Google is attempting to make serious inroads in the corporate cloud market by freely offering its own web-based office apps to companies that are long term contracted to Microsoft or another software vendor.
According to Constellation Research analyst Alan Lepofsky, Microsoft is ahead of every other company in providing productivity software to businesses. It remains to be seen how many businesses will be tempted by Google’s offer, which involves the cost of Google Apps for Work being waived for up to three years before the customer company converts to a paid contract for the software for at least a year.
This arrangement would make it easier and less costly for businesses to switch to Google, as it would not be necessary for them to pay both Microsoft and Google during the transition process. Lepofsky told Bloomberg that Google’s strategy is at least “going to enter them into the equation”, observing: “Eliminating the cost of double payment is a very interesting move. This isn’t a desperate move, it’s an offensive move.”
