Google for Work thriving by dumping the ‘enterprise’

Google Enterprise became Google for Work a year ago. The company opted for the name change because “enterprise is old business,” says Amit Singh, president of the division at Google. Singh reflected on Google for Work’s accomplishments since the rebranding in a blog post.

The switch wasn’t just about renaming Google’s business, Singh writes, but also what the division and products stand for. “We believe in a new way of working with collaboration at the core. A world where we work how we choose.”

The consumerization of business apps

Accomplishing business tasks at work shouldn’t “feel like traveling back in time” and the tools you use at work should be “just as good or even better than the ones we have in our personal lives,” Singh writes.

[ Related News: Google boasts Android for Work success ]

Google for Work has racked up some wins over the last 12 months, according to Singh.

Earlier this month the company announced that more than one million paying customers, including companies such as The New York Times, Uber, Fossil, Wedding Wire and BBVA, are using Google Drive (which is part of the Google for Works suite). In July, five months after the launch of Android for Work, Google announced more than 10,000 companies such as SAP, Woolworths, the World Bank and the U.S. Army were testing and using the mobile platform.

Singh also cited an IDC report that concluded Chromebooks are now the best-selling device in the U.S. for K-12 education and a Better Cloud study that found millennials are 55 percent more likely to use Google Apps than alternatives.

Wait … there’s more

Singh promises even better days ahead for Google for Work’s customers. “Cloud computing will continue to get more powerful, and we’re only at the beginning of what machine learning can do to help businesses and people contextualize data,” he writes.

[Related News Analysis: 4 out of 5 Google for Work customers avoid Google Drive]

Singh hints at features like a smarter digital assistant that surfaces information at the most ideal time while helping you manage your schedule. Singh predicts virtual reality will unlock new opportunities in education and that the Internet of Things will enable more efficient and actionable data for businesses.

“These advances will affect all aspects of our lives, including work, and the possibilities are great,” he concludes. “We’ll keep our focus forward, so that wherever we’re going, we’re always embarking on what’s next.”