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Nov 27
2010
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Google Enterprise To Expand In India in 2011Posted by: DS Community Team Tagged in: SaaS News , Microsoft Office , India and Cloud Computing , Google Enterprise , Google Apps , Google , Cloud Connect
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In the 1980s, Amit Singh and Nikesh Arora, then classmates in Delhi's Air Force School at Subroto Park, often used to team up to beat schoolmates at basketball. Now, the duo have teamed up again at the Google office in Mountain View to beat the likes of Microsoft at the game of software. While Arora is president of the search giant’s global sales operations and business development, Singh is vice-president , international sales and operations for Google Enterprise. The company on Thursday previewed its yet to be launched 'Cloud Connect' , a tool which has the potential to allow users bypass MS Office, and directly save multiple versions of Word or Excel files on the cloud, in a collaborative manner. On an India visit, Amit Singh talks to ET on Google's cloud strategy and his take on whether consumers will buy software as a product in future. Excerpts:
What's Google's long term strategy behind launching Cloud Connect?
We believe that Office software users don't need to buy so many copies of Microsoft Office. They can directly collaborate and work on the cloud via Google Docs. Our Cloud Connect on Google Docs will allow Gmail users to download the application from web, and install it inside Microsoft Office as a link. Whenever, a user saves a copy inside MS Word, Powerpoint or Excel, it automatically gets updated on the cloud. Prior saved versions are also available at all locations in the world where the document is open. Last year, when the Icelandic Volcano erupted, hundreds of Googlers were stranded across the world. We sent them a message on Gmail, to open a Google Docs spreadsheet, and input their name location and travel plans. It worked perfectly well, and people were safely taken out of their locations. More and more people will start to use software as a service, rather than buy it as a product. We are testing Google Cloud Connect now and will launch it soon. It will be a free to download product.
Is Google afraid of Facebook now that the world's largest social networking giant is entering into email services?
Facebook has done a great job of social networking. But not many serious business users may like to use a social networking application for enterprise email use. Anyways, Mark (Zuckerberg) has himself said that Facebook messages are not email. It's not a 'Gmail killer' . Most people in India will continue to use Gmail.
How are Google’s Enterprise and Commerce search doing? What is Google Enterprise's strategy for India?
Google's three enterprise offerings include Apps, Enterprise Search and Geo services. We have almost 30 million users globally of Google Enterprise offerings. Of these almost one million users in India already use Google Enterprise services, within just few months of their launch. We have had a talk with some of the largest Indian retailers to incorporate our search to increase their sales. In India, we have about 300 engineers working on Google enterprise applications. We will double our India headcount to 600 and user base to 2 million in next 12 months. With Gmail, Google Docs, Search, Calendar, Sites, Voice and Video Chat apps for enterprises, combined with Chrome and Android operating systems we expect to grow exponentially.
SOURCE: Economic Times
