Both Google and Microsoft are big and influential companies in their own terms. While Google is on the move to get more users on board its services, the company is slowly adapting to users by giving what was necessarily meant for Microsoft to be its own.
Google for Work Apps and Microsoft Office have been going head to head for product competition. And now the competition between the two rivals is intensifying.
On April 26th, 2016, Google extended its reach to lure more people from using rivals products. The highlight here is Microsoft Office 365. With the program, vendors and businesses that are locked with an Enterprise Agreement (EA) with Microsoft, can use Google Apps for no cost until their contracts expired.
They are also given offers from Google such as cutting costs, consulting, and adding discounts for partners.
Enterprise Agreement is where a company agrees to use services for a specific number of term, usually for three years, so that the company establishes loyalty to Microsoft's products. In this territory is where Google is initiating its blow against Microsoft.
The company is also making things easier for smaller companies to qualify, wrote Neil Delaney, sales director for Google Apps for Work, in a company blog.
Since October 2015, more than 20,000 midsize companies have taken the advantage. With 200,000 new Apps, they are using Google's enterprise service for free.
The original iteration of the program applied to companies with between 250 and 3,000 employees. But Delaney said that Google was getting more interests from smaller companies that it reduced the threshold to 100 employees for an extension period.
Neil Delaney said:
"Our EA program gives new customers the opportunity to influence the move to Apps -- and gives decision makers the final incentive to make the switch."
Offering the incentive to smaller companies can help partners that sell to small and midsize businesses capitalize off the program. And with the promotion, Google is trying to ease ease the executive decision-making process for medium-sized businesses that are usually more budget-constrained. This by providing an incentive for organizations already evaluating their options.
Android's Gmail Supporting Microsoft Exchange
For years Google enjoyed an advantage with its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suite that includes Docs, Gmail, Hangouts and Drive. But some market researchers estimated that Microsoft Office 365 leapfrogged beyond Google.
Originally, Google is acting as an alternative to many businesses and enterprises. For medium to large companies, most of them were seeking for the already well-known Microsoft products. Google is second on their list. While Google in approaching Microsoft Office 365 users with free to use Google Apps, Microsoft is still having a good position in the market with its email services.
To get more Microsoft users, Google is also updating its Gmail client on Android to support Microsoft Exchange. Although Google's Gmail app previously supported the protocol, this feature was limited to only Nexus devices and a few others that run on Android 5.0 Lollipop and newer. Once users update the app via Google Play store, any Android mobile devices can sync with Exchange server.
"Now, whether you're on Google Apps or Exchange, you can use the Gmail app on any Android device to send and receive mail," said Google in a blogpost.
What Google is doing here is to extend Android to more places, getting as many users as possible. With this, the company can ensure the people to sign up to it online services.
Opening up many of its enterprise services and email client to Microsoft is seen as a daring move by Google. But this is a move that Google had to make.
Microsoft has a renewed focus on its cloud services, leading to Microsoft's diminished importance to Windows operating system. CEO Satya Nadella is more than happy to have Android (and iOS) apps in the Microsoft portfolio if it brings users to the company's cloud.
Moreover, since Google began supporting select third-party email services in Gmail on Android, Microsoft has accelerated its support for Google's mobile platform, including with the launch of its Outlook for Android in January 2015.