And the equation editor is enriched by a toolbar

In Spreadsheet, no major functional changes, except a formula bar always visible, the option on the existing spreadsheet to switch to the new interface, and performance actually increased, the difference is palpable.

So, let’s benefit from it . On the other side, starting from May 3, the module offline of Google Docs will no longer  be available; pending the launch of a new version compatible with the new infrastructure being deployed.

In social networks like FaceBook, applications are embedded in the service itself and are not usable outside the service to keep users in the environment. With iGoogle social gadgets, it’s the future possibility of taking the gadgets in any other environment, because Google gadgets are made to be reusable thanks, in particular, to the OpenSocial standard launched two years ago.

So, it’s the opposite of the strategy of FaceBook that Google sets up, the ability to disseminate massively social functions in (pervasive in English) other web services

Google is faithful to his way of growing.

It is also one more step taken by the realtime web: permanent and real-time interconnection of Internet users through its services.

We already mentioned it indirectly in December with our post dedicated to “Can large accounts adopt Google Apps?“, because Kimind has accompanied Valeo in this process since October 2007, both on the strategic aspects and on the implementation of internal pilots and support to the process and usage transformation practices for the true deployment.

It is a world first for Google, since it is the first time a group of this size adopt the full range of services provided by the Google Apps collaborative suite, in both messaging and collaborative dimensions. It is important also to note that Google Apps will gradually replace both the Microsoft Office suite and the collaborative Lotus Notes/Domino platform within Valeo. TechCrunch noticed it this morning with its “Google Cloud: 1 – MS Office: 0” post

Hereunder is the official press release of Valeo (read full press release in their website) :

“Valeo today announced that the Group’s 30,000 Internet-connected employees now have access to a new communication and collaborative working platform based on Google Apps Premier Edition and supported by Capgemini.

The progressive roll-out of the new system is giving employees access to a suite of online products which will increase administrative efficiency and improve collaboration between the 193 Valeo entities in 27 countries.

“We were searching for an innovative way to reduce significantly our office infrastructure costs while simultaneously improving user collaboration and productivity,” said André Gold, Valeo’s Technical Senior Vice-President. “Our pilot projects demonstrate that this target is achievable.”

Valeo is deploying Google Apps, supported by Google’s partner Capgemini, in a phased approach throughout 2009. As a first step, users are being given access to Google sites, on-line documents, video management and instant messaging, including voice and video chat, in order to improve teamwork. The new system will then offer applications to further enhance the company’s efficiency, such as an Enterprise directory and workflow tools to automate administrative processes. In the final stage, users will benefit from Google mail, calendar, search and
on-line translation solutions to reinforce personal efficiency. They will be able to access the applications from a desktop, laptop or other mobile device.

“The cost savings and innovation made possible by cloud computing help businesses better respond to a global and mobile workforce – especially in today’s difficult economic environment,” said Dave Girouard, President, Google Enterprise. “We’re thrilled Valeo has selected Google.

Valeo is an independent industrial Group fully focused on the design, production and sale of components, integrated systems and modules for cars and trucks. Valeo ranks among the world’s top automotive suppliers. The Group has 122 plants, 61 R&D centers, 10 distribution platforms and employs around 49,000 people in 27 countries worldwide.”

(read full press release in their website & related Google’s blog post)

If you are interested to know more about such projects, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Our work was mainly divided into 3 phases:

• The first step was a study of opportunity, around 3 axes: the vision at 10 years of the evolution of the office and collaborative ; the business impacts in terms of usage transformations for the employees; the losses or gains expected in terms of overall productivity for the company. The study, conducted in parallel with other actions concerning the choice of the solution (between Microsoft, IBM and Google), have resulted in the final choice of the Google Apps by the large-account.
• The second step was to accompany a first Google Apps pilot for 3 months to assess the usage transformations on a smaller sample and evaluate actions for a massive deployment. The pilot quickly hired hundreds of people and has been quickly adopted by users.
• The third step is the final deployment to all employees, which is in a phased path depending on different products, takeovers of existing, technical and organizational measures. Google Docs & Sites may for example be immediately deployed to all employees, but GMail and Google Calendar require a more gradual deployment to cover existing data imports from older systems.

