Measuring The Total Economic Impact Of Google Apps
In May 2010, Google commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine the total economic impact and expected return on investment (ROI) enterprises may realize by adopting Google Apps after having managed a traditional on-premise messaging and collaboration environment. Google Apps is a cloud-based messaging and collaboration platform that includes mail, calendaring, IM, as well as Web-based collaborative documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and sites. The purpose of this study is to provide readers with a framework and analysis to evaluate the potential financial impact of switching from legacy email and productivity solutions to Google Apps.
To accomplish this analysis, Forrester conducted a combination of in-depth executive interviews as well as two broader surveys targeted at both IT and end user groups. This approach allowed Forrester to realize the broad impact Google Apps is having on IT and end user organizations and to supplement this data with an understanding of the underlying factors driving firms to move to a cloud-based messaging and collaboration platform.
Google Apps Drives IT Cost Savings And Key Collaboration BenefitsOur interviews and broader survey around Google Apps and our subsequent financial analysis identified several key takeaways for organizations migrating to a cloud-based messaging and collaboration environment:
Ninety-three percent of respondents saw positive, tangible IT and end user impacts that drove ROI. End users familiar with cloud-based personal email transitioned more smoothly to using Google Apps at work.
End user productivity gains were even greater than IT cost savings. End users were able to use Gmail more efficiently than their previous email solution and collaborate more effectively with Google Docs and Google Sites than with traditional office software.
The switch to Google Apps was usually driven by replacing or augmenting an existing email solution. However, Forrester saw a growing number of cases where organizations chose Google Apps for collaboration and then migrated to the messaging platform.
For the representative organization, the three-year results of switching to Google Apps from traditional infrastructure include:
Risk-adjusted ROI of 307%
Risk-adjusted net present value (NPV) of $10,039,612
Client: The Santa Fe Farmer’s Market Institute Industry: Sustainable Agriculture
Summary: Mindshare Studios created a new website for the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market Institute using a custom Content Management System based on WordPress. The site features an interactive display of all produce and goods at the market automatically updated from the database each month highlighting what’s seasonal and local, in addition to many other features including image slideshows, a custom site navigation system, and Facebook, Twitter & YouTube links.
Mindshare Studios’ Design Guidelines for Dynamic Websites
At Mindshare Studios, we work with a lot of print and graphic designers and have found these guidelines to be essential when implementing a designer’s work as a dynamic web application (CMS, blog, shopping cart, etc). you can download a PDF version of this document here.
Choosing Fonts
Body Copy
Generally, it is best to use “web safe” font stacks for large areas of text. A font stack is a list of fonts that a browser will use in order of preference (e.g. Ideal font, Close alternative font, Common font, and Generic font-family).
Certain typefaces can be dynamically embedded using various advanced techniques based on Flash or JavaScript. Because these techniques require more processing and additional plugins they should only be used for small areas of text (like page headings).
Note that not all fonts allow embedding. Many font foundries specifically prohibit use embedded use of their fonts. We can help you determine if a specific font will work or not.
fontsquirrel.com is a good source for free fonts that can be embedded for use in headings.
Backgrounds
Web backgrounds can be made up of solid colors and/or images. If images are used they can either be repeated (tiled) along the browsers X axis (width), Y axis (height), or both.
Because we don’t know what screen resolution a site visitor will have, if you decide to use a photograph as a background image your design must also include space beyond the edges of the photo. This way we will know how you want us to handle situations where the site visitor’s browser extends beyond the background photo. See the example below:
Resources for better understanding web backgrounds:
Every fixed-width web design must be designed around a target screen resolution. At the time of this writing, most sites are designed to fit a screen size of 1024 x 768 pixels. The generally accepted maximum page width for a design target the 1024 x 768 resolution is 960 pixels wide.
This leaves room for various browser add-ons, scrollbars, and whatnot that the site visitor may have enabled. A margin of at least 30px on either side is a good rule of thumb. So if you decide to design for a target screen width of 1280px your main content area should be at most 1220px wide.
You can get up-to-date browser display stats from NetMarketShare.
Bottom line: our current recommendation is to make the width of the content area 960 pixels wide (or less).
PSD Requirements and other considerations
Create a separate PSD file for each page template. This keeps file sizes down and reduces the possibility of errors.
Delete all hidden layers.
All designs must be at 72dpi.
Remember to include styles for link and button rollover (aka mouseover) states.
Remember to style basic HTML elements in your templates. These may include numbered and bulleted lists, tables, form elements, block quotes and citations, inline images, paragraph text, headings, etc. If no styling is provided for these types of elements, we will use our discretion in styling them and subsequent style change will be billed to the client.
If the design has drop down menus or some other animated element, you must include the styling and graphics for those. If no styling is provided for these types of elements, we will use our discretion in styling them and subsequent style change will be billed to the client.
Here is an excellent talk by Michael Bierut from the acclaimed design agency Pentagram in New York on the general topic of “clients” – highly recommended watching for any professional or amateur designers.
Client: MRC Group of Companies Industry: Human Resources
Summary: Mindshare Studios created a slick new site with our collaborators, Carristo Creative, for MRC’s hrsearch.com. The site features a highly customized Content Management System adapted to fit the client’s specifications.
Mindshare Studios Sponsors Del Norte High Girls Track Team
Mindshare Studios sponsored the Del Norte High School’s girls Track and Field team. The donation was used to purchase a tent the girls can use during meets.
Client: Raysteel, Inc. Industry: Steel fabrication
Summary: Mindshare Studios and Carristo Creative collaborated to provide Ray Steel, Inc with a classy new look for their website as well as a custom Content Management System.
Client: The Hotel Santa Fe and Hacienda Industry: Hospitality
Summary: Mindshare Studios converted The Hotel Santa Fe’s exisiting website into a Content Management System with advanced Search Engine Optimization features.
Mindshare Studios sponsored the Del Norte High School’s girls Track and Field team. The donation was used to purchase a tent the girls can use during meets.
