During a mid-2007 phone chat with Autotask CEO Bob Godgart, I asked him which managed services-oriented companies he watches most closely. His immediate reply: Google. Fast forward to the present, and it’s clear why Godgart and the rest of the managed services industry keeps close tabs on the search engine giant.
Indeed, Google has quietly launched a managed email security service for businesses, schools and non-profit organizations. For managed service providers, Google’s growing interest in software as a service is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Rather than forcing customers to migrate to Gmail, the Google security and compliance services work with third-party platforms like Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Domino, Postfix, Sendmail, Mac OS X Server and Novell Groupwise. The services, starting at US$3 per user per year, are available in North America, EMEA(Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and Asia.
Google’s online documentation for the “Apps Security and Compliance” products does not mention any channel or partner strategy. Rather, all sales inquires are forwarded to a Google Corporate Sales representative.
So far, Google’s email security services include such features as anti-virus and anti-spam. Still, it’s important to note that Google is not providing a total solution. One missing component is the email platform itself. Many customers will surely prefer to rely on a single managed service provider for both hosted email and related security capabilities.
And Google’s move into the email security market further legitimizes the overall manged security services sector. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s leading MSPs already offer some form of managed security, according to the recent MSPmentor 100 report.
Microsoft-Yahoo Next?
MSPs should also keep a close eye on the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo business combination. Both companies have SaaS and managed services ambitions.
However, MSPmentor thinks the Microsoft-Yahoo merger dance is more about online advertising than SaaS.
Posted In: Autotask | Bob Godgart | Google | Managed Security Services | Managed Service Provider | Managed Services | Microsoft | Top 100 MSPs | Yahoo
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Google has never really understood the partner universe. Great company but a lot of their “business” efforts never really take off. Their enterprise search appliances haven’t done that well. I think managed services from Google and Yahoo will be considered starting points for sohos and consumers, similar to how ISPs offer anti-virus to home users.
I don’t want to underestimate goog. But I’ve never had a customer ask me about their “business” offerings, other than adwords.
What did people think was going to happen way back on July 9th when google went public with their announcement to aquire postini?
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/postini_20070709.html
Interesting that you should say that you’ve never had a customer ask about Google’s business offerings, Mark. I would have said the exact same thing up until about two months ago. Since then we’ve had several customers call to ask us about Google Docs and other offerings.
I think that if Google puts real focus into these types of offerings, they will certainly have success. The question is whether or not they will do it. They drive such huge profits from other businesses, it seems almost like a waste of energy to compete for some of these b-to-b opportunities.
Mike
http://www.everonit.com
http://www.smbitpros.com
Mike: Great point on Google Docs. MSPmentor has standardized on Google docs (word processor and spread sheet) and Google Analytics. We’re looking at some other Google tools as well. However, the question is how Google will monetize many of its SaaS offerings. Email security is a clear attempt to do so…
Keep your eyes and ears open for more details coming out soon. When Google purchased Postini, they acquired a solid channel already seeded with clients.