Google Apps gaining ground on software suites
Anyone who has ever had a project which required collaboration with an outside client can attest to the technology jitters that accompany such an undertaking. Does the client have a Mac or a PC? Is the computer running Vista or XP? Which software do they use for their documents, spreadsheets, etc.? Which version? If a sales rep were to have to reconfigure their electronic work environment for each client, a better part of their day would be spent in frustration and lost to their real task: closing the deal. The old paradigm was following the industry standard for software and hoping there was an IT professional around in case of compatibility issues. The new paradigm is shifting to on demand business applications that leave hardware, software, and price limitations in the dust and conventional office suites stuck in first gear.
Most recently, Salesforce.com and Google have joined together to offer the customer relationship management market a powerful new solution called Salesforce for Google Apps. According to Salesforce.com’s website, “Your focus should be your business, not the tools you need to run it.” With this new partnership, one million Salesforce.com subscribers will have traditional software suite tools at a fraction of the cost. E-mail, recordable online chat, calendar, word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software are there for the taking. Because users are “computing in the cloud”, information retrieval is quick and collaboration is seamless regardless if the one person is running a macBook with Leopard and the other has a PC with Windows XP. However, business industries aren’t the only market segment to benefit from on-demand applications.
eWeek covered a specific educational institution whose embrace of on demand computing came as a result of a shot-gun wedding. Abilene Christian University was forced to make a quick decision when their e-mail administrator left in 2006. With a myriad of e-mail platforms to manage, ACU CIO Kevin Roberts decided to use Google Apps Education Edition as shown in this YouTube video. In addition to providing students and faculty with applications they need, Google Apps also integrates with the iPod Touches and iPhones that ACU supplies to faculty and freshmen as organizational tools. The bottom line: Roberts estimates a savings of $100,000 per year in support salaries, licensing fees, and hardware maintenance while the staff and students experience a broader range of collaboration and learning. “We have been pleased with Google’s education suite. It has worked wonderfully for our campus, and we’re looking forward to what comes next,” said Roberts in an ACU news story.
While Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff released a statement indicating his belief that the “end of software is here”, there is still room for improvement. The most notable chinks in on demand application’s armor are:
- Lack of robust features such as automatic footnoting and records management
- Inability to work offline
- Data destruction which will meet regulatory standard requirements
On demand software is certainly useful for a majority of today’s businesses. Not every end user in a business needs the depth of tools provided by most software suites. While field work in remote locations is a part of some businesses, most folks still arrive at an office and work in a cubical. Not every business is burdened with the requirements of, say, the Securities Exchange Commission. On demand applications accessibility, ease of use, and collaborative design model deliver everything that a small business or educational facility needs at the right price. Once on-demand applications address the offline and security issues, expect to see them get up to speed with all major businesses.
By Alicen Hogan