Open, Integrated and Giving You Choice: The Story Behind the Google Apps
Marketplace
Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sites and all Google Apps were designed as
cloud-based services from day one. Google’s web-centric approach allows any
application to work seamlessly on any device with a browser, allowing users to work when,
where, and how they want. No more need for constant upgrades, security patches and bug fixes
required by client based software.
Given the first step to the cloud
for many businesses and schools is Gmail, the
Google
Apps Marketplace aims to make it easier for organizations that have “
gone Google”
to take the next step and take fuller advantage of the cloud by running even more of their
infrastructure on cloud-based apps, from hundreds of software companies.
These software companies agree the web-centric approach is the way to go, and are
building their applications on web-based architectures and open standards like OpenID for
Single Sign-On and OAuth for data access. Marketplace developers build their
applications using the technologies and hosting platform they prefer. Want to build
using Java? Great. Ruby or PHP? Fine with us.
.NET? Sure, the Marketplace supports that too. These apps are then hosted
on developers’ own servers, on Amazon EC2, on Google’s App Engine, or on any other cloud
hosting service. As developers, they don’t need to worry about proprietary tools,
vendor lock-in, or proprietary cloud architecture lock-in, and as Google Apps customers,
you’ll even find apps that compete with Google products such as
SlideRocket
presentations and
Zoho
CRM, giving you the maximum possible choice.
The key
advantage of Marketplace apps, however, is their integration with Google Apps. All
installable Marketplace apps feature single sign-on with Google Apps, and most go beyond that
to incorporate specific features that help you accomplish everyday tasks more easily in
combination with Google’s applications. Here is a tiny sampling of Marketplace apps
that integrate with various Google Apps:
Gmail --
Manymoon
is an online project management tool that make it easy to turn emails from team mates or
customers directly into tasks in your projects.
Kwaga
Context and
Awayfind
are two productivity apps that help you manage your conversations directly in your Gmail
inbox, helping keep you more productive.
Spreadsheets --
Sliderocket
let’s you connect media-rich presentations to live data in Google Spreadsheets, so your
presentation always display the most up to date charts and graphs,
and
Smartsheet
let’s you extend Google Spreadsheets with Gantt tracking and customer management features to
empower your sales teams.
Calendar --
Tungle.me
and
Timebridge
are meeting management tools that make it easier to set up and conduct meetings with partners
and customers who use different calendaring systems.
Sites --
RunMyProcess
let’s you embed custom business process workflows into Google Sites, so each part of an
organization can more easily access business process that effect their daily work.
Talk -- Atlassian integrates
Jira
Studio with Google Talk, so your software development team can stay up to date with
the latest build status and team conversations from within Jira Studio, all in real
time.
There are hundreds more business applications available on the
Marketplace for every aspect of your business. Find CRM apps, Admin tools, Document
Management apps, Productivity apps, and many more.
Every week more
cloud-based business applications are added. If you can’t find an app you want please
post a suggestion.
By Don Doge,
Google Apps Team
