Why Google Apps Isn't Everywhere (yet)

Google Apps is not for everyone, especially at the enterprise level in our current hybrid cloud-traditional infrastructures. The larger an organization, the more difficult bringing change to it becomes.

When we first looked at Google Apps in the fourth quarter of 2008 we knew it wasn't ready to run a business. By June of 2009 we were rolling it out to businesses that didn't need some of the functionality Google was still promising at the time. Since then Google has moved remarkably fast to provide additional functionality.

Google rolls out new functions as they develop them, allowing people using their products to be beta testers in their live environments. In my days working for enterprises, this would have driven our IT departments nuts, but it's a new IT world out there.

Of course, software vendors have always done that, but they called it version x.0 of their products and said they were ready for prime time when we were all, in fact, beta testers. Microsoft usually needs a couple of service packs before they get their products right (Vista being an exception - it never worked). Then when they get a product bulletproof, they force their customers to a newer and less stable version (see Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista/7).

Some users have found Google support for Google Apps problematic and the Outlook sync has had issues. On-Site Technical Solutions has been able to work through all of our issues with Google Apps and find it enterprise-worthy. Whether a business will use Outlook with Exchange or the Google web interface is strictly a business decision, much less a technical decision.

Here, from CIO.com, are four cases where a business migrated to Google Apps and then went back to Microsoft.

The Trouble with Going Google: Four Reasons Why I Got Out

Visit On-Site Technical Solutions for information on how you can move to Google Apps or other Cloud Computing applications. We can also help you with your mobile computing. You should follow us on Twitter @MHBoys. Call or text me at 1-949-212-2168.

 

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Migrating from Microsoft Exchange now even easier

In case anyone has forgotten the vendor whose customers Google is targeting with Google Apps, here's a new tool facilitating the conversion from Microsoft Exchange - Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange tool.

The conversion wasn't an extremely complicated process before, but this tool now makes it easier and cheaper to leave Microsoft. I know Microsoft has committed to Cloud computing, but they sure seem to be falling further  behind both Google and Apple in driving new technology, especially in our SMB market.

Here is the link to the Google Apps blog post on the migration tool.


Visit On-Site Technical Solutions for information on how you can move to Google Apps or other Cloud Computing applications. We can also help you with your mobile computing. You should follow us on Twitter here. Call or text me at 949-212-2168.



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Google Apps - A Bona Fide Competitor to Exchange

Microsoft still dominates the email world and desktop, especially in the enterprise. In a bid to maintain that dominance and compete with a growing range of Cloud vendors (especially Google), Microsoft is migrating customers to hosted Exchange and Office 2010 will include limited free web versions of the Office tools.

While larger organizations are not yet migrating away from Exchange and Office, it's not readily apparent to me how Microsoft is going to successfully compete with the new tools available, especially  Google Apps. Google continues to add functionality and integrate Google Apps with other applications in a much quicker development cycle than Microsoft. Add to that pricing - here is Google's online calculator comparing the cost of Google Apps Premier Edition to Microsoft Exchange 2007. For cost sensitive businesses, and who isn't these days, this calculator alone is a compelling reason to at least look at Google, if not make the switch.

When On-Site Technical Solutions looked at Google Apps late last year we pretty much scoffed at the application and told ourselves it was simply not an effective business tool. When we looked again early this summer, we found a tool that could certainly replace Microsoft Exchange, especially in smaller organizations running Exchange primarily for mail and shared calendars. We became our own guinea pigs before beginning to roll Google Apps out to our customers. Some of us are still using Outlook to manage the mail with Google Sync, but others are simply using the web interface. Since we rolled out Google Apps this summer Google has added or improved to do lists, folders in documents, sync, and well, take a look here.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a contract to migrate their 30,000 employees to Google and according to the LA Times Microsoft was furiously fighting off the challenge.

Google has been rolling along in the education arena with free email and collaboration tools for schools. Back in September Google highlighted their education success on their blog with the headline Five million students going back to school are "going Google." But the LA city contract is worth a reported $7.25m and opens the door to smaller cities if Google is successful in LA.

Swapping out mail in an enterprise is a very large project. I would expect larger organizations to lag in implementing a new mail system, or any cloud application for that matter. It's a very big, costly deal and the organization needs someone in IT to bank their career on driving the change.  As Google continues to add functionality it's going to be more difficult for Microsoft to compete with the current pricing.

You should follow me on Twitter here. Call or text me at 1-949-212-2168 and visit On-Site Technical Solutions.

Other Links:

Microsoft Exchange Server or Google Apps? A Comparison

Google Apps is now an Exchange-replacement; Users can even keep Outlook

Exchange 2010 tries to fend off Google Apps

Google Apps: A Long Road Ahead

Outlook Separation Anxiety Holds Back Google Apps

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Google App Sync Guns For Microsoft Exchange

In response to challenges on many fronts Microsoft is changing its business model. We won't recognize the software giant we've learned to love or hate (or both) the last 20 years three years from now. It's going to look much more like the competition - Google, Amazon, salesorce.com and the list keeps growing.

On-Site Technical Solutions is working with some of our customers to migrate to Google Apps as a more affordable option for smaller enterprises. Here is InformationWeek discussing the Google Apps challenge to Microsoft.

Google App Sync Guns For Microsoft Exchange

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