Google’s New Policy Set to Improve User Experience

Though there was a feeling of concern when Google initially announced its new privacy policy, set to take effect March 1, the cloud service provider has clarified its plans and users are quickly learning that the changes will actually improve the time they spend online.

Those who will experience the most improved services are the people who use the most Google platforms most often.  This means that those who are on Google Apps – who usually use services like email, calendar, documents, Google+, search, and more, daily – stand to benefit the most from these changes.  This is the case because of how Google’s new privacy policy works.

Basically, Google has put all of its many platforms together under one policy, a move that will enable it to get a more complete picture of each user.  The goal of this is to make working on multiple Google platforms at the same time more seamless and to provide users with a more personalized web experience.

So now that Google will have all of this user information, what does it plan to do with it?  Contrary to initial fears, Google will not be selling this information to others.  What Google will do with the data is employ it to meet the needs of each individual user better and faster.  For example, Google will use the information it collects to tailor advertisements to each user, this way people will see ads about topics and companies in which they are actually interested.  Google will also have a better idea of what type of search results you generally look for and will know exactly what you’re looking for when you search for something generic, like “apple,” that may have multiple meanings.  In fact, users may find that after some time Google is even suggesting search terms, correcting spelling errors in search terms, and providing a list of contacts with whom they may want to share documents or emails.

Under its new policy Google can also take the role of personal assistant, as it can remind users of meetings and tasks they have put into their Google calendar but may have forgotten about.  Even more impressive, Google will even be able to help users gauge whether or not they will be late to events that are listed in their Google calendar.  By logging the time of the event and the user’s location on Google Maps, Google can determine traffic conditions to notify the user that he/she will be early or late.

In order to help users keep track of all of the changes and better monitor their online usage across all of Google’s services, Google has developed tools like the Google Dashboard and Ads Preference Manager.  These features give users more control over their accounts and enable them to better manage different aspects of their accounts, such as what advertisements they see.

In the case that there is something Google users don’t want tracked with the rest of their information, Google has tools in place that allow people to use its services more privately.  For example, users can chat “off the record” in Gmail and can use the “icognito window” in the Google Chrome browser.  And of course, users can simply log out of their Google account to use the search function without having Google log the information.

Taken together, all of these changes under the new privacy policy are set to improve user experience.  By providing people with a more seamless experience across all of its platforms, Google is working to better tailor its services to each individual user.

Cloud Sherpas is a leading cloud service provider and was named the “Google Enterprise 2011 Partner of the Year.” As one of the first Google Enterprise partners, Cloud Sherpas has migrated over one million users across a variety of industries from legacy, on-premise messaging systems to Google Apps, helping organizations adopt cloud computing to innovate and dramatically reduce their IT expenses. Headquartered in Atlanta, Cloud Sherpas has regional offices in locations including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Austin and Sydney, and has more Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialists than any other partner in the world.

Photo source: https://www.sxc.hu/photo/265908.