SME’s set to benefit from Google cloud windfall
Northern Ireland SME’s that are subscribers of Google Apps will benefit from unlimited Cloud storage after the IT giant’s announcement last night, enabling them to overcome prohibitive could costs.
Commenting on Google’s new unlimited Cloud Storage announcement, Paul Trouton, Managing Director with Northern Ireland based IT specialists, Fuel, said: “At this week’s Google I/O world conference taking place in San Francisco, primarily for Google Developers, the ground breaking news was announced that subscribers of Google Apps would now benefit from unlimited Cloud Storage.
“Google Apps is the name given to productivity tools from the Google stable to rival and compete with Microsoft’s Office 365 (Online version of Office). It is a more simplified version of office productivity tools yet it includes the more common modules of Word Processing, Spreadsheets and Presentation functionality. Office 365 has grown enormously, changes which include improved integration between each of its modules. Many users of Office 365 are oblivious to the complex level of functionality within it, yet it’s the reason for its price tag.
“Office 365 with all its levels of offerings and complexities now accounts for billions in terms of a revenue stream.Google Apps is already priced at a fraction of this cost and this announcement will further enhance the attractiveness of the Google product by offering unlimited Cloud storage.
It is estimated that Google currently only utilises 10% of the companies cloud storage space so the expected increase in uptake following today’s announcement will not have any impact on storage space available or result in any significant problem.
“Northern Ireland has many SME’s that are considering or have considered cloud storage in the recent past as a means of offsite backup but were unable to justify the rates of this storage space from either regional or local cloud providers. These companies have now just been given a more cost effective solution. This announcement allows companies to utilise the cloud at a considerably reduced cost.”
