South Florida Business Journal – by Jeff Zbar

As a Realtor, Dean Isenberg’s business survives on the flow of data to his BlackBerry Tour – and back out to his prospects.

If e-mail doesn’t come in, he could lose a listing or a showing. If he can’t submit a contract to a prospective buyer, a sale could be delayed – or lost. If an out-of-town buyer wants to see a home, often the quickest way is to send a virtual tour. Each service is available for free from one provider.

“Google provides a lot of tools people don’t really know about,” said the Aventura-based Isenberg, who uses Google’s stable of free, Web-based products to run much of his business. “When the market turned, I saw a need for how to use free products to benefit my career.”

The American worker is growing increasingly connected, with smart phones and Wi-Fi Internet services. Yet, workers are only as connected as their ability to access or retrieve data from the road. Google delivers many of the services that small businesses rely on to work from “the cloud” or via a broadband Internet connection.

A growing number of companies are using free, cloud-based services to change the way they actually work. Hotmail and AOL Mail are examples of cloud computing. Some companies use free, Web-based social media, like blogging application WordPress, Facebook or Twitter, as marketing tools.

Executives at InterAir Media, a West Palm Beach-based media buying and planning firm targeting in-flight and airport media, used to e-mail clients Excel spreadsheets with details of various media opportunities, CEO Drew Stoddard said.

Earlier this month, Stoddard created his media spreadsheets for Chicago and Minneapolis in the Google Docs spreadsheet tool. He sent a link to the spreadsheet to his clients, who can collaborate in real time – with changes there for all to see, he said.

“The ability to collaborate in-house on one document at the same time, then share it with clients is fantastic,” he noted. “We can share it with them from the beginning. And it’s free. That’s the best part.”

Free tools are increasingly pervasive throughout the office. Skype, the free voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service, provides Isenberg Web-based long-distance. Google Voice, the free telephone application, allows him to record, save as digital files or receive as transcribed documents e-mailed to his inbox any conversations and voice mail messages.

Security is strong, said Isenberg, whose company, WeTeachGoogle.com, hosts frequent seminars for Realtors, teachers and even parent-teacher organizations on using Google and online services to run small business, schools and charitable groups. Because data is stored in the cloud, a lost, stolen or damaged computer does not necessarily jeopardize data, he said.

Isenberg also scoffs at those who fear viruses or hack attacks of sensitive data coming in via the cloud.

“Encryption is more secure than in the corporate or home office,” he said.

Some remain hesitant about free, Internet-based or cloud computing. The free services often lack direct customer service, said Eric Beck, president of IT Doctors, a North Miami Beach technology consulting firm. Synchronizing online data – like contacts, e-mail or calendar – among the cloud and a BlackBerry, iPhone or other smart phone sometimes can be difficult or prone to error, he said. Moreover, when Google suffers outages, as happened for several hours earlier this month, users are left without access to e-mail, documents, calendar or any other services served up via the Internet, he said.

“If I can’t get to a document for four hours, that could be a problem,” said Beck, who instead suggests his clients either install their own service or use online “hosted exchange” services for accessing e-mail, calendar and content that can start at $10 a month. “As long as you have a good server, your stuff isn’t going to go down, and it’s all accessible.”