Smartsheet - A Top 10 Companion Tool for Google Apps

More than two million businesses have chosen Google Apps for their email and calendar infrastructure. With the recent introduction of the Google Apps Marketplace, those same two million businesses can now easily deploy complementary business applications alongside Google.  It's a giant step forward for businesses eager to reap the benefits of running more of their operations in the Cloud. 

Consolidation and coordination through single sign-on and data integration is attractive to businesses on multiple fronts.  Ease of administration, simplified access for users, and the ability to share data between applications translates into greater productivity and lower costs.  For a great number of teams and businesses, Google Apps combined with Apps Marketplace solutions will eliminate or significantly defer the need to deploy more complex, higher priced standalone solutions.

Smartsheet is a compelling companion business application for Google Apps as it addresses primary business needs such as Online Project Management and CRM, as well as progressive initiatives such as Crowdsourcing.

Reviews and rankings of the integrated marketplace solutions are starting to come in, and we are thrilled that Smartsheet is figuring prominently. Research firm Focus ranks the best available business apps in the Google Application Marketplace as:

1. Intuit Online Payroll
2. OffiSync
3. myERP.com
4. SurveyMonkey
5. Tripit
6. Aviary Design Suite
7. ZohoCRM
8. FreshBooks Online Billing
9. Smartsheet
10. Manymoon

Silicon Alley Insider lists the following as their pick for most interesting business apps in the Marketplace:

1. Socialwok makes collaborating with coworkers much, much smoother
2. OffiSync is for people who are only halfway on board with making the switch to Google Apps
3. Sync up Google Apps with existing BlackBerry Enterprise
4. Server Intuit Online Payroll integrates your payrolls with Google Apps
5. Smartsheet is a neat tool for crowdsourcing various forms of drudge work
6. Concur Breeze lets employees create expense reports directly from credit card charges
7. gTrax is a tool for keeping tabs on how your employees are using their time
8. MailChimp is a service for managing newsletters and other large distribution emails
9. Zoho is in direct competition with Google Docs, but there it is
10. Gbridge extends Google Talk into a full VP

The ability to integrate Smartsheet into a Google Apps domain for single sign-on, Google Docs integration, and one-click navigation has been well received by Google Apps customers.  That is only the beginning however.  With integration to Google Calendar and Contacts on the near term Smartsheet horizon, customers stand to benefit even more from choosing Google Apps and Smartsheet.

-Mark

Interested in seeing more reactions to the Google Apps Marketplace? Check out these articles in Techflash , Xconomy , and Basex.