Google is trying to compete with Microsoft Office, which has been the de facto standard for office productivity software since its debut about 25 years ago. Microsoft, with Office 365 and Office 2016, has kept the momentum rolling, but Google intends to change that.
Long-term licensing agreement: a roadblock for Google
Google is targeting businesses engaged in volume-licensing agreements with Microsoft to switch to Google’s software, and therefore, it is working with partners to provide such businesses with enough incentives. Office 365 has been hugely successful and is competing fiercely with Google and its partners, which encounter such problems consistently.
Most potential customers who can consider making a switch to the search giant have entered into long-term volume licensing agreement either with Microsoft or some other provider. They will not consider a switch until the contract comes up for renewal, and most likely they will change their minds or forget about Google by then.
In a blog post, the head of global sales for Google Apps for Work, Rich Rao, announced the initiative called “Going Google just got easier,” He said the company is very confident that Docs provides its users with all the features they need and that giving it a try has become much easier now.
Lucrative deal from Google
For businesses having an enterprise agreement (EA) with another provider which is stopping them from making the switch, the Internet firm has a lucrative offer under which it will cover the fees of Google Apps until their contract runs out with the other service provider. The search giant is also ready to chip in some of the deployment costs and “set you up for success with one of our Google for Work Partners.”
Now Microsoft and other enterprise productivity solution customers will be able to use the enterprise edition of Google Apps for free for the duration of their existing contract. In return, the businesses have to commit to paying for Google Apps services for at least a year. The Internet firm will also assist companies in migrating services and data over to Google Apps with a limit of $25 per user.
Google’s core applications challenging Microsoft Office are Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. These are parallel to the three primary tools in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
