1,000 Google Employees Focus On Enterprise SaaS
Google’s march beyond the search engine market continues. The latest proof: Google now has more than 1,000 employees focused on a Google Apps for Enterprise push, according to a Webcast briefing Google hosted earlier today. Here’s the latest on Google’s SaaS (software as a service) strategy and its implications for managed service providers.
According to the Google Webcast:
- More than 500,000 businesses embraced Google Apps by mid-2008.
- Today, that figure exceeds 1.75 million businesses, with companies like Genetech hopping on the bandwagon.
- Google evangelized a new “Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.” The company claims the plug-in “syncs Outlook with Apps just like Outlook natively syncs with Exchange.”
- Google also provided multiple data points claiming Google’s SaaS email is far less expensive for businesses to deploy and maintain vs. Microsoft’s Exchange Server — regardless of whether Exchange runs on-premise or in a cloud.
It’s always difficult for me to make an apples-to-apples cost comparison on software, since I’m not the one actually testing and purchasing these solutions. So please be sure to reach your own pricing conclusions.
MSPs Welcome?
Google is quick to note that the company’s business push includes the Google Apps Reseller program, which Google Channel Manager Jeff Ragusa outlines in this May 2009 video:
Some MSPs may choose to ignore Google Apps. I think that’s foolish. Whether you decide to cooperate or compete with Google, you need to know about Google Apps. The reason: Google claims more than 3,000 businesses sign up for Google Apps every day.
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Joe the Google numbers are staggering. Is the Google Apps partner program US only? North America? Global? I would like to learn more as we consider some saas options. We’re in Atlanta but some of our customers have branches in France and UK. Thank you.
Brendan, I need to check on that for you. I’ll track down answer but it might require until Wednesday.
What is the definition of “business”? My 17 year old nephew mows lawns in the summer and thefore owns a “business”. He uses Gmail. Does that count in google’s “staggering” numbers? Google’s questionable numbers aside, it really comes down to this: Giving up the control of your client’s email managment or productivity applications is about as sane an idea as handing over your PSA database to the competition. And doing nothing about Google’s encroachment on the Channel is equally unwise. MSP’s need to ARCHITECT hosted solutions (don’t like MS? No problem, there are lots of open source alternatives)for their clients to perpetually demonstrate value and relevance as the cloud computing paradigm continues its takeover of IT best practices and deployment strategies. It might be the harder road to travel in the near term, but your business will be better for it and it is really the only way to avoid falling prey to the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
John: I can’t argue with your points regarding what is — and what isn’t — a business. But as a publicly held company, Google’s finances are relatively easy to track. And the company’s growth has been staggering. If you check in with your own customers, I bet many of them are trying to figure out if Google will play a role in their business over the long haul.
Which takes me back to my key point: I’m not saying readers should (or shouldn’t) embrace Google. But I am saying readers should keep a close eye on Google’s strategy. Because you’re going to wind up cooperating or competing with the company, regardless.
Joe – I think it’s more or less the ‘suggestion’ that a Channel stakeholder would even consider aligning with a monolith like Google that makes me sigh. It should be an non-starter. From my perspective it would be different if Google had launched their productivity and mail Apps FOR service providers. But they didn’t. Maybe I’m missing something here. Or maybe its because my company is cut from the Channel cloth. But isn’t it obviously counterintuitive for any MSP to willingly give up control over the very entry point to most client environments? Here is where I *do* agree with MSP Mentor: Google, and others, are coming into this space. If you DON’T have a counter-plan prepared or aligned yourself with Partners that truly have your interests at heart, you are exposing yourself to significant displacement risk.
John: Thanks for sharing your views and stating your case. I suspect many readers agree strongly with your views. But some MSPs are signing up to reseller Google Apps. All views (pro and con) remain welcome on MSPmentor, so that readers can make more informed choices in the market. Thanks again for pointing out your areas of concerns.
Many of our clients have started to ask about Google Apps, especially GMAIL in the last six months. Most of our clients use a software application that is dependent on some form of Microsoft technology. For example, many of the EHR applications we support integrate with MS Outlook and MS Word. We think that when software companies that develop line of business apps that start integrating with Google apps, you’ll start to see a broader shift toward these cloud based apps.
In our own business, our PSA integrates heavily with Outlook and IE, so we can’t make the push yet to Google Apps, GMAIL, and even Firefox or Chrome.
Jeff: Your opening line drives home my key point… If clients are asking about Google Apps, MSPs need to have clear, concise answers to those Google-focused questions. The only way to find those answers is to study Google’s strategy closely.
Jeff – Love your point about the PSA – Ironicallly, I included this as one of the key questions a Service Provider needs to ask if considering the Google plan here.
a couple of points here… warning, i’m going to ramble.
1) It may be a cheapshot but if you have a customer considering google, encourage them or one of their employees to use the google apps spreadsheet to create a couple of documents. That app has so many faults that I will often demo it on the spot just to end the discussion. For example, fill in a few cells, highlight them, apply the “strikethrough” font change, then cut and paste a few times. Issues galore. This app alone has enough issues to close the book on google. All you need to do is highlight the implications… how do you fix this, how many other issues are there like this, who do you call, can it be fixed, if so, why hasn’t it been yet? who is accountable? Does google care ? Yes, bugs are bugs and they are everywhere, but the point here is simply to bring google back to level playing ground.
2) With point #1 in mind, I wonder how many people come running back from google? I’m sure a lot of people have gone blindly into all those pretty colors only to be shaken awake. We’ll never know how many people throw in the towel, but it’s surely an interesting number. Now, consider all of your current customers and ask yourself (you, being the one with enough knowledge and understanding to actually evaluate the question) how many of them could live HAPPILY on google? In my case, the answer is none. That’s an important number, but not the most important one… the winning question here is… How many of your customers think they can live happily on google? I promise you, that number is higher. So now we know what we need to do. As Joe said, educate ourselves so we can educate our customers.
3) I know googles numbers are staggering, but we all know what’s selling this product for them. It’s not how great it is, it’s not how cheap it is (althought i’m sure it plays into it), it’s because it’s GOOGLE… because people feel all warm and fuzzy about GOOGLE. People are taking this jump because they TRUST them. And how many articles have we read about how CustomerTrust+You=early retirement? I’m rambling here but my point is this, if any of us had the household name and warm fuzzy global presence of google, we’d all have staggering numbers. Their success in this particular area has little to do with how good the product is.
Google seems like a good idea with beer goggles on, but so did Lindsay at the ski party house when I was a freshman…
cerf: Rambles are welcome on MSPmentor. I would debate you on item 3 in your list, though.
Managing a fast-growth business can be overwhelming. As quickly as you grow you can:
1. collapse (example: Netscape)
2. lose your way (example: Novell early 1990s)
3. Fail to spot market shifts (AOL when dial-up died)
4. Get fat (example: IBM in the late 1980s/early 1990s)
5. Lose touch with customers (example: Apple, mid-1990s)
My key point: Google’s success is based on more than a warm and fuzzy brand. Google built a better mousetrap on search, and a better mousetrap with online advertising (Adwords). Will Google succeed elsewhere? Too soon to say. But let’s not ignore the hard work and relentless focus that growth management requires.