* What organizations think about using Google Apps and GMail
A few weeks ago, I surmised that Google’s acquisition of Postini was intended not only to help Google improve the desirability and penetration of its Apps offering, but potentially was part of Google’s move to acquire a company in the enterprise messaging space. My theory is that by becoming a major player in enterprise messaging, Google will have a better chance of selling Apps into the midsized and large business market.
We are currently running a survey among individuals who are familiar with their organization’s IT environment to learn more about what organizations think about using Google Apps and GMail. Here’s what we’re finding so far among organizations with 100 or more employees:
* Not surprisingly, Microsoft Office is the clear market leader with 93.3% market share. Google Apps, by contrast, has just 1.9% market share.
* We then are asking about the likelihood of deploying Google Apps for different types of users assuming that the organization had to deploy another productivity suite within the next three to six months. For users who work at a desk much of the time, only 8.6% of respondents are telling us that they would likely or definitely deploy Google Apps.
* We then ask about the likelihood of using GMail using the corporate domain assuming that another messaging system had to be deployed within the next three to six months. We are finding a slightly greater percentage of respondents that would likely or definitely deploy GMail for desktop users.
* For other types of users, such as those who are remote or more mobile, the likelihood of using Apps and GMail increases.
Our initial findings show that GMail is perhaps more likely to be deployed than Apps, indicating that Google could improve the penetration of Apps into the midsized and enterprise markets by first improving the penetration of its messaging capabilities.
We would be happy to send you a copy of our final survey results – please send me an e-mail if you’d like to receive them.
