Google also unveils a new Drive preview pane commenting feature in G Suite for Microsoft Office files.
Under the deal announced Tuesday, current customers of Box, Dropbox or Google can switch to OneDrive and use the service for free for the remainder of their existing contracts. The offer is valid until June 30 and is available for organizations that are not currently OneDrive for Business or Office365 customers. Those making the switch must also commit to moving a minimum of 500 users to the platform.
“We want new customers to be able to experience OneDrive without incremental costs above and beyond what they are paying for today,” said Seth Patton, OneDrive general manager of product marketing at Microsoft.
But McKinnon argued that customers need to “look beyond just discounts and bold offers” to ensure they’re investing in the content and collaboration services that best help employees and allow for easy sharing and collaboration when needed.
Patton said many organizations are keen to consolidate the number of vendors they rely on for content storage and collaboration. “They are interested in looking at OneDrive for Business but they have existing contracts that they are paying for which they can’t get out of,” he said. “We are reducing that cost and making it easier for new customers to move over.”
To that end, Microsoft provides FastTrack support services to help customers migrate onto OneDrive and Office365.
“Customers who are using these cloud platforms for more strategic content applications…may be less likely to leap within this window, and face rebuilding or reworking key apps or business processes,” McKinnon said.
“Box, Dropbox Business and Google have a clearer story when it comes to personal, team or enterprise content workspaces,” McKinnon said.
Following the Microsoft announcement, Google today unveiled new commenting capabilities in its Google Drive file share and collaboration platform. The change make it possible to comment on a wider variety of file types in the Google Drive preview pane, including Microsoft Office files, PDFs and images. This means files don’t need to be converted into Google Docs, Sheets or Slides in order to provide feedback or assign tasks within a document – making it easier for G Suite users to collaborate with co-workers and other firms that may be Microsoft shops.
Google has added new commenting capabilities in its Google Drive file share and collaboration platform.
