It has just become a lot easier for small companies to work in their favorite Google products because the search king recently launched a new luxury that enables users to sign in to multiple accounts at one time. Great problem? Certainly. Small companies should manage to have a lot more done with the introduction of this new feature.
Convenience and Increased Productivity
Until recently, accessing multiple Google accounts was something that was typically accomplished by opening more than one browser. For example, if you were viewing one in Chrome, you would have to launch a browser such as Internet Explorer, FireFox or Safari to open another. This was due to the fact that Google utilized sign-in cookies that essentially forced users to log in to only one account at a time.
The enhancement has made it a simple process that can be done by simply opening up a few tabs on the page you are viewing. Thanks to the new feature, you can log in and view your appointments in Google Calender, all without having to close out the article you were viewing in Google Reader. This simple convenience could help small businesses be far more productive.
View Personal and Business Email
Gmail is a very popular email application that has well over 100 million users. For those who use this service for both personal and business purposes, the multiple sign-in feature is a welcomed treat. Instead of having to log out from your personal account to find out if you received a response from a new client, you can multi-task by working in both accounts at once.
With the feature enabled, switching back and forth is as simple as making the appropriate selection from the drop-down menu located at the top of the page. No more relying on plugins and tedious tricks. Your personal and business email can now all be managed under a single roof.
Limitations
While the multiple sign-in feature offers some great perks, it is not perfect and does have its limitations. At the current time, the feature is only available for select Google products. These products include Calender, Code, Gmail, Google App Engine, Reader, Sites and Voice. You may have immediately noticed that Google Docs is not included, though support for this product is said be coming soon. It is also worth noting that the feature does not work on offline versions of Gmail and Calendar, as well as Google applications on mobile platforms. If you want to get the full functionality of Gmail and Calendar offline, leaving this option disabled is highly recommended.
As a new feature that has just been released, there are a few issues with multiple sign-in, but Google says that it is working hard to address them and make the option available to users on all platforms as soon as possible. For now, the sheer simplicity and productivity boost will likely be enough to suit many small business users.
How Are Multiple Sign-In on Google Accounts Beneficial For a Small Company?