Monday's announcement that Salesforce.com would provide Google Apps for free to its customers sparked off a debate among analysts about whether Google's Web-based software can make inroads with large businesses, and specifically the Fortune 500.
Until now, Google primarily has worked with small and medium businesses looking to capitalize on Google Apps' low cost (the enterprise edition rings in at $50 per user per year) and its ability to enable people to collaborate in real time on documents. Gaining large enterprise adoption, however, hasn't necessarily materialized.
Microsoft still dominates the productivity space. According to Techcrunch, Microsoft made $16 billion from Office in 2007. Google Apps, conversely, made about $400 million, only accounting for a small fraction of Google's overall revenue.
On the customer page of the Google Apps Web site, the chief technology officer of General Electric (GE) is quoted as saying the company is considering using the Web-based software, and Procter & Gamble Business Services has enrolled as charter member. But analysts such as the Burton Group's Guy Cheese says Google Apps hasn't caught on yet in the Fortune 500.
"Because Google Apps came out of the consumer space, there's a bunch of things missing [for enterprises]," says Cheese, who also wrote a report pondering if adopting Google Apps could be "career limiting" move for IT leaders in the enterprise space.
Among the primary features Google Apps fails to have in its portfolio, Cheese notes, are sufficient offline functionality and records management for documents. While Google addressed the offline problem for its documents and spreadsheets last week, a similar function has not followed for its enterprise Gmail.
During a question-and-answer session after the companies unveiled their newest partnership at the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco on Monday, Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of Google Enterprise, and Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff noted that the issue becomes less relevant as the ubiquity of wireless and other connections to the Internet continue to envelop the world.
But even if companies can get over the offline issue, the adoption of Google Apps could be a cultural one as much as technological challenge. Microsoft's technology has pervaded the enterprise space for so long that many IT managers, as well as regular users of the Office software, have difficulty seeing how they'd get off of it.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
The list of vendors offering hosted Microsoft Exchange is practically endless, and seems to grow longer every day. This whitepaper provides information to help you identify the issues that are most important to you and offers a guide to help you narrow the field.
Download now! »
This paper examines the potential value of hosted infrastructure and applications for SMBs and discusses the role that Apptix has in providing hosted services to this market segment.
Download now! »
Hosted services enable companies of all sizes to outsource their IT needs and spend less time worrying about technologywhile avoiding having physical servers in their offices. This paper was designed to provide education into the causes of hostaphobia, as well as detailed options for treatment.
Download now! »