Google's new
fee-based hosted suite of email and collaboration tools will
disrupt Microsoft's model for the pricing
and provisioning of enterprise email and other applications,
experts predicted today.
New research from Gartner said that Google Apps Premier Edition, a
package of collaboration tools and personal productivity
applications aimed at enterprise users, will be the first 'software
as a service' (SaaS) offering that enterprises will seriously
consider over the next three years.
"Earlier competitors of Microsoft required enterprises to directly
replace Microsoft Office and Outlook services and were therefore
judged chiefly based on their ability to emulate Microsoft
features," said the Gartner briefing.
"Consistent with the 'disruptive innovation' notion taught in
business schools, Google Apps creates a new category that can
coexist with Microsoft products while distinguishing itself."
The research noted that Google's Premier Edition, priced at $50 per
user, is less than half the $122 that enterprises currently spend
for email with much more stringent storage limitations.
"Individuals will experiment with Google Apps, employ it for
short-term, ad hoc collaboration projects at work and spread word
of their success to drive 'viral adoption' by other users," said
the analysts.
"Viral adoption will eventually lead to end-user pressure for IT
organisations to include Google Apps.
"Senior management is opening up to the possibility of using SaaS
instead of making an internal capital investment, and Google Apps'
cost advantages sharpen this argument."
According to an October 2006 study by McKinsey & Co, 61 per cent of
chief information officers are looking to invest in
SaaS-provisioned technology during 2007.
These pathways will be open to many vendors, and not just Google.
Gartner believes that by year-end 2007, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and
IBM among others will introduce SaaS offerings that compete with
Google Apps.
Microsoft's SaaS offering, Office
Live, does not have Office suite cognates, but the analyst firm
expects it to evolve into a "direct competitor" to Google
Apps.
"However, we believe that Google will have an edge in faster
feature evolution. By the end of 2010, 30 per cent of enterprises
in North America will likely sanction the use of Google Apps (or
the equivalent from a competitor) for at least some of their
users," Gartner stated.
"Through 2010, we do not expect Google's competitors to match the
scale and efficiency of the 'Googleplex' as a global-class
architecture for delivering SaaS.
"We expect Google Apps' collaboration features will evolve at
'internet speed'. Expect Google Apps improvements monthly or
quarterly."
However, the analyst firm went on to advise firms that Google Apps
is not ready as an enterprise-wide SaaS collaboration option for
most enterprises.
"This is a version 1.0 product and lacks key features, such as
offline availability. Furthermore, costs may exceed $50 per user
per year after factoring in fees for integration, onboarding,
oversight and extras such as archiving and calendar
synchronisation," Gartner warned.
Google Apps Premier Edition will be the
first SaaS offering that enterprises will seriously
consider