Google targets business users with cloud, Docs advances

Grazed from ComputerWorld. Author: Sharon Gaudin.

Google made it clear today that it’s still going after enterprise users. After focusing much of its approximately two-and-a-half-hour-long Google I/O keynote on its Android platform and related devices, the company turned its attention to the enterprise with announcements about Google Docs and its cloud service. The changes represent something of a long play to pull in more business from large companies.

"It’s really a long-term thing," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Microsoft Outlook is well-entrenched in almost all large businesses. Google is making a slow progression as an enterprise vendor, but there’s no doubt now about the company’s commitment to that business." Part of Google’s enterprise announcements today centered on Google Drive…

Google noted that, as of Wednesday, users get native editing for Office documents from their Android-based mobile devices or from Google Drive, the company’s file storage and synchronization service. That means a user can open a Word document, for example, on an Android tablet and edit it without having to stop and convert it to a Google Doc…

Read more from the source @ http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9249383/Google_targets_business_users_with_cloud_Docs_advances