Google demonstrates tools at Sharjah Media Centre Workshop

Sharjah Media Centre (SMC), the communications arm of the government of Sharjah, hosted an in-house workshop on Google applications to foster enhanced work productivity among staff members.

Held in association with The Business Council, digital partners of Sharjah Media Centre, the workshop saw senior executives from Google delivering two presentations on the application of tools such as Google Docs, Ad Words, Ad Sense, YouTube, Google Insights, and Google+.

Samir ElBahaie, Regional Policy and Government Affairs Manager, Google Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Yamen Al-Hajjar, Public Policy and Government Relations Executive, MENA, Google, also attended the event.

Osama Samra, Director, Sharjah Media Centre, said: “SMC continuously works on building the capacity of our teams through highlighting the latest technology tools relevant to the media sector. We are particularly focused on familiarizing the team with digital applications and mediums, which have proved far more effective and impactful than other conventional mediums.”

Samir ElBahaie said "The Internet and social media are creating exciting new opportunities for public engagement. By creating direct lines of communication, on platforms such as YouTube and Google+, we are able to maximize reach and enable instant direct feedback. In this workshop we presented several of these tools and look forward to helping Sharjah Media Centre achieve its ambitious plans."

Google's web-based messaging and collaboration apps are open-source and require no hardware or software and need minimal administration, creating tremendous time and cost savings for businesses. Free and accessible to all, the Google online tools are based on the concept of cloud computing and allow users to access their documents, photos, videos and other files from any computer connected to the internet through their Google account.