Google Apps Admins Get More Visibility Into User Access

Another day, another Google Apps update. This time, the cloud suite has added the ability to see how and when users are accessing specific Google services. It could be a valuable tool for showing how well a Google Apps deployment is working for an enterprise. Here’s some insight.

Accessed from the very same control panel (under the “Advanced Tools” tab) where you manage things like mobile device policy, the new activity graphs show not only how many users log in to Google Apps over the last day, week, or month — the official blog entry says it can show which services, like Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sites, or Google Calendar, they’re accessing.

I can see Google’s point about how this adds value for resellers. I suspect that several smaller enterprises only bought into Google Apps for the Gmail functionality, but if administrators can show that employees are making use of calendaring or word processing, additional services and support (and maybe investing in extended functionality by way of the Google Apps Marketplace) could be warranted. If nothing else, it would enhance confidence in the partner.

Google is promising additional reporting functionality coming soon. Given the company’s focus on incremental updates, MSPmentor has no doubt. How’s payroll going to happen?

Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.