How Google Apps can Penetrate Large Private and Public Sector Enterprises

Microsoft enjoys a dominant position in the large enterprises desktop marketshare with more than 90% of the desktops running Microsoft Office. But there is a huge opportunity for Google to start to erode this dominance with Google Apps. If Google focuses on those enterprise user profiles with limited dependencies on Microsoft applications (Office, Outlook Exchange, .Net and Sharepoint) they can win migrations of thousands of users. Why? Annual licensing of Google Apps is inexpensive, the support burden is less costly and more than likely the customer can skip a hardware refresh cycle.

There is one challenge: Google Apps and Native Client (NACL) are less robust than Microsoft equivalents. It is essential to find a profile of users within the customer’s organization whose requirements can be satisfied with Google Apps. The technical profile for qualifying users are:

1. Microsoft file compatibility
2. User Customization
3. Workflow Customization
4. Apps and Software management
5. Policy and security management

Where a user profile can be demonstrated to be independent of Microsoft features and the transition costs quantified the business case can be made.  It is essential to find qualified projects and win the confidence of the customer so they will start the project dependent upon Google and third parties delivering important functionality at a future date. People like me who have worked for start-ups know how to convince customers to make this leap of faith.

Its not necessary to create a one to one map of Microsoft capabilities within Google Apps, but customers need to be encouraged to draw a line between those users that are dependant upon Microsoft capabilities and those that are not. The size of the set of Microsoft dependant users can be reduced with time by moving users to heterogeneous apps such as new tablet apps, new workflows like box.net and by enhancing Google Apps with Microsoft capabilities.

The customers that are the best candidates are those that are interested in moving IT and communications to browser apps. If managed service providers such as IBM IGS and Siemens Business Systems that currently hold enterprise desktop support contracts are convinced to become Google Apps partners, Google Apps success will be accelerated. If a technology refresh project can be identified, the ROI of the project can be enhanced because a hardware upgrade cycle will be eliminated.

This transition could create whole new companies to address new opportunities in the delivery of cloud computing to the desktop.

Advertisement