Google yesterday unveiled Google Drive, a cloud-based file storage, management, and sharing service. Its use in the workplace is inevitable and could present advantages, but it could also present some headaches to chief information officers (CIOs), according to Richard Edwards, a principal analyst at Ovum.
Using Google Drive, people can upload and access any file, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs, and more. It offers 5 GB of data storage for free and supports 30 different file types and a number of mobile and desktop platforms.
“On the face of it, this topic does not appear to concern the corporate IT manager or CIO, but chances are that employees will start using this service to do more than share family photos and recipes,” noted Edwards in a statement.
According to Edwards, corporate email systems are notorious for their measly storage quotas and message attachment size limitations. So, the sharing and distribution of large corporate files, such as PowerPoint presentations, engineering drawings, and creative content, are an obvious use case for Google Drive.
But the unsanctioned use of cloud storage services presents a real headache for corporate governance, risk, and compliance managers. “Many organizations already block access to popular file sharing Web sites such as Dropbox, but Ovum believes there is an inevitability about the use of these services that warrants further investigation,” added Edwards.
Just re-branding?
Google Docs is built right into Google Drive. So, is Drive essentially Google Docs re-branded with a user interface to suit new features?
“With Google Drive, Google has recognized the potential of shared cloud storage as a consumer hub or open platform that can be central to developing third party apps such as video editing, sending faxes, and creating websites, with potential for a far greater range of applications from its busy community of third party developers,” said Mark Little, also a principal analyst at Ovum.
Built to work with the overall Google experience, Drive is an open platform. Google said the company is working with many third-party developers.
Users can install Drive on their Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to their Android phone or tablet. Google noted it is “working hard” on a Drive app for iOS devices.
“For Google, the platform potential of Google Drive is of strategic importance, leveraging its developer strengths and competitive pricing (50% cheaper than Apple’s iCloud in some cases) to drive penetration of its cloud offering via both consumer and enterprise channels. This is a major challenge to Apple’s iCloud and others whose propositions are selling cloud storage as a useful ancillary to using their applications. The Google Drive proposition is the other way around, offering cloud storage as a core service from which users can access an ecosystem of highly useful applications,” said Little.
For those who upgrade, Google offers 25GB for US$ 2.49/month, 100GB for US$ 4.99/month, or even 1TB for US$ 49.99/month.
