Item: Google Calendar
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Calendar is a crucial part of my workflow. As a manager, I use Google Calendar to navigate & plan my days & align with my direct reports, peers, & my boss on meetings. It enables success in a remote work environment by allowing users to block focus hours and set their working hours. I use it to also keep track of my direct reports when they are out of the office or when other company events are going on. We can save time by understanding when other people are in meetings or in focus hours so we can either reach out with questions a different time, or direct our questions to someone else. We also integrate Google Calendar with scheduling software to easily set up virtual meetings with customers.

Pros and Cons

Enables the creation of designated Focus Hours
Enables users to set their "working hours" and others can see if they are setting up a meetings a moon symbol next to their name to show it is outside of that invitees working hours
Allows you to easily create scheduled tasks directly on your Google Calendar

Suggesting meetings times.
Allowing you to accept or decline a meeting invitation without notifying the organizer.
Better functionality & colors for the meeting categories/tags function

Return on Investment

Empowers employees to set boundaries with working hours & focus hours
Streamlines scheduling with customers by connecting with our scheduling tool.
Helps managers understand how their direct reports are spending their time.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365

Google Calendar is a close competitor and I think wins in certain categories like general appearance and enabling focus hours & working hours. However, Microsft 365's calendar just seems like it has been built out more with a focus on business use case (despite still having many grievances with Microsoft 365).

Key Insights

Do you think Google Calendar delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Google Calendar's feature set?

Yes

Did Google Calendar live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Google Calendar go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Google Calendar again?

Yes

Other Software Used

LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Clari, Ironclad

Likelihood to Recommend

Google Calendar is well suited for scheduling 1:1 and smaller group meetings and recurring meetings. It's also well suited to connect with scheduling software. However, there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement when you want to make a very well-organized calendar (for example, limitations with the meeting tagging & categories). It's also not as well suited for helping with scheduling for bigger groups.

Google Calendar for Sales

Overall Satisfaction with Google Calendar