SMB users enthusiastic as they try out Google Apps

31.08.2006

Matthew Glotzbach, Google's enterprise division products manager, said the plan for Google Apps is to maintain a free, ad-supported version for SMBs and to unveil a fee-based, feature-laden premium version for large businesses by the end of the year, complete with support.

"We've had a tremendous response" from users asking to participate in the beta program, he said. Exact numbers are not being disclosed, but the pilot program preceding the beta included tens of thousands of active domains that were signed up, he said.

Much of the inspiration for Google Apps for business, Glotzbach said, has come from businesses that have watched the company unveil a steady stream of consumer-focused products over the past several years. "We received a lot of feedback from businesses and institutions saying that they liked the products and wished there were enterprise versions," he said. "It's really driven by market demand."

Analysts say the new Google offerings are intriguing for business users.

"At this point, the large enterprise looks at this and says 'I've kind of got this covered, folks,'" with an Exchange server, instant messaging and other IT software and hardware, said Whit Andrews, an analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc. "But here's a question: Do employees agree? Do they have enough to do their jobs?"