Friday, September 12, 2014

Software : Google: Why we rebranded platform 'Google for Work'

Software : Google: Why we rebranded platform 'Google for Work'

Google: Why we rebranded platform 'Google for Work'

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Google: Why we rebranded platform 'Google for Work'

Google's array of productivity tools have become commonplace in our working lives, as 'Google Enterprise' has enabled us to create, store and share with colleagues and business partners.

But the umbrella name for the tech giant's platform recently underwent a change, with 'Google for Work' the new moniker pushed by the company.

To find out the significance behind the move, and what else Google are planning in the B2B space, we caught up with Thomas Davies, Director Google For Work NACE.

TechRadar Pro: You've rebranded Google Enterprise to Google for Work. Why did you take the decision?

Thomas Davies: Technology isn't what it was 10-15 years ago when we started with the vision that Google's consumer technology, like Search, could help transform businesses. Working in the cloud is now virtually abundant, making connectivity increasingly commonplace and collaborating easy, whether across an office, city, country or continent.

So in many ways our vision is still playing out today in a great way for us. But our name or our brand wasn't doing us any favors. We also never set out to have a classic enterprise offer. People think of Google as t-shirts and jeans, not suits, which is what Enterprise sounds like. This is really recognition of and alignment of our brand to our core values, and we hope when people think of work, they'll think of Google.

TRP: Why is 'work' an important space for Google?

TD: Work has always been important for us because that's where most of us spend so much of our time - the average person globally spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime. As our founders said when the company went public, our goal is: "To develop services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible." We want to make technology in the workplace more enjoyable and useful.

People don't want to step back in time when they go to the office — they may not even want to go to the office — they want to use the same powerful, consumer tools they use in their personal lives at work.

We don't think people should be annoyed with full inboxes or shouldn't trap employees in front of a desktop in a cubicle. Technology can make it easier to work with those who inspire you and give you the freedom to work in places and at times that bring out your best. Working from a computer, tablet or phone is no longer just a trend—it's a reality.

TRP: So is Google's interest in the workplace another example of the consumerisation of IT?

TD: I think so. We've always thought that technology at work can be done better and that's why we started by bringing "search in a box" to businesses - to better power search on their corporate intranets.

Now we are are doubling down on bringing products like Gmail, Google Docs and Drive for Work to even more businesses around the world to help people 'work the way they live' — faster, collaboratively and from their device of choice, when and where they want, online or offline.

TRP: When it comes to new ways of working, we have seen startups and SMBs being very agile, but is this something that is relevant for bigger, more established clients?

TD: A lot of times startups are more nimble and are willing to put technology at the heart of their business and gain efficiencies by doing so. But traditional, larger businesses are catching-up. About 44% of the FTSE 100 are using Google for Work products already and we're seeing increasing traction in highly-regulated industries like finance (BBVA), aerospace & defense (Rockwell Collins) and healthcare/biotech (Roche).

We've also recently announced our expanded, renewed security certifications to help customers determine from independent analysis whether Google can meet their needs. Many of the largest clients, like Woolworth's, praise our security team and transparency, and we have a very large customer we can't announce yet who chose us over the competition exclusively on the basis of security and privacy.

TRP: Is the rebranding signaling a change of strategy or focus?

TD: It signals that we're doubling down not only in Gmail for businesses with Apps, but also entering new markets like file sync/share/storage with Google Drive for Work, and a concentration on infrastructure services with Google Cloud Platform.

The market for EFSS is on fire. So we've done a lot of work with Drive in the past 2 years, and it now has 190M active users across consumers, businesses and schools. We're super excited about Drive for Work and the potential real productivity gains it brings to customers with true mobility - unlike any other provider - collaboration and content creation/ sharing.

Last but not least, we're committed to making all our services work equally well if not better on mobile. Recent announcements like the Google updates for iOS (enabling offline editors, with full Quickoffice integration) are the sort of launches that we've been working on.

TRP: And you're competing now in the cloud platform game - what is your strategy to win there?

TD: Google is the original "cloud" company. Born in the cloud, we spent for 15 years building technology that allowed us to scale, and will allow others to scale. This is part of Google's DNA.

Our strategy is to make the best developer experience possible; to be the cloud of choice for SaaS applications, both consumer and business, and especially to focus on key verticals like media processing in the high-compute industries.

Thief nab your Apple Watch? Don't worry, it'll autolock

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Thief nab your Apple Watch? Don't worry, it'll autolock

Even after getting our hands on with the Apple Watch we still have a lot of questions about Apple's first wearable. Like, for example, what happens if a thief gets their wrists on it?

They wouldn't just be absconding with a $349 (about £215, AU$383) smartwatch, but also your iTunes account and credit cards thanks to Apple Pay.

Cult of Mac claims users can rest easier because the Apple Watch will automatically lock whenever the user takes off their watch. Supposedly the Apple Watch has sensors on its backside that will detect when it's not being worn and locks down the payment options behind a passcode as a security measure.

Of course, it's possible the wearable thief could also crack your passcode, but there will likely be some sort of added "Find my Apple Watch" security that allows users to remotely wipe their Watch.

Secrets revealed

Apple may have given its first smartwatch a big introduction, calling it the "one more thing" of the iPhone 6 keynote, but we're still learning much more about the Apple Watch every day.

An Apple spokesperson revealed on September 10 users should expect to recharge their wearable every night, and who knows what more we'll learn in the lead up to the Apple Watch's 2015 release.

  • Here's our first impression on Apple's first phablet, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus

Google ports the first of many Android apps to Chrome OS

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Google ports the first of many Android apps to Chrome OS

Google has made good on one of its Google IO 2014 promises and has ported over the first batch of Android apps to Chromebooks.

Now users will be able to download Android apps such as Evernote to save notes to the cloud. Duolingo has also been added to the Chrome App Store to help you learn foreign languages. Alternatively, teach children to read with Slight words, or use Vine to produce short vlogs and other video with a Chromebook's built-in webcam.

The Google Chrome Team explained these four apps are just the beginning of Project Runtime which was first announced at Google IO. In the coming months, users will see more Android apps come to Google's Chrome OS as the company continues working with smartphone software developers.

Moving forward, the Google Chrome Team also wants to hear what Android app you want to use on Chrome OS; users can submit their ideas here.

Setting up shop

Google Chromebooks have finally hit their stride. This year we saw the first line of cloud-based laptops equipped with more powerful and battery efficient chips like the Intel Core i3 chip inside the Acer C720 as well as the Acer Chromebook 13 rocking Nvidia's Tegra K1 processor.

Now that computer manufacturers finally have the hardware locked down it seems like its time for the software to step up its game.

In our own adventures reviewing the Dell Chromebook 11 and Acer C720P, we found Google's cloud platform was good for very little beyond using its first party web apps. Although Chrome has its own app store, its filled with adware posing as familiar game titles and there's a lack of powerful image editing apps.

These newly added Android apps could help fill out Chrome OS's lack of software. It will be interesting to see if the apps catch on and end up taking over Chrome OS when Google originally set out to create a platform of affordable laptops powered by the web.
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