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Tuesday, 11 September 2007 |
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Capgemini to push online Google Apps at big business…
Consulting company Capgemini is getting into bed with search engine leviathan Google to promote the latter’s Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) to large enterprises. Delivered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution over the Internet via a Web browser, GAPE – which includes Docs & Spreadsheets, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk and Start Page – is claimed to provide powerful collaboration and communication applications for a low annual fee.
“Capgemini’s hallmark is enabling companies to create an effective and collaborative business platform for its clients,” according to Paul Spence, ceo, Global Outsourcing, Capgemini. “Our corporate vision is designed to help our clients achieve better, faster, more sustainable results by linking them with their partners, suppliers and the latest technologies. Incorporating Google Apps Premier Edition into our offering is yet one more way that we are helping our clients adopt technological innovations within a robust and tested framework.”
Which is nice. And Google is known to be keen to expand the market for Apps away from its initial SME constituency. In July Google signed a definitive agreement to acquire Postini, a provider of on-demand communications security and compliance solutions, for the not inconsiderable sum of US$625mn. On that occasion Dave Girouard, vp and general manager, Google Enterprise, had the following to say: “The response to Google Apps has been tremendous, with more than 1,000 small businesses signing up for the service every day. At the same time, large businesses have been reluctant to move to hosted applications due to issues of security and corporate compliance. By adding Postini products to Google's technology, businesses no longer have to choose - employees get the intuitive products they want, and the company achieves the security and assurance it needs.”
But caveat emptor. In a recent research report from the Burton Group – ‘Google Apps in the
Enterprise: A Promotion- Enhancing or Career-Limiting Move for
Enterprise Architects?’ – author Guy Creese concludes: “Google has caught the attention of enterprises with its inexpensive GAPE product: available at US$50 per user per year. However, the seductive price can spell trouble for enterprise architects and their companies if they don't do their homework: the solution's rudimentary feature set means that enterprises need to pick carefully and implement slowly. While Google's entrance is adding momentum to using SaaS for communication, collaboration, and content management, it's unclear at this point whether Google will be able to capitalise on the trends that it's accelerating.”
John Williamson |
