Finally, a startup that addresses the most glaringly obvious feedback from the user community who wish to leverage the inherent benefits of GoogleDocs yet still are hesitant to make the switch. In my consulting organisations who are trying to make the switch, they see the value in GoogleDocs - I mean, who doesn’t? A free ECM system by Google is nothing to shake a stick it.
However, in practice, everyone who has actually tried to use this web office platform in earnest realises that for the enterprise space, there’s very little chance you could actually get a researcher, or business analyst at a firm to sincerely drop MS Office in favor of Writely. The reality is that users, as always, fear change are not willing to abandon their most sacred of trusty tools. And for good reason, the online variants are clearly leagues behind at present.
Enter OffiSynch. Reiterating my advice to my clients, I’ve blogged before about the need to maintain the desktop productivity tools such as Word and Excel, and layer in the content management and collaboration goodness of GoogleDocs. This is what my clients have been doing manually with good success, and I can guarantee you that these synching tools will become mainstream tools for the web office innovators and leaders.
Then I hear the discussion of business model, monetization. I regret to inform you that there is but a single, uninteresting business model for these companies. There’s little doubt in my mind that tools like OffiSynch are aiming purely to be purchased by their friendly ecosystem giant. It’s a path several prior ventures have taken to great success, and will continue to do so.
From a Google product management standpoint, what I find most interesting is that these synching tools are noticeably missing from so many Google product lines. Google Reader lacks a native synching tool for the iPhone, lacks a synching tool for Outlook, etc. Contrast this to the understanding of prior ECM software vendors who immediately knew that to make an impact upon the existing customer base, they created desktop file explorer and Word integrations immediately because they analysed a typical user’s day to day work patterns and approached their product from a user-centric design philosophy. This is opposed to Google’s browser-centric philosophy, that continues to hold them back from virally growing their application suite. Good thing smaller players like OffiSync can fill the gap.
Tags: ecm, office
2 Comments
I wonder if Google has made a conscious decision to avoid the client OS integration (read Windows integration), even though it's an important feature for end users, because it would mean that they're reinforcing (if not supporting) the Microsoft platform hegemony. Google Gears (offline client) will get there, just a matter of time.
I couldn't agree with you more. It is, however, this very same myopia that prevents GoogleDocs from growing at an even faster rate within certain segments of the market - most noticeably the mid-market space where there is a lack of IT innovation.
As software vendors, we often have the mantra of "eating your own dog food" and never "defecting," or otherwise leveraging your opponents platform. I think that this software machismo is overrated. I, on the other hand, will gladly eat my enemy's rations if if allows me to outmaneuver them at a later date.
By making "the switch" easier for end-users with a Windows desktop integration, Google would paint the way for more growth among the leagues of non-technical savvy office workers.