San Francisco — In a dramatic move to capture faithful Microsoft Outlook audience, search engine giant Google Inc. on Tuesday introduced a service that makes it easier for businesses to switch to its Web-based communications and collaboration products called Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.
The search giant said that its new Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook software enables easier data transfer from a Microsoft Exchange server to Google’s cloud-based online servers.
The new Sync for Outlook is designed to allow business users to continue using the Outlook client for email, calendar and other tasks, but the back-end functionality and data storage would move to Google, rather than resting on a company’s internal servers running Microsoft software.It is designed to enable e-mail, calendar and contacts synchronization. Users, for example, can schedule meetings with coworkers, whether they use Google’s calendar or Outlook’s.
“It even removes the last hurdle in letting go of Exchange,” said Bob Rudy, vice president and CIO of Avago, a Google Apps customer. “The people we have had using it are loving it. They find it exactly the same as Exchange.”
According to a post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog details how late adopters are being looked out for: “To help them streamline the transition, we introduced Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook to our Premier and Education edition customers,” Matthew Glotzbach of Google explained in an official blog post. “It includes all the elements of Outlook and work easily with Apps and enables offline access to Gmail content when they are not on their work computer — is another example of how we are making it extremely simple to switch to Google Apps.”
Some important features include are:
- Email, Calendar, and Contacts Synchronization: The e-mail plug-in utilizes an offline Gmail protocol, which is reportedly faster than IMAP or other standards.
- Free/Busy Lookup and Global Address List Functionality: Schedule meetings with colleagues, regardless of whether they use Outlook’s calendar or Google Calendar.
- Two-Click Data Migration Tool: Copy existing data from Exchange or Outlook into Google Apps.
During a press briefing today, Google product manager Chris Vander Way said the decision to support Outlook is not an indication that Google is cutting back on its efforts to lure enterprise users over to its own e-mail offering – Gmail.
“Many business users prefer Gmail’s interface and features to products they have used in the past,” said Eric Orth, a software engineer on the Google Apps team, in a blog post today. “But sometimes there are people who just love Outlook. [The new software] enables Outlook users to connect to Google Apps for business e-mail, contacts and calendar. And they can always use Gmail’s web interface to access their information when they are not on their work computer.”
The video below explains how companies can benefit from the cost savings and flexibility associated with Google Apps while not flustering their employees. Which may not sound like a huge deal, but in tests, even people within high-tech organizations like Genentech and Avago took advantage of the in-your-own-time option.
“We look at this as a way to provide choice for users who like to do things the old, Outlook way,” said Vander Way.
Dan Olds, principal analyst with the Gabriel Consulting Group, called Google’s latest move a smart one. “The ability to work with Outlook gives Google a crucial feature that will open up a much larger market to them,” he added. “Many of the customers they would like to capture are currently using Outlook and are not wild about adding yet another tool to their belt. However, being able to use Google Apps with Outlook integration might make a difference to them.”