Google Apps for Business now offers 24/7 phone support for all issues great and small. This will appeal to CIOs who may have been leery of choosing Google Apps to power their company's collaboration efforts.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Nov. 14 added 24/7 phone support in
its Google Apps for Business for all issues, providing an additional
lure for CIOs considering Google's paid collaboration suite as an
alternative to Microsoft software.
Launched in February 2007, Google Apps for Business (formerly
Google Apps Premier Edition) costs $50 per user, per year, or $5 per user, per
month under a flex plan.
The suite includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sites
and several other apps that are offered in the free standard edition. However,
the free version doesn't have phone support or the enhanced messaging security
available in the business version.
The 24/7 phone support had traditionally come with
caveats. For example, it was limited to critical Apps issues. Users who had
"non-critical issues" had to contact Google via email for solutions.
Microsoft and other rivals have argued that doesn't make Apps for Business a
true enterprise solution.
Amit Singh, Google's vice president of enterprise sales
and operations, said at the company's
Google Atmosphere cloud computing event
today that Google will now provide 24/7 phone support to all small, medium and
large Google Apps for Business customers for all issues affecting the Apps
services.
The support phone numbers are 1-877-355-5787 for
U.S.-based Apps for Business users and 1-404-978-9282 for international
customers.
"Our customers may also receive support through our Web-based
support portal, online help forms, and online help center,"
added Jocelyn Ding,e vice president of Google enterprise operations, in a
supporting blog post. "All support cases are handled directly by trained
Google Apps experts."
This olive branch should help the hundreds of thousands
of paid Google Apps for Business customers feel more comfortable with being
able to tap Google for problems and troubleshooting going forward.
Ding said
Google hopes this overture will help boost its approval rating among business
customers from to 95 percent from its current 80 percent to 90 percent customer
satisfaction range.
Microsoft,
whose CEO Steve Ballmer said a month ago at
the Web 2.0 Summit that his company is winning against Google in cloud
collaboration, took its own potshots at Google Atmosphere, which is targeted
for the CIOs the company hopes to lure to Google Apps.
Microsoft executives questioned how competent and
committed Google is to serve enterprise customers when 96 percent of the company's
sales are generated from advertising.
"I question Google's commitment to businesses,"
noted Microsoft product management executive Tom Rizzo, who works on Office 365, in a blog post. "Is their focus really on delivering great
business solutions, or is it on protecting their advertising business? I see the answer in the way they treat
customers."
He cited Google's abandonment of its
Gmail for Blackberry native app last week in favor of Web apps. "That is
completely unacceptable if you're a CIO banking on this technology to run your
business."
Google, of course, believes that CIOs should be running
their businesses on the Web anyway, which is the point of the Google Atmosphere
show.
Indeed, Google's Singh said thousands of businesses are switching
from Microsoft to Google Apps each day. Some new customer wins include
Burberry, Casio, Equinox Fitness, Goodyear, Guardian Life Insurance,
Logitech, New York's Museum of Modern Art, Raley's, Softbank, and
Trinity Mirror.
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