Box (previous CloudAve coverage), Palo Alto based cloud content management solution provider, yesterday announced their readiness to take on Office 365 (previous CloudAve coverage), Microsoft’s comprehensive online office solution including Sharepoint, which will be generally available next week. They announced a tighter integration with Google Docs, clearly a credible option to go against Sharepoint inside Office 365 suite. Even though Google touted Google Sites as a possible alternative to people wanting Sharepoint-like solution, I have my own doubts on whether Google is serious about making Google Sites usable for enterprise customers. Box’s tighter integration can solve this pain point of Google Apps customers too.
Yesterday they announced that Box’s 6 Million users will be able to create and collaborate on Google Docs and Spreadsheets from within Box. They will also be able to edit the documents and spreadsheets already stored inside Box. This will help Box give their users a seamless way to not just manage content but also create and edit them. As Microsoft gets more aggressive on the promotion of the more comprehensive Office 365 solution, this partnership might help Box take on Microsoft on the cloud services front.
Google has been making progress on Google Apps with an aggressive marketplace strategy. However, it is a long slog for them and Office 365 is going to severely hinder this progress. It will make sense for Google to align even more strategically with companies like Box who are facing similar pressures from Microsoft. It will be interesting to see how this competition heats up and how Google counters Office 365 with solutions like the one offered by Box in their ecosystem.
Related articles
- Microsoft’s Office 365 (sudhakarreddymr.wordpress.com)
- Microsoft launching Office 365 on June 28 (digitaltrends.com)
- Microsoft launching Office 365 on June 28 (news.cnet.com)
- Box.net integrates with Google Docs (macworld.com)
- The Cloud Wars: With Google Docs, Box.net Takes On Microsoft (fastcompany.com)
“Counters” implies a position of strength. Box.net as neat as it is is nothing more than a dressed up FTP site.