As discussed last year, and related to the 5 computer theory, the ‘Office suite’ space just went red hot, with Google Presentation now live, and IBM stepping back into it, with the annoucement of Lotus Symphony (name from the past :-|).
IBM Deals Itself Into Microsoft Office Space With Free Lotus Suite
IBM has announced the launch of a free Microsoft Office competitor: Lotus Symphony, at the same time Google launched its final product in the triple play office suite Presently.
Relevance to Bankwatch:
If you haven’t looked at web applications, now is the time. Two questions to ask:
- What are the efficiency benefits of simple, true document sharing and collaboration? (Note if you use Microsoft Sharepoint, try Google docs, and compare – think the masses, not the HQ presentation folks)
- Do you really require the full MS Office package on 20,000 desktops across an entire country, and the attendant support infrastructure costs?
Bankwatch 
Colin,
Our industry should always keep an eye towards moving technology into the cloud when the right time comes. However, based on what I currently know about Google Docs (correct me if I’m wrong) the support is 24/7/0. There is no SLA with Google Docs. Granted, Google rarely goes down, but if I’m running my business I want to ensure that my business can operate and if they can’t, we have some form of recourse.
Security is another huge issue. We might be able to force SSL connections to the cloud, but is it encrypted on their end? Who has access to it? How can it be shared, forwarded, pirated? What about limiting access during off hours?
These applications are great for household or small shop use, but large scale deployments will have strict requirements, which might be difficult for Google at the current time.
I do think Google Docs’ new Presentation document platform is killer. Webinar vendors should be more scared of this than Microsoft.
Otto
@Otto .. all great questions. The only facts I can throw in there, is that Google Apps Premium which I use, has an SLA of 99.9%, and I have it set to force secure connections.
That still leaves a few other issues including those you raise, although I wonder if the risk is less than paper powerpoints being left on trains and garbage.
Perhaps Google will one day offer their software to be hosted on in-house servers. That would address the security risks as well as the reliability risks.