  Available as a monthly subscription starting from $9.95 per month.

Sales and Marketing

18. MailChimp – A great web-based email marketing system for small businesses.  With Google Apps integration, MailChimp allows importing contacts data from Google Spreadsheets and Google Contacts for sending emails and newsletters.

19. SlideRocket – An online presentation solution that now allows for using Google Docs data in presentations.  The benefit is that the data shown in the presentation will always remain updated and eliminating the need to update presentations with changes in the data being displayed.  The integration also allows for using client’s contact details stored as Google Contacts to share presentations.  Pricing starts at $12 per user per month.

20. OggChat – A chat solution for websites that routes all chat requests to a designated Gmail or Google Talk account.  The chat operator can access chat using Gmail or Gtalk on any computer or mobile phone.  It’s a great solution for small businesses that want to provide sales support or customer service through chat.  OggChat is free for a single operator.

While the marketplace is targeted towards businesses using the Google Apps Premier Edition, most of the available applications can also be used by organizations and individuals using the free Google Apps Standard Edition.

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Posted by Vikrant on Mar 13 2010. Filed under Featured, Small Business Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry