Chromebooks are cloud-first devices, so deliberate carefully before you decide to incorporate them into your small business. Furthermore, many businesses (even those that depend upon Microsoft technologies) are moving toward a multiple operating system (OS) environment. The day of a single OS for business operations is fading as employees introduce tablets, smart phones, and other non-PC computing devices to their company networks. Chrome devices and their ecosystem offer a simple computing experience, but it’s unlikely that your company or your customers will operate solely on the Google™ Chrome OS™ operating
system—especially in a world where many businesses are still rooted within the Windows® and Microsoft® Office environment.
This paper provides a snapshot of the Chrome ecosystem, how it fits into business, and what to consider before deploying Chrome devices. These considerations can be broken down into two tiers: things you should be ready to do, and things you should consider.
The things you should be ready to do in Table 1 represent conditions that will help you get the most from Chrome devices within your small business. If you find these key factors acceptable, then evaluate the “should considers” to further decide how Chromebooks might work for you. While Chromebooks won’t apply to every task within your small business, they can still add value to certain areas and employees.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Google Chrome™ devices, like the Google™ Chromebook™ and
Google™ Chromebox™, present small business owners with an
opportunity to transition to a cloud-first business model.
To get the most from Google Chrome
™devices, you
should be ready to...
Engage with the Google Chrome
ecosystem and Google Apps
™Rely on broadband Internet connectivity
Rely on a cloud-first computing model
Then, you
should consider
…
Chrome device management options
Chrome device security
How Chrome devices apply to your
employees’ business needs
The Chrome Device Panorama
Businesses are beginning to turn to web-based computing models. The flexibility offered by cloud computing—and Google Apps™—is appealing to small business owners who
don’t want expensive computing solutions to detract from money and energy that could be better spent on marketing and expansion. Furthermore, most small businesses don’t have a dedicated IT team (or even an IT specialist), so they need a model that is easy to use, implement, optimize, and maintain. Chrome devices can fit that bill.
Chrome Devices in Context
Chromebooks raised eyebrows when Google announced them in 2011. Today, in 2014, Chrome devices are making a name for themselves within technology media and markets. Trends show that Chromebook sales are prolific within the consumer and education sectors to fill niche or task-oriented needs. In fact, Chromebooks account for 1 in 4 devices shipped to the United States K-12 education sector in 2013.1
However, as more businesses move toward a cloud-computing model, more businesses are evaluating Chrome devices. Chrome devices are easy to use and provide employees with a system for basic computing needs. The simple manageability
of Chrome devices is appealing to some businesses. While versatile, Chrome devices tend to fit best into niche corners of business roles. Figure 2 gives you an idea of what Chrome devices are and what they are not.
Chromebook
™Sales Growth
22.1 M
11 M
2013 Chromebook sales Projected 2019 salesFigure 1. Google™ Chromebook™ statistics show that sales
are increasing—a trend that is expected to continue
The Small Business Device Spectrum
Laptop
• Highly functionalTablet
• Intuitive interface • Functionality dependent on manufacturer and OSSmartphone
• Pocket-sized and portable • Limited functionalityChromebook
™ • Highly portable • Dependent on broadband for full functionality2 in 1
• Highly portable • Convertible form factorDesktop
• Full-functioned • No mobilityLow Compute Power Content Consumption
High Compute Power Content Creation Figure 2. Personal computing spans a wide variety of devices and capabilities
Key Factors to Consider
Chrome devices can offer lower costs and simplified
computing, but there is much more to consider to determine if the Chrome panorama is the right fit for your business needs. You should ask yourself questions in two important categories: “things you should be ready to do,” and the “should considers.” The next section, things you should be ready to do, covers the top considerations in detail.
Things You Should Be Ready to Do
Before you adopt Chrome devices, you must consider what your business will need to do to get the most from them. There are three questions you must ask yourself:
• Am I ready to engage with the Chrome ecosystem and its applications?
• Am I ready to depend on broadband access and availability?
• Am I ready to move my business to a cloud-first computing model?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, Chrome devices might not be right for you. Let’s break these questions down.
Am I Ready to Engage with the Chrome
Ecosystem and Its Applications?
To answer this question, you should understand what you do and don’t get with a Chrome device. Chrome devices are designed for integration into the Chrome ecosystem of services, including Google Apps. Switching to a Chrome device means giving up native software your employees might be accustomed to, such as Microsoft Office, Outlook®, and Skype®.
The Chrome Ecosystem
The computing experience with a Chrome device is not the traditional model familiar to PC users. Chrome devices depend more heavily on the cloud and the Chrome ecosystem, which includes the Chrome Web Store, the Google Apps
Marketplace, and Google Apps. Chrome devices draw their core functionality from Internet connectedness, the Chrome browser, apps, and a browser-based operating system, Chrome OS.
You can install apps from the Chrome Web Store or Google Apps Marketplace, or you can use web apps or web-based functionality. The Google Apps Marketplace requires a paid subscription.
Each of your employees will need a Google account to install apps or use Google services. A Google Apps for Business™
account requires a flat fee per user, and each account has its own user settings, preferences, and data—all of which is stored in the cloud.3 If you plan to manage your employees’ devices
centrally, you must use Google’s cloud-based management console, which requires a per-device license fee.
If you want Chromebooks in your small business, be aware that some familiar tools you and your employees use are not supported. For example, you won’t be able to use compute-intensive software like Adobe® Creative Suite® or full-featured
versions of Microsoft Office or Intuit® QuickBooks®. Popular
Figure 3. Google Apps™ Marketplace and Google Chrome™
collaborative tools Skype and Microsoft® Lync® are not
supported, nor are legacy apps that run on Windows. Web apps and apps from the Chrome Web Store or Google Apps Marketplace can help fill in some of the gaps, though you might still be left wanting in some areas. For example, instead of Skype, employees can use Google™ Hangouts™ for instant
messaging (IM) or video chat, but you can’t use Hangouts to talk to someone using Skype.
Switching to Chrome devices doesn’t mean you have to give up your web-based apps. Apps such as Intuit® QuickBooks®
Online or Salesforce.com® Sales Cloud® can still be accessed
from the Chrome devices. However, sites that require web technologies such as Java®, ActiveX®, or Silverlight® won’t
work properly on a Chrome device.
Read “Google™ Chromebook™ and the Google™ Chrome™
Ecosystem: A Map of the Landscape” for a deeper look into Chromebooks and the Chrome ecosystem.
Who Uses Chrome Devices?
Many businesses—up to 5 million according to Google4—use
Google Apps for Business, but it is likely that the majority are still using them on Windows and Apple® devices. As Chrome
devices populate the market, some businesses are taking the plunge into the full Chrome ecosystem. Some small businesses that cut their teeth with Google Apps on computers running Windows are starting to deploy Chrome devices, and others who adopted Google Apps find it a natural progression to incorporate Chrome devices. Some small businesses, like National Rental Services in Chicago, want a device that can give them the most flexibility. To the National Rental Services CIO and CMO, Louis Gouletas, flexibility meant harnessing the cloud, and now most of his staff has standardized on Chromebooks or Chromeboxes.5
Other small businesses use Chrome devices at kiosks. For example, a small neighborhood market might let its customers print photos from their digital cameras for a small
Google Chrome
™browser
Google’s Internet browser and rendering engine
Google Chrome apps
Services and functionality delivered through a browser or as standalone software
Chrome
Web Store
Google’s source for Chrome and Chromebook apps, themes, and extensions
The Google Chrome
™Ecosystem
HP® Chromebook 14 Google™ Chromebook™
Google Apps
™Marketplace
Lets IT administrators find, purchase, and deploy business-oriented apps
Chrome OS
™The browser-centric operating system that controls Google™
Chromebook™ computers
A Google account is required to use services or install apps.
web-based photo editor so customers can spice up their digital pictures before printing.
