Will Google Apps for Enterprise be on target?
“Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager, Google Enterprise, addressed the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council last week, warning of an IT 'crisis' that risks stifling business innovation and offering Google Apps for Enterprise as a solution.”
I have been dissecting and analyzing Google’s ultimate goal of taking Microsoft head on via a Web based “Google Office” since the day Google launched its Google Apps last August (see “Google to Microsoft: Wolf in sheep’s clothing?”).
I spent several hours at the NYC Googleplex last November and heard the Google enterprise troops gearing up for battle against the Microsoft “hierarchy,” as I report and analyze in “Google battles Microsoft”:
Google CEO Eric Schmidt is determined to make the Google application cloud “something you'd use everyday in everyday life,” instead of Microsoft Office.
Google is readying its Enterprise, or “premium,” version of Google Apps for Your Domain for a 2007 Q1 rollout and is pitching its “massively scalable, cheap infrastructure” to thousands of executives around the world from corporate, government and not-for-profit organizations.
Will Google achieve its targeted launch of Google Apps for Enterprise by March 31, 2007? Will Google Apps for Enterprise integrate Google Docs & Spreadsheets?
Google recently announced “Docs & Spreadsheets integrates with Gmail”:
Gmail has launched a one-click import feature: Whenever those of you who use Gmail receive a spreadsheet or a document in an email, you will see a new link next to the "Download" link that says "Open as a Google document." Click on that and the attachment will automatically be imported into Docs & Spreadsheets and added to your personal document list where you can make changes, invite collaborators and search for it later.
Google unleashed Gmail to the non-exclusive world on Valentines Day and it is a fundamental component of Google Apps.
I pointed out last week in “Google’s Silence” that despite Google’s touted strategy of a “blizzard” of new product launches, it has not announced any major initiatives in 2007.
Not only has Google failed to dazzle in 2007 to date, it never met its promised 2006 Q4 official launch of a “beta” product for its touted first ever foray into offline advertising: Google Audio Ads for radio (see “Google Radio NOT a category killer”).
Will Google Apps for Enterprise meet the same fate as Google Audio Ads, or will Google deliver on its enterprise promise?
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