As I was going through my daily alerts, this article caught my eye.
Google is the next — and a disruptive — information platform. In 2006, players competing in the information platform space need to keep a weather eye on Google, for three reasons: One, the fastest way to unify access to both data and content today is to implement a search engine that can federate access to multiple repositories, index multiple formats, and bridge the information divide while leaving legacy applications in place. Second, the growing development community around Google means that Google's search platform is daily growing richer in functionality — thanks to suppliers that are adding pieces Google itself doesn't have competency or interest in. And three, Google — and a number of similar online and wireless players — have very powerful adoption leverage through their ubiquity (certainly compared with software vendors) and their extremely attractive pricing (low priced or free) based on a radically different ("IT inside") revenue model.
This article traces several trends and frequently mentions Google.
The Google effect will challenge and spur action in the SME marketplace. As with enterprise application providers, services providers — including BPO providers — have been challenged to affordably reach the SME market. We predict that in 2006, online providers will begin to expand their offerings to include office and/or enterprise types of services, such as supply chain management, either as direct providers or as aggregators of other suppliers.