The Possibilities of Google
™Chromebook
™Devices
Chromebooks provide flexible solutions for a variety of small business needs. For example, small businesses could have a Chromebook on hand for guests, short-term contractors, or other situations where device-sharing and web-based functionality make sense for the role. A Chromebook could serve as a companion device to a small business owner who travels or who wants to keep up with after-hours communications from the comfort of his or her favorite armchair. Let’s explore in-depth some of the ways that Chromebooks can help small business owners. As a Kiosk
The customer kiosk model can work in other ways, too. Take an indie app developer—we’ll call her Frida—who manages her own booth at a local developer’s convention.6 She needs to
draw attention to her app to continue funding the development, so she buys two Chromebooks. Using apps from the Chrome Web Store, she can set up her Chromebooks as kiosks for people to join her mailing list, donate funds to her project, demo the project, or watch videos that detail Frida’s concept, development, and funding needs.
As a Shared Device
Salvador and Jackie work for a small in-home caregiver
organization.7 Because they share dispatch duties but never work
at the same time, Salvador and Jackie’s manager realized that only one computer was necessary for the role’s tasks. Google’s account structure and the Chrome ecosystem of apps make a Chromebook the natural choice for Salvador and Jackie’s switchboard duties. Because they only need one device between the two of them, the company is able to save on device costs.
Am I Ready to Depend on Broadband
Access and Availability?
The Chrome device model relies on Internet connectivity for full functionality and assumes that you will be wirelessly connected to the web most of the time. Employees can overcome the lack of a wireless network with an Ethernet cable (or an Ethernet cable with a USB-to-Ethernet converter). The core productivity suite on Chrome devices, Google Apps, has robust offline functionality that can help employees stay productive when disconnected. However, you or your employees might face obstacles from apps that have limited or no offline capabilities. An employee might find it difficult to remain at peak productivity with a Chromebook if a reliable wireless broadband connection is not available. Suresh, the owner of a city-wide dog-walking business, is used to being able to work from home, but if his Internet provider is unreliable, he risks being less productive than he would be with a reliable connection.8
Where In the World Are Google
Chrome
™Devices?
Chrome devices are sold in Europe, North America, Australia, India, Singapore, and many other locations. Some Google™ Chromebook™ models can connect to the
Internet over both wireless 802.11a/b/g/n networks and mobile broadband networks. Before traveling with your Chrome device, or if you want to establish a small business in another country using Chrome devices, do some research first. If your employees use mobile broadband-enabled Chromebooks, make sure they will be able to connect in the out-of-country location, too.
Am I Ready to Move My Business to a
Cloud-First Model?
Use of the cloud is becoming more mainstream as businesses of all sizes make the switch from local hard-disk storage to cloud storage.
To implement Chrome devices, you must be prepared to transition your organization to a cloud-first model, which means storing most of your company data in the cloud, relying on a consistent broadband connection, and depending on web apps or apps from the Chrome Web Store or Google Apps Marketplace to carry out tasks. If your employees are accustomed to a traditional PC computing model, then you need to confirm that web-based apps exist that will meet the requirements of your employees’ roles.
Figure 5 gives you an idea of what a transition from Microsoft to Chrome might look like. If your small business relies on Microsoft® Word for content creation, and you want to implement Chromebooks, the most natural choice for content creation will be Google Docs™.9 When you used Word, you
saved files to your hard drive, but when you switch to
Chromebooks, you will start saving files to Google’s cloud service, Google Drive™.
Google Drive is a cloud repository for documents created on Chrome devices, as well as other business files you might want to store there. Compared to files kept on hard disk in the traditional computing model, files in Google Drive are less likely to be lost, stolen, or destroyed—even if your Chrome device becomes damaged. Plus, Google helps protect, in or out of the cloud, under layers of security. You can read more about this security in the section, What Kind of Security Will My Data Have?
