Google to reveal Apps enhancements

09.06.2009
Expectations are running high for an event Google will hold on Tuesday to announce enhancements to the business-oriented Premier edition of its Apps collaboration and communication suite.

The morning event, to be held in San Francisco, will feature a CIO roundtable and new product demos, which Google is tight-lipped about but which are designed to boost Apps' appeal among large organizations, according to several people familiar with the plans.

Google Apps, originally aimed at small companies, has many opportunities for improvement in the enterprise area, according to Guy Creese, vice president and research director at industry analysis firm .

"I truly hope Google gets its enterprise act together; the competition would be good for the market. However, given that it took them 2-plus years to add [Microsoft Office 2007] OOXML support to Docs, I’m not holding my breath," Creese said via e-mail.

Google must close the feature-set gap between Microsoft Office and the Docs office productivity software that is part of Apps, Creese said. In addition, Apps needs more IT administration and control features, such as role-based management, where IT defines a set of roles, and then adds end-users to those roles accordingly, he said. The Google suite would also benefit from a records management component, which IT managers would welcome.

Teju Deshpande, vice president of client services at , a provider of offshore legal services, would like to have a database application as part of Apps, as well as better IT administration capabilities.