The big news is Google Voice is now GA, but it's just the latest piece into a larger strategy on Google's approach to enterprise communications and collaboration.

Overview

1. 1. This report focuses on G Suite announcements and momentum related to enterprise communications and collaboration.
   2. Thomas Kurian, who had worked at Oracle for over two decades, is the new CEO of Google Cloud and assumed the leadership of Google Cloud last January.
   3. Google is a large company (+99k employees). Google Cloud is a growing part of Google, which itself is part of its parent company Alphabet. Google Cloud contains several components. The enterprise communications and collaboration story is part of one of those components, G Suite. The other major component of Google Cloud is the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Google Next was a Google Cloud event, focused on enterprise customers and partners.
   4. Many related products, such as Android, Chrome, and Fi, are not organizationally part of Google Cloud but can be components in the overall solution.
   5. Google shared that Gmail has 1.5 billion daily active users, of which more than 90 million are students on educational accounts, and includes 5 million paying businesses. Drive has over a billion daily active users.
   6. G Suite customers range in size from very small to Fortune 100 (such as Airbus and Verizon). Over the past few years, many of Google’s G Suite improvements have been about improving workflow and productivity. For example, features such as Smart Compose and Nudge address common problems that disrupt productivity.  
   7. Major announcements for GCP include a commitment to open source development software and a multi-cloud strategy that works with other providers.

General

1. 1. 1. Thomas Kurian has signaled he wants to make collaboration a focus area.  
      2. There was more aggressive posturing against AWS (Anthos and retail focus) and Microsoft. Examples of how Google is targeting MIcrosoft include:
         1. Google’s SQL server is now compatible with Microsoft SQL.
         2. G Suite apps can now modify native Microsoft file formats without conversion.
         3. A new managed service for Active Directory.
         4. A campaign that targets “firstline workers” with emphasis on smartphone centric communications and workflow that has similar messaging as Microsoft’s firstline initiatives.
      3. Kurian has signaled an expansion of Google Cloud’s enterprise sales team and a more focused (Oracle-like) approach on verticals including retail and finance.
      4. G Suite now includes 20 apps. Google organizes them into three groups: Connect, Create, and Control.
         1. The Connect Apps are Gmail, Calendar, Hangouts Chat, Hangouts Meet, Google Voice, and Currents.
         2. The Create Apps are Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Keep, and App Maker.
         3. The Control Apps are Drive*, Cloud Search*, Admin, Vault, Mobile, and Security Center. (* in some places Google puts these two apps into a fourth category called Access).  
      5. G Suite apps are strengthened by several other Google products, including Chrome, Android, Fi, Search, Google Assistant, and YouTube. Additionally, GCP provides the resources for other enterprise apps, and Google also produces its own hardware (phones, Chromebooks, and more) to enable a comprehensive end-to-end capability.
      6. Regarding Google AI for CC, there were no especially notable announcements at Next. The solution launched a year ago, and several contact center vendors are just now bringing their solutions to market. Google reports that it has penetrated 74% of the contact center market, and that’s believable considering it has Avaya, Cisco, Five9, Genesys, Mitel, RingCentral, and several more as partners.
      7. The keynote did include an indirect testimonial for Google AI for CC involving Salesforce and Hulu. Although not mentioned, Five9 was the enabling partner.

See the full report. It is 6 pages long, and the final section Dave's Thoughts has 28 Talking Pointz.

This report was sent all Premium Subscribers on April 25th, 2019.

Also, see my at-event video here.