Though it started with selling software to universities and small businesses, Google has pervaded many more large businesses during the past year with Google Apps, the company's suite of messaging and productivity software. Analysts say that Google Enterprise, which is the division of Google that runs Apps, has added many features to the product that make it more attractive to enterprise IT departments.
“$2 million The amount a construction firm claims to have saved after implementing Gmail. Source: CIO Research”
JohnsonDiversey, a company that sells commercial cleaning products, is Google's most recent win. It moved its 12,000 employees over to the premier edition of Google Apps, which includes Gmail, instant messaging, documents and spreadsheets (among other things) for $50 (about Rs 2,500) per user per year.
"E-mail is critical to our work, but we're trying to simplify IT," says Brent Hoag, JohnsonDiversey's IT director. "We want fewer infrastructures to maintain, and Google (Gmail) allows us to do that." Because Google hosts Google Apps in its own datacenters, companies that buy the product do not need to maintain servers in-house (a process which is widely known as cloud computing or software as a service). According to Hoag, JohnsonDiversey had been managing several application servers and two different mail systems prior to moving to Gmail.
Over the past year, Google Apps had matured substantially and added more enterprise features. Among them is providing IT groups with the ability to have greater control over the new features that are rolled out to their users. Productivity applications, such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets, have also seen gradual improvements. Google has baked in more advanced features, such as macros for spreadsheets. Google Apps also work better with BlackBerry e-mail, as a connector has been created to BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Perhaps most significantly, at a Google Apps CIO roundtable event, Google announced that enterprise users of Google Apps could access Gmail through an Outlook client. The company hopes it will quell the protests by users who have become tethered to the desktop app and who, as a result, have sometimes hindered enterprise adoption of Google Apps.
"For me, it eliminates the last hurdle or the mindset of letting go of (Microsoft) Exchange," said Bob Rudy, vice president and CIO of Avago, a semiconductor company that moved its employees over to Google Apps. "This will definitely help with adoption."
Google's addition of the ability to access Gmail via Outlook surprised many analysts. A year ago, such a move would have been unheard of since Google has been offering an enterprise environment that was in stark contrast to that of Microsoft's. But according to Google executives and analysts, the decision was arrived at after analyzing the needs of both current and prospective customers.
"Google listened to what enterprises wanted, and they delivered much of that," says Matt Cain, a Gartner analyst. "They have developed true proof-points, where companies are saying that they have been successful. Now we're seeing more enterprise interest in Google, rather than just curiosity."
Other enterprise adopters of Google Apps who were at the event included Genentech and the Morgans Hotel Group. During a presentation on the state of the Google Apps product , Dave Girouard, president of Google Enterprise, said that the company has "dozens" of companies with more than 1,000 employees using Apps. He also said that they generated "hundreds of millions" in terms of revenue for Google.
Easy on the Wallet
Easy on the Wallet
Back in 2002, the Johnson Wax company acquired DiverseyLever (Unilever's division for cleaning supplies), forming what is now known as the Wisconsin-based JohnsonDiversey. From a technological perspective, there was an immediate problem with the combination: Johnson Wax was on IBM's Lotus Notes, and DiverseyLever was on Microsoft Exchange.
In the following years, Hoag and his IT group found that having two e-mail systems was both challenging and annoying. They needed both these systems to talk with one another and to deal with meetings, events and other core functions inherent to enterprise communications. JohnsonDiversey also owned eight servers to host all the data contained within them.
Meanwhile, JohnsonDiversey committed itself to lowering its carbon footprint, a process which included using energy more efficiently and cutting travel. So when the time came to re-evaluate his e-mail contracts, Google Apps became an attractive option to simplify messaging to one platform and help fulfill the sustainability pledge; in effect, they could offload e-mail servers and limit travel by utilizing the collaboration features on Google Apps, such as its voice and video chat.
"We not only reduced the number of servers that we have, but because of Google's model, they are also a lot more efficient. So, globally we've reduced our footprint," Hoag says.
Hoag is referencing Google's datacenters, which the company has designed to be more energy efficient than most in the industry. More precisely, servers are a big part of Google's business, while commercial cleaning supplies is JohnsonDiversey's.
Of course, the other upside could be cost savings. Back in January, Forrester estimated that enterprises adopting Gmail would cost (in all ) $8.47 (about Rs 420) per user per month. The next cheapest option would be Microsoft's online cloud-based version of Exchange, which costs $20.32 (about Rs 1,000) per user per month.
Just how much money will Hoag save? He says a "substantial amount," but it's also early in his process, so ROI may be hard to prove just yet. Other companies who have moved might provide him with some indication, however.
At the CIO roundtable, Avago's Rudy said his company has saved $1.6 million (about Rs 8 crore) a year. In the UK, not long after implementing Gmail and dropping Exchange, Taylor Woodrow, a construction firm, claims to have saved $2 million (about Rs 10 crore).
"The predominant reason (for switching to Google) is economics. With $50 (about Rs 2,500) a user a year, it is a compelling price point. Plus, access to a lot more storage is a big issue for a lot folks. IT also gets off the upgrade treadmill," says Gartner's Cain.
By "upgrade treadmill," Cain is referring to the traditional model of software updates. Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes take years to add new features to their e-mail systems; Google tweaks Gmail and Google Apps every week or two. For some companies, though, this can also be too much, too fast - something Google has become more conscious of during the past year.
"It is a bit of adjustment for some," says Rajen Sheth, a Google Apps senior product manager. "Anytime we roll out a change to Google Apps, we roll it out to millions of users - enterprises or consumers - who end up getting calls at their help desks the next day. So we've added an option to the administrative control, where they can select whether or not they want the newer, bigger things added immediately."
Taking the First Step
Taking the First Step
Back in January, after Hoag decided on Gmail, he and his group thought about the best way to roll it out to users. Initially, his IT group thought about releasing Gmail in phases, as they would for many traditional IT projects. They were going to start with 150 users, primarily leaders and managers, and then move the remaining employees gradually.
The problem with that approach was familiar: If you have people on different platforms, the information traded between them doesn't talk as cleanly as you would like it to.
"That was our biggest lesson learned," Hoag says. "Get them on the same tool as quickly as possible. So in March, we changed our approach. We scheduled to go live in May for everyone."
One question that often arises is what to do with old e-mails. Hoag says JohnsonDiversey deployed a tool that enabled users to choose which e-mails they would like to migrate over to the new system. Meanwhile, as the transition occurred, he said Google had people on site to help with the implementation.
Hoag admits that moving to the Gmail interface, which people have become used to in the consumer space, has put him in an unfamiliar scenario with regard to IT's relationship with users.
"Users feel like we've given something to them rather than doing something to them," he says.
For now, the ultimate goal is to get users acclimated to Gmail and chat (instant messaging). Eventually, while Hoag has no plans to ditch Microsoft Office, he hopes to use Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and Google Sites (a wiki tool), to sunset old folder structures that were used for enterprise collaboration
