Google Cloud is making headway in the enterprise market on a variety of fronts from AI-powered developer services to Chromebooks. The company is also trying to increase paid G Suite adoption with Facebook apparently contemplating a switch to Drive, Docs, and other Google productivity services.
According to The Information, Facebook employees have long harbored animosity towards Microsoft services. Despite a transition to cloud variants two years ago, many are now upset over Office 365’s email and productivity apps, which are considered internally to be “slow and bloated.”
This switch would make for a notable reversal in light of Mark Zuckerberg previously banning all Google services in 2011. While never officially used, various teams would rely on Google products, with this mandate applied to the Oculus and later WhatsApp acqusition.
Occurring around the launch of Google+, the CEO noted that the move away was for security reasons and to better guard confidential product information.
Despite that reasoning, the topic and employee frustration is repeatedly raised during Q&A sessions with leadership. Such a transition would likely be aimed at appeasing employees, but also comes as Google and Facebook are no longer fierce competitors. While the two compete in online advertising, Google’s social network ambitions have long fizzled out, while the oft-rumored Facebook search engine is rarely mentioned these days.
Besides switching to Gmail and Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, Facebook is also considering jumping from Dropbox to Google Drive for cloud storage. A move away from Salesforce-owned Quip is also in discussion.
With 27,000 employees, The Information estimates that Google stands to gain $3 million a year from Facebook’s business. However, the symbolic victory of another top company switching to G Suite is more important for Google’s growing Cloud ambitions.
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