Google continues to acquire companies and, by taking advantage of technology they have acquired (and improved upon) offer unique search services to the public. It is this continually operating "idea factory" that allows such concepts as Google Wave and voice search to get to market so quickly. From internal user testing to small focus groups, to dropping the application on Google's massive network of data centers, you have a testing mechanism that is at a scale unavailable in traditional software development models.
Certainly, many people in the corporate world are still wary of "the cloud" and for that matter, Google as a real enterprise player. But that doesn't change the methodology in which Google delivers their applications to the marketplace.
Early this morning, I tried to scan my memory for an application Google launched for the enterprise that was not already available publicly. Mail, calendar, docs, search, all these applications were first publicly available and by being publicly available (and free), you have a testing process on a large scale in permutations that cannot be imagined. In other words, Google can throw a ton of internal, grid-based tests at applications before they go to public Beta, but they cannot predict the interesting ways people will use these applications. And, if something becomes VERY interesting to Google, it is incorporated into the product directly, automatically, for free.
So while I understand the lack of trust many enterprise IT folks have for Google, it's hard to challenge the delivery model. Cloud applications, software-as-a-service, on-demand, what it's called is irrelevant. What is relevant is how companies and users benefit from massively scalable applications tested across large permutations of use cases in the public domain. This, combined with Google's approach to constant product evolution (without downloading and installing patches or service packs), lifts IT out of the doldrums of keeping the lights on, and into the the next era of enterprise innovation.
Focus on your core business, farm everything else out to the cloud. It just makes sense.
