Moving Your Business Toward the Cloud: Why You Need a Google Apps Partner

Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter is known for his research on business strategy.  In his 1980 book Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Porter claimed that there are two types of strategies commonly used by businesses to gain a competitive advantage in a broad market:

• Differentiation Strategy – Win market share by showing how your product is different

• Cost Leadership – Win market share by appealing to customers on price

Apple is a prime example of a company using a differentiation strategy to win market share while Walmart is a prime example of a cost leadership strategy.

And then there is Google.

Google appears to utilize both strategies by creating products like search, email, and maps that are different from their competitors and offering all of these products at a low cost (usually free).  The result of this strategy is $60 billion in revenue this year alone.

Another strategic decision Google appears to have made is to offer products for the benefit of consumers and enterprises.  Everyone is familiar with Gmail and Google Docs, but you may not be aware that Google makes these same products available for business.

Based completely in the cloud, Google Apps is a replacement of the old, outdated enterprise model where companies purchase an enterprise license and then copy the software to a user’s desktop.  In contrast, Google Apps is accessible completely from a web browser. The advantage of this is cost savings within the IT department, since businesses no longer need to employ IT helpdesk personnel, buy expensive servers to support this software, or worry about offsite backups.

 Competitive Advantage

In today’s competitive marketplace, enterprises need to seize opportunities that will allow them to stay in front of the competition. Outsourcing the entire IT department and moving completely to the cloud would provide huge savings to the bottom line and allow enterprises to focus more on their core competencies.

At the same time, the prospect of outsourcing the entire IT department seems scary. Without IT, who would you call when you need support?

Google Apps Partners

Google recognized that enterprises would need support in moving to the cloud. They also recognized that their core competencies included creating helpful products, but not providing that kind of frontline support. So they created the Google Apps Partner program to address the issue.

Google Apps Partners are professional service companies that offer support to companies that are “Going Google”.  A good partner will provide the following three benefits to an enterprise:

1. Migration Expertise – Google Apps offers a number of programs, including email, calendar, shared documents, spreadsheets, and presentation. Most enterprises currently store this information in desktop-based products. But, when companies move onto Google Apps, they don’t want to leave any of their data behind. Therefore, one of the principle benefits that a partner will provide is expertise in migrating the enterprise’s current data into the cloud.

2. Training – One of the inherent strengths within the products available on Google Apps is their intuitive usability, especially on basic functions.  Of course, things get more complicated along with the size of your business.  If enterprises want their users to become “power users,” they will need some training. Training employees on the functionality within each product is another area where a partner can add significant value.

3. Customer Development – Google Apps are not a perfect fit for enterprises right out of the box. Some customization may have to be made in order to adopt the products to fit the needs of the enterprise. This is another area where partners can provide benefit through their expertise and knowledge of the system.

Businesses moving to the cloud will need the right partner to fully release the potential of Google Apps.  Bi101 is that right partner. If your enterprise is considering moving to the cloud and would like to understand more about the Google Apps program, please contact us.

[subscribe2]