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GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho
By Daya Baran at September 21, 2008 31 Comments
General Electric has decided to forgo a partnership with Google and has formalized a strategic partnership with Zoho for its 400,000 desktops. GE made the decision after a vigorous evaluation of both products. ”GE is a master at taking costs out of established processes, they do it relentlessly and continuously and they know how to evaluate and manage the risk of working with start-ups. Where GE break a trail, others are likely to follow,” according to Bernard Lunn of ReadWriteWeb.
Zoho is a remarkable company. They have out maneuvered all the usual suspects such as Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce at their own games. Not too long ago, the company turned down a takeover offer from Salesforce. Zoho is an example of the new Web economics at work. The company hails from India, has never taken venture funding and has a ten person operation in Silicon Valley. Yet, if you look at its suite of products you would think it has a Fortune 500 company backing it. The company employees 600 engineers, developers, product managers, and technicians in India that develop and build its products. As a result, that’s how the company supports GE, Swisscom (the AT&T of Switzerland), and other large customers. The entire operation has been boot-strapped and today, the company generates revenues of $40 million a year from all its divisions and makes a profit of $1 million a month. The company also does not hire MBAs or Ivy League school grads because business today moves so fast that they seek people with real world experience versus those who have learned it from a text book. Zoho was the winner of Best Web 2.0 Apps at our Web 2.0 Conference in January.
This was a major blow for Google and its cloud computing initiatives. Google has won hands down in search, search advertising, and with some consumer products such as Gmail but on the corporate side, the traction has been slow and Google needs the corporate market for the next cycle of its growth. Apparently, the Google representative was more interested in showing GE how they could make money from Google ads and that was not GE’s objective.
Labels: cloud computing, google, saas, Web Apps, zoho
31 Comments
[...] A GE spokesperson who did not want to be identified said their decision was based around issues of personal and corporate privacy, functionality, support, features and Zoho won hands down. The spokesperson said the Google application was intrusive and the ads started to become a nusiance. I tested both applications today. Google Spreadsheets was a disaster. I have not noticed any major change with it over the past year. However I would encourage you to try both products to get a feel before you choose one.[From GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho] [...]
[...] is a big deal. GE has signed a deal to put Zoho Applications on 400,000 desktops. Or webtops, really. Congratulations to Raju and his [...]
When I evaluated ZOHO Business, it would not allow MS Excel to be imported. Is that still a restriction?
[...] GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho, http://www.webguild.org [...]
[...] GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho, http://www.webguild.org [...]
[...] GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho, http://www.webguild.org [...]
I don’t see a press release anywhere for this and as far as I heard they are only evaluating Zoho at this time.
Care to comment?
“…ads started to become a nusiance…”
Was GE looking at Google’s free standard edition? How’s that a valid comparison?
[...] premio. Nah, no se llama as
[...] a significant announcement by GM today that it’s dropping Google and choosing Zoho to outfit them for all their online [...]
At the end of the day it was their broad portfolio (as you eluded to) and their department specific apps like Zoho People that sealed the deal for GM
http://tinyurl.com/3pmms5
[...] arms race. Jeff attributes this to the tipping point ‘win’ of 400,000 GE seats. Jeff quotes from WebGuild where an un-named GE person allegedly says: A GE spokesperson who did not want to be identified [...]
[...] WebGuild // [...]
[...] “intrusive” Google for Zoho Jump to Comments An anonymous GE spokesperson told Silicon Valley WebGuild that the corporate megalith has punted on Google’s browser-based office applications in favor [...]
I have been using Zoho invoice for a while now and I love it! My only gripe with Zoho applications is that they do not all use the same interface design standards. Hopefully they will address that issue soon.
[...] to Daya Baran’s blog “A GE spokesperson who did not want to be identified said their decision was based around [...]
[...] Ousts Google for Zoho September 22, 2008 - 11:37 am by dave Clipped from http://www.webguild.org General Electric has decided to forgo a partnership with Google and has formalized a strategic [...]
[...] Published September 23, 2008 Cloud Computing , Economy , IT , SaaS , Trends Well, I guess this is a big one: General Electric has decided to forgo a partnership with Google and has formalized a [...]
[...] GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho, http://www.webguild.org [...]
[...] GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho, http://www.webguild.org [...]
[...] als Kunden gewonnen und damit einen ziemlich großen Fisch an der Angel und sich gelichzeitig gegen Microsoft und Google durchgesetzt welche mit MS Office Live Workspace und Google Apps ähnliche Produkte [...]
History repeats itself.
David takes on Goliath once again.
Good post. Always ahead of the curve. Readwriteweb says that beat out Microsoft too. MBA are master bullshiters. They will sink your company see Lehman & AIG.
[...] Google, even though it is using Google’s own Gears service to do so. According to at least one report, General Electric has chosen to go with Zoho’s app suite instead of Google [...]
[...] This blog will guide you through this amazing set of programs, which even big corporations such as GE are now using and it touted to take over from Microsoft [...]
[...] is very heady stuff. However it all came down to earth just a short time later with a headline that GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho. General Electric has decided to forgo a partnership with Google and has formalized a strategic [...]
“Jayant Kumar said…
When I evaluated ZOHO Business, it would not allow MS Excel to be imported. Is that still a restriction?”
HI jayanth,
i have been using zoho for a long time and havent had any problems with imports of MS XL sheets. may be u can contact the sheet support team for further details.
[...] The company first switched its 400,000 desktops from Microsoft Office to Google Apps, according to WebGuild. But in September, GE switched to Zoho due to privacy concerns, Zoho’s broader application [...]
[...] GE seems to agree. In September, GE dropped Google and chose competitor Zoho Office Suite. [...]
[...] - GE Drops Google, Selects Zoho saved by squamosity2008-10-10 - Gospelr is like Christian twittering saved by oscarcpz2008-10-06 - [...]
[...] Apps that just celebrated their 3rd anniversary could be signing a deal with General Electric : Unconfirmed reports are circulating that GE already chose Zoho, but Oliver Marks at ZDNET set the record [...]