Cloud storage has its disadvantages, too. If you lose your Internet connection, you have no way to access your files until that connection is restored unless you have turned on offline access for Google Drive and specified which files should be available offline. You can save locally to your hard drive, but most Chromebooks’ physical storage is limited to 16 gigabytes or 32 gigabytes. Google Apps for Business accounts start with 30 gigabytes of cloud storage and can be increased with a monthly fee.10
Primary and Secondary Methods for Saving Documents
Microsoft
®Word
Google Docs
™Hard Drive
Cloud
Figure 5. Generally, documents created in Microsoft® Word are saved to the hard drive, and documents created in Google Docs™
Things You Should Consider
There are other factors to consider before you roll out Chrome devices to your small business. Ask yourself the following:
• Is Chrome a manageable solution for my business? • What kind of security will my data have?
• Will Chrome devices suit my employees, software, and services?
The following sections expand on these questions so you can fully evaluate whether Chrome devices are right for your small business.
Is Chrome a Manageable Solution for
My Business?
The answer to this question depends on your level of dedication to centralized management of devices on your network. If you want administrative control over your employees’ Chrome devices, you will need centralized device management provided by the Chrome device management (CDM) console. CDM requires a flat fee per device and allows you to:
• Manage, enroll, and wipe data from Chrome devices • View Chrome device information
• Configure policies, networks, and settings • Manage apps, extensions, and public sessions
While CDM can seem overwhelming, take solace in knowing that Chrome devices require no imaging and very little device configuration, and operating system updates happen automatically. Employees’ accounts are separate from one another, and their settings are stored in the cloud. Upon logon, employees’ apps, extensions, and settings are pulled from the cloud and populated on their Chrome devices. User account architecture and the web-based Chrome device management console make it simpler to standardize
of the past—no more imaging or DVDs—and security is built-in, which could help reduce or eliminate your need for antivirus software and other security-related programs. This combination of built-in security and web-based applications can make it simple to deploy Chrome devices.
Storage is another thing to consider. Each employee’s Google account comes with about 30 gigabytes of storage (shared by Google Drive, Gmail™, and Picasa Web Albums™). If your
employees store large files and exceed this limit, there might be additional costs. Most small businesses can operate fine with the 30 gigabytes-per-account limit.11
What Kind of Security Will My Data Have?
Chrome devices help keep data secure and protect against malware and identity theft with multiple layers of protection. Chromebooks perform a system check every time they are powered on, and security updates are downloaded automatically. If the Chrome OS detects any evidence of tampering with the system’s code, it can load a pristine copy of itself to mitigate any damage that might be caused by corrupted code.Employee data stored by the operating system, browser, and plug-ins is encrypted, and employees are unable to access each other’s data—even if the device is shared. Google Drive doesn’t encrypt documents on the server, but if users encrypt documents on their Chrome devices before they store them in the cloud, the files stay encrypted while in cloud storage. Data stored on the Chrome device is protected by the Trusted Platform Model (TPM) chip, a tamper-resistant space that stores cryptographic keys for data encryption purposes.
The Chrome browser uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) sessions to help keep data safe as it travels between the browser and
Google’s data centers. Tabs exist as independent browser instances, so if one becomes compromised, the infection is contained to the tab.
You might wonder about data access and retrieval: who can access your data? Does Google share your information with other parties? Google adheres to its own privacy policy, and your Customer Agreement defines how Google stores and uses your data. Check out Google’s privacy policy to learn more.
Will Chrome Devices Suit My Employees,
Software, and Services?
Chromebooks and other Chrome devices won’t be the best choice for every entrepreneur and small business. For Chrome devices to make sense for your small business, ensure that they meet the requirements of your employees’ roles and locations, and that web-based apps are available that will meet employees’ needs.
