Google Takes On Washington … As a Client?

In the October 20, 2008 issue of InformationWeek (p. 17), Google takes office in Washington, D.C.. According to the article,

Nearly 38,000 employees have access to Google Docs, Gmail, and other Google applications, and its intranet is built with Google Sites.

While Microsoft Office will be maintained in the organization for some, Google is seen as offering complementary services which accelerate collaboration. Citing concerns with expanding costs of “enterprise software” and drawn-out integrations, Vivek Kundra, D.C.’s CTO, explains, “We just turned [Google Apps] on and started using it.”

There’s something to be said for rapid deployment cycles, but what about security and intellectual property concerns?

Is Google Docs really ready for primetime?

In a previous article (Does Google care about your privacy?), I questioned the legal verbiage in Google Docs sections 11.1 and 11.2:

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

Although, Google attempts to explain this away in various FAQ’s, many of the CIO’s, CTO’s, and IT Managers I interact with don’t yet see Google’s offerings as a serious solution, viable for corporate primetime. They are doubly uncomfortable with verbiage like that contained within sections 11 of Google Docs’ terms and conditions.

GE seems to agree. In September, GE dropped Google and chose competitor Zoho Office Suite.

A GE spokesperson who did not want to be identified said their decision was based around issues of personal and corporate privacy, functionality, support, features and Zoho won hands down. The spokesperson said the Google application was intrusive and the ads started to become a nuisance. I tested both applications today. Google Spreadsheets was a disaster.

With all of this traffic about office productivity, one thing is certain – Microsoft’s monarchy in the office productivity arena is being severely challenged. OpenOffice.org was reportedly swamped with web traffic after rolling out its new Office 2007 extension support, slash-dotting the website. This potentially indicates OpenOffice is being taken much more seriously in the corporation. I know we do.

Don’t count Microsoft out just yet, however. Their new SharePoint offerings have quietly sold over $1 Billion in licensing alone for it’s Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) solution. This underscores the belief that Microsoft offers enterprise collaboration, coupled with an understanding of security needs, built upon a platform that is readily prevalent in almost every business across the United States.

What’s your take?

Office productivity and collaboration will continue to be topics of debate among businesses struggling with cost controls, productivity, and overall efficiencies.

Google must continue to make in-roads into the core enterprise while attempting to ensure opponents of their cloud-offerings can be assured of security and that Google is willing to protect corporate interests.

Microsoft is beginning to serve up its applications via a subscription model, but site licenses will most likely remain the most cost effective option for very large enterprises. Microsoft must also help to reshape the way in which deployment, security patches, and overall manageability are handled, something SaaS offerings have handled very well.

And what of OpenOffice and Zoho? Will they continue to make there way in to cost conscious organizations?

What do you foresee as the landscape of office productivity and collaboration in the coming years? Does your organization have any initiatives for review in play? Or, is your organization actively using any of these tools?

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.