Microsoft Exec Says Google Doesn't Understand Enterprise Web Apps

Google’s annual I/O developer conference is next week, and it usually includes a few sessions on how enterprises are ditching Microsoft Office in favor of Google Apps For Business, its suite of subscription-based Web productivity apps.

So Microsoft is once again boasting about how it knows enterprise customers much better than Google does.

On Wednesday, Michael Atalla, director of product marketing for Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud based apps suite, told TechCrunch his company’s enterprise background gives it the “broadest vision of productivity” of any vendor out there.

Atalla described Google Apps as primarily browser-based and consumer-focused. Microsoft, on the other hand, “deeply understands that businesses need capabilities that go beyond consumer needs,” Atalla told Techcrunch.

Microsoft Office is still the dominant on-premise productivity software in enterprises, but the picture around Office 365 is murkier.

In its third-quarter earnings last month, Microsoft said Office 365 is on course to become a $1 billion business this year. Microsoft also said Office 365 subscriptions are growing and that 25 percent of its enterprise customers are using it.

However, Microsoft still isn’t saying exactly how many Office 365 users it has. Google says it has 5 million paying customers for Google Apps For Business.

At I/O, Google will continue making the case that enterprises are flocking to its platform.

One I/O session, titled “Introducing a New Way to Administer Businesses on Google”, will highlight how Google is helping enterprise admins and developers build apps more easily.

Another, titled “Our Maps, Your Business: A Step by Step Guide to Making the Most of Our Enterprise Products”, covers Google’s enterprise products and how they use location based services.