Google Drive for a Team of Teams.
March 29, 2016

Google Drive for a Team of Teams.

Jacob Carlisle | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Google Drive

Google Drive is being used enterprise wide. We use it locally to collaborate with our immediate teams as well as on an international scale to work with those that we never see face to face.

When we are creating new content, be it a how-to, presentation or company communication we are able to work as a team to quickly add assists, provide feedback and make changes to a live document.
  • Collaboration: Google Drive allows all of us to work together on a live document. We don't have to send threads of emails back and forth or lock ourselves in a conference room to create content.
  • Share Documents: My team is able to easily share documents with everyone else on the team. These documents then live in a "folder" of shared documents that is easy to search. We are also able to manage permissions, allowing others to only view or comment on documents, rather than making changes.
  • Storage: We start out with 30 GBs of storage. That allows for a lot of documents when using the native file format. We have been able to use this space to store and share short video files that we are working on as well as the traditional documents.
  • Team Sharing: While it's great that you can share your files with your team members, there isn't the concept of a shared drive. I would like a more traditional "file server" like setting where no one owns the specific document. I would like to be able to create, or move, a document into this space and allow my team to access it by default.
  • Natural Search: I might be spoiled, but Google is the one that spoiled me. The search can take some time to get used to. I can't always remember which criteria needs to come first in my search query.
  • VIP Tags or Folders: I have multiple documents shared with me everyday. I would like to be able to add something to a document from specific owners so I don't lose their document in with all of the others.
  • Shared vs. Not Really Shared: You can send someone a link for a document that everyone in your organization has access to. But unless that document is specifically shared with you it's not added to your Shared with me folder. This means that sometimes you have to go back to hunt through your messages to find it.
  • It's hard to put solid numbers to something like Google Drive. For myself and my team it has allowed us to complete projects while some individuals were working from 2,000 miles away. We were able to connect on a Hangout video call and complete the project on time.
  • Google Drive has allowed me to move between 3 computers while using it and not lose a single file. Sure I have backups and am diligent in my migrations, but this has allowed me to move seamlessly from one machine to another without skipping a beat.
  • I was even able to set it up to automatically save my screenshots to Google Drive, meaning that now I don't have to take the screenshot, attach it to the email and then send it. Now I take the screenshot, right click on the file and share it with the recipient.
I have used ownCloud and Dropbox for file storage and they do a decent job of allowing me to backup, share and access my files. iCloud is still new and while it's getting better, there is no Enterprise edition and they only start you out with 5 GBs of space, for all of your documents. I believe that iCloud has a nicer looking interface and I love that it supports integration with Apples iWorks apps, however Google Drive is more mature. I would love it if I could work in Pages and Keynote locally and it would sync with Google Drive, but I don't see that happening. iCloud feels like a hobby from Apple. Until they step up their game and have something like Google Apps for Work they won't be able to compete.
Google Drive is great if you have any need to share documents with others, which means it fits almost any business situation. Even when not working on team projects I will use it so I have easy access to that document at work, at home, on my phone, etc. It's a great example of how cloud based applications allow you to be more productive.

The only place I think of where it is not appropriate would be at the dinner table. When it's time to put work down and focus on your family.

Google Drive Feature Ratings

Versioning
9
Video files
9
Audio files
9
Document collaboration
9
Access control
8
File search
7
Device sync
9
User and role management
9
File organization
7
Device management
9
Performance
9
Reliability
8
Storage Reports
9

Using Google Drive

While I might feel like the phone is too small to use to create content, they have done a great job in creating a UI / UX that doesn't prohibit you from creating that content on your phone. On a full blown desktop they have done a great job in creating a suite of office tools that can compete with Microsofts' Office suite. While saying that I do think it's fair to point out that Excel will still knock the socks off of a Google Sheet, due to the fact that it's running in a browser.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Creating new documents
  • Commenting on existing documents
  • Managing users permissions
  • Duplicating documents
  • Searching, there are so many documents. It's easier than searching for that one email from that one guy that he sent while you were gone, but could still be simplified.
Yes - The mobile version feels like an intuitive version of the desktop version that I look at all day. While I personally feel like a phone is a bit small for creating documents, for reviewing or tweaking an existing file it works really well. I also appreciate that you don't have to download an app to use it, they have created their software to be responsive.