The feedback is extremely rich. The first interesting point is the ease with which users adopt the solution as soon as their profits are introduced and demonstrated. Of course 100% of the needs formerly covered by Microsoft Office for example cannot be by Google Apps (complex Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint Slideshow filled with animations), but in fact we realize very quickly that:

1. users are demanding the simplicity and ease of use in the information production and exchange with their colleagues. Once they understand that Google Docs for example offers these two dimensions instantly, they are ready to sacrifice some advanced uses of existing products to get the benefits of Google.
2. At least 90% of normal daily use of an employee are covered by Google Apps. We can even say that 100% of the usages of a vast majority of users are covered by Google Apps. Only what we can call “power users” will need in some cases advanced features of Excel or PowerPoint (Word we put it in another category, because it is 99% very quickly replaced by direct online wiki or doc production). In this case we retain versions of MS Office for these people and uses it, which drastically reduces the need of licenses (one Google Apps licence costs 10 times less).

Unlike many ideas in this area, consisting generally to say that Google Apps is suited to small businesses but not to large accounts, this implementation proves in one hand our own studies in this subject (solutions like Google are the future of the office and collaborative areas) and in the other hand also confirms that Google Apps is perfectly usable for large-account, at very large scale, in place of Microsoft Office and any other collaborative solution.

There is one initial condition: having previously determined the necesary usage transformations to perform in the company from the old to the new paradigm, and implemented an adoption policy that allows the deployment for employees with the most ease possible while enjoying the characteristics of viral adoption of such a product.

The benefits are to go, not in terms of “better knowledge management”, “increased ability to innovate,” or any other qualitative argument difficult to quantify in the short term, but in terms of individual and collective productivity gains. Because in the end, and it is the credo that Kimind defends since its inception through the expertise of its consultants, it is at the level of the daily work productivity that the challenge of adopting these new tools is.

By simplifying the usage of new tools, promoting mass collaboration and instantaneous collaboration between employees (and beyond with immediate sharing with partners, customers or suppliers), it is the individual, group and enterprise level which improve their overall work processes, break the barriers accumulated over the years and disrupt bottlenecks that overfilled e-mailboxes and files servers have become.

It is extremely easy thanks to field interview conducted by Kimind’s consultants to make understand the protagonists themselves how much huge savings in time they will perform throughout the process transformation of informal workflows. Not only saving time but also the ability to perform tasks previously impossible because of the lack of real collaboration tools.

Therefore, a true usage transformation is happening, which induces a transformation of the organization and which must therefore be engaged by the top management to be quickly adopted.

Google Apps is currently the only solution focusing on such approach and delivering thses gains in productivity on a global scale of a large-account. No other solution offers a broad spectrum of functionalalities, even if they cover better small parts of this set.

But large accounts need a global solution, and Google Apps is so far the only operational alternative, which was demonstrated by the massive deployment and feedback. Other players like Microsoft and IBM will of course change it underway, but the transformation of their own architectures and minds are extremely slow throughout the evolution of these solutions, and the delays are significant.

In conclusion, Google Apps is perfectly adapted to the use of a large account, the problem is more on the ability for this large account to transform the usages and to realize that it can and must do so to unleash new levels of productivity.

This will enforce the HTTPS:// protocol for your URLs, even if you typed HTTP://.

This is a great feature, because we have seen users which contacts lists have been hacked, when using for example public wifi connexions.

Google solves the problem offering this security feature, and we advise you to immediately check this option for all your domains. But it is only available for premium and education Google Apps editions.

For those who are running Google Apps free edition, we recommend you to type yourself your URLs as HTTPS, and keep them like this in your bookmarks. All the following navigation through the Google Apps services will remain HTTPS. You can also use the firefox add-on, Better GMail 2, to enforce specifically GMail.

PS: keep in mind that if you invite an external user to your domain, this enforcement will not be active. This external user will be available to use HTTP URLs. We hope Google will enforce this very soon also.