Google’s recently
launched its online storefront for Google Apps™ products and services. The
Google Apps Marketplace makes it easier for more than two million Google Apps
customers to discover, purchase and deploy integrated business applications and
related professional services. By integrating with user account and application
data stored in Google Apps, these cloud applications provide a simpler user
experience that can increase business efficiency and reduce administrative
overhead. It is another step in Google’s move to become a player in the
productivity software space, especially the cloud version.
Now Zoho recently announced it has added Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects to the Google Apps
Marketplace.™ These are two of their most popular offerings. Zoho had
previously integrated their apps with Google at the log-in level with single
sign-on. Now, they are taking
their integrations deepe using the enhanced APIs for Google Apps.
Users gain a
variety of benefits from the integration of the Zoho applications with Google
Apps. For all Zoho applications, the integration lets users automatically sign
in to the Zoho applications with their existing Google Apps credentials. In
addition, Zoho Business applications are listed in Google’s universal
navigation, and Zoho application gadgets can be embedded in relevant Google
applications, such as Gmail™, iGoogle™ and Google Sites™.
With Zoho CRM
ussers can view Gmail emails in Zoho CRM contextually, so all Gmail emails
exchanged with a Zoho CRM contact can be viewed. Users can also import contacts
from Google Apps to Zoho CRM, view Zoho CRM calendar events in Google Calendar,
and more.?
With Zoho
Projects users can view Zoho Project calendar events in Google Calendar and
attach Google Docs™ files to Zoho Projects.
Here is an
interesting post, It Is Not About Our App, It Is About the User's Data and Context,
by Zoho’s CEO Sridhar Vembu that discusses their integrate with Google Apps. He writes that an important emerging
theme in cloud applications is the one-browser-tab approach to design. In this
case there is contextual integration of information across applications, so
that whatever app the user happens to be in, relevant information is pulled
from other apps and displayed it in the right context. This is a good move by both
Zoho and Google. .
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