Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Google
Google's push for business
Google has a lot to offer a business. The bread and butter of their B2B offerings would have to be the Google search appliances, in full and
mini configurations. I'm sure that makes a little cash for the Goog, when the Desktop and Toolbar for Enterprise do
relatively little. There are a few software tools for business, like the Video
tool for buying videos online, or (most notably) AdSense, which allows you to monetize web traffic— to an
extent. But with all this talk about a Google-born WebOS, what if we're looking in the wrong direction?Google's beta products, too numerous to list here, make the beginnings of a powerful business suite. Google Analytics obviously provides great data. Google Base? Maybe there's something useful in there... But look at how Gmail and Google's Calendar app have begun working together. Using Google Pages, a busy secretary can easily make a web page. Or Blogger could allow a team to establish a quick way to share topical conversations. But the acquisition of Writely, and it's delay in migration, underscore a growing problem with Google: disconnection. One thing Microsoft has been working on for a decade now: integration. If Google can get their applications tied together more cohesively, they may yet make inroads into the office environment.
The Google workflow? I'll give an example. Mayor McCheez decides he wants to build a better web page for his company's product. He creates a "vision" page using Pages. Using his integrated Google Desktop, he schedules a meeting with the appropriate people, all of whom are on Gmail, and builds a blog (integrated into his Page) for discussion. During the week between his call and the actual meeting (which will be held using GTalk), he gathers data using Analytics, collects and sorts data using a Base-like tool and his online storage, Gdrive. He drafts a formal proposal using Writely, and again posts it online. During the meeting, everyone collaborates on the documentation, pulling images out of Picassa or data from online... There are lots of other possibilities, but you get the idea. There's a lot of fantasy in there, yet some workable tools already exist. Frankly, it'll be interesting to see what betas come out of Google next, if only to ponder what possible real business use they might have. Office on the web? It just might happen, and Google might be the one to get there...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
james 42 said 7:33PM on 4-17-2006
Yes, they have some good tools, that can only get better but, as you admit, most of your scenario is pie in the sky thinking. Companies don't put that much energy into their web site design and would not integration mean that he would really only use one app to get all these different things done?
Bottom line though is still that any company will only use what its IT staff wants it to use, which is one reason why MS is so strong. They sell to IT. Google will need to offer the same level of training to get any real penetration into the corporate office suite market, IMHO.
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Andre de Cavaignac said 8:53PM on 4-17-2006
Too bad all Google stuff isn't enterprise grade. Its all web toys. No offline access, no customization for the enterprise. Companies must compromise their own security by letting Google host the files.
In the end, how good of a website are you gonna make with Google pages? What rich email features or calendar features or API's do you get like Exchange/Outlook.
Google builds toys. Its all they know how to build, and worst (for them), they can't capitalize on any of it.
Want an out-of-the-box office? Look at Office Live. It has all the features everyone would expect from an Office suite, plus accounting features and sharing features. Compared to that, Googles "Corporate Offering" is a joke.
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Razib Ahmed said 9:19AM on 4-18-2006
This is the beauty of Google- the company can address the needs of all sections of people. I admit that they're some behind to address the concerns of business companies and executives but on the other hand almost all the services of Google are free. So, sooner or later you can expect premium and beta versions of its popular services.
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S said 1:48PM on 4-18-2006
Interesting - pie in the sky and all; the comments have been good too, so far: True, james 42, IT depts have been the gateway to get into a company, but at the same time many companies are still unhappy with them, so there's definitely an opportunity to "talk directly to the man", i.e. the CEO, without having to go through his geeks; which is particularly interesting if you have a brand like Google with which he or she already interacts...
It would be even more attractive to them if Google gave CEOs and MDs what most IT vendors fail to deliver: clear, tangible business benefits (not tech specifications), with "enterprise-grade" stability (following Andre de Cavaignac) and the ease of toys... Surely not a quick and dirty company blog, but a way to get things done more efficiently. Much easier said than done, but ther'e a lot of money in there.
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