Meet George, a content developer at a small marketing agency.12 George is accustomed to creating marketing collateral
in Word and a basic photo editor that comes standard on Windows devices. The company owner replaced his Windows desktop with a Chromebook. Through training and hands-on experience, George learns that he can use Google Docs and one of the many photo editing apps available from the Chrome Web Store instead of Word and a Windows photo editor. He can also save and store his work in Google Drive, which has expandable storage limits, instead of saving files to his hard drive. When his work is ready for review, George can adjust the sharing settings within the document to give his boss access to the file.
George might encounter difficulties when it comes time to print his marketing collateral. Unlike the traditional computing model, Chrome devices do not support USB printers and cannot connect directly to shared printers. Instead, George must use the Google Cloud Print™ service, which transfers print jobs to
Google’s servers first. From Google’s servers, the print job is
routed to internal printers. Your printers must be compatible with the Google Cloud Print service or be connected to a Windows computer running a Chrome browser.
Overall, Chrome devices could work well for collaborative environments because, when all collaborators use Google Apps, employees can work in the same document at the same time. Employees can store documents in a shared drive that all stakeholders can access, which helps eliminate version control errors and the tedium of emailing attachments back and forth. However, Chromebooks might not work for your company if your employees:
• Rely on compute-intensive or legacy software running on Windows
• Produce audio, video, or graphics
• Require peripherals like scanners and printers • Must often work offline
• Multitask heavily
• Regularly encounter inconsistent broadband or Internet access
• Share files regularly with customers or vendors who use a Windows based business model
Summary
By now, you understand the complexity of the decision to deploy Chrome devices within your small business. Doing so simplifies device management and provides your employees with an easy computing experience. Remember the three things you must be prepared to do to make the most of Chrome devices for your business:
• Engage with the Chrome ecosystem and its applications • Depend on broadband access and availability
• Move my business to a cloud-first model?
Finally, remember to pay attention to a device’s specifications to ensure that you and your employees get the best, most productive experience with a Chromebook.
The analysis in this document was done by Prowess Consulting and commissioned by Intel.
Results have been simulated and are provided for informational purposes only. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance.
Prowess, the Prowess logo, and SmartDeploy are trademarks of Prowess Consulting, LLC. Copyright © 2014 Prowess Consulting, LLC. All rights reserved.
Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
1 Google. Official Enterprise Blog. “Google for Education: Kicking Off 2014 with More Solutions Made for Learning.” January 2014. http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2014/01/
google-for-education-kicking-off-2014.html.
2 CNET. “Chromebook shipments hit 2 million mark in 2013.” April 2014. http://www.cnet.com/news/chromebook-shipments-hit-2-million-mark-in-2013/. 3 Google™ Chromebook™ devices come preloaded with the Google™ Play app, from which you can download Android™ apps and media.
4 As of date of publication, Google’s published pricing for Google Apps for Business™ is up to $65 per user per year, or up to $120 per user per year for Google Apps for Business
with Vault. See www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html. This pricing does not include per-device management licenses, which are required if you plan to manage Google Chrome™ devices centrally.
5 PCWorld. “Chromebooks Enter Homes, Schools, Small Businesses.” January 2014.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2086545/chromebooks-enter-homes-schools-small-business-es.html.
6 Frida is a fictional person.
7 Salvador and Jackie are fictional people. 8 Suresh is a fictional person.
9 Google. “Fast-Growing Web Solutions Business Rethinks Teamwork, and Reduces Support Related Costs by 80%.”
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5Y-fwYJF2hLM2RkZ-jVlODgtY2MwOS00NTIwLWI5YWEtMDliYzI1YjdhYmM2/edit?pli=1.
10 For more information about Google Drive storage fees, visit this link: https://support.google.com/a/answer/177064?hl=en 11 For more information, see the Google storage limits page: https://support.google.com/a/answer/1186436?hl=en 12 George is a fictional person.
