Abstract:

This paper analyzes different factors related with a newly launched ‘Google Sites for suitability as the knowledge management tool in academic environment. 'Google Sites' is a service from Google.
The cost of software purchase and its maintenance is a big issue for academic and business world. The emergence of high speed Internet has given rise to new concepts like software as a service.  Mostly in the desktop world, the software’s are purchased by the educational institutes, maintained by their staff internally, which requires money and technical skills.  SaaS (Software as a Service) has a new way out, the software is made and maintained by the software firm and used by the organization (Educational / Business). If the software is provided by the Google then it is double benefit for any organization.  The paper discusses different factors like privacy, scalability, support,  Technology, ease of use, provision of essential services, Internal communication facilities, searching  capability, accessibility, control and administration, licensing location & management and Cost of 'Google Sites' for implementing it as a KM tool in academic environment.