This week there has been more in the office web productivity space, with upgrades from both Google and mobile apps developer Equitrac. The depth of SharePoint 2010 penetration has been measured as well as its implications for document storage, while SpringCM added document workflow functionality in its latest release.

Google Docs and Security

Last week, we saw Microsoft announcing that it was extending its Web Apps to 150 countries, with the result that more people and more businesses would be able to get Office Web Apps. We also pointed out that Office web apps would be one of the big stories of the year.

Google clearly agrees with that but doesn’t make dramatic announcements about improvements to its cloud-based services Google Apps. Otherwise, we’d probably be looking at an announcement a week.

This week’s announcement will give its Google Docs application an added shine as it adds security that will make it harder to hack into documents stored in Google Docs.

With the optional layer of security, which is due to be released this week, users will have to enter passwords as normal, as well as a code that will be sent to the user’s mobile device.

Keeping in mind that security is one of the big issues preventing companies from moving into the cloud, it is likely that added security is going to give users more confidence about storing documents in Google.

What’s even better is that it takes 15 minutes to set up and will come as a new option to its Account Settings page that says "Using 2-step verification" under "Security."

This was originally offered to Google Apps users a couple of months ago, but it is now being extended to all Google users.

So another possible little chip in the veneer of Microsoft Office Web Apps and one that should be attractive to the millions of users already using other Google Apps such as Gmail. Lots more to come on this subject, which we’ll be following closely.

SharePoint 2010 and Doc Storage

But Google isn’t the only one that is increasing its market share through document storage abilities. Last week, process and case management vendor Global 360 (news, site) published research in this regard, showing that SharePoint 2010 deployment across the survey segment has jumped from 8% in September 2010 to 44%.

There’s a lot in the research, not the least of which is the fact that users are a lot happier to store their mission-critical information in SharePoint than they were before, particularly across the Insurance, healthcare and government verticals.

While more than one-third of respondents stored more than 50% of their mission-critical documents in SharePoint in this year’s survey, only 27% did so in the last survey, perhaps marking SharePoint’s maturity as an enterprise platform.

It also points to an increased need of businesses to manage the content as part of mission-critical business processes, improve their governance of the environment and protect the assets housed within the platform. Want to find out more about the research?

SpringCM Adds Document Workflows

Meanwhile, if you missed it recently, SpringCM (news, site) has announced the latest release of its cloud-based ECM platform. The latest update to SpringCM’s platform makes it easier for non-technical users to automate document and workflow applications.

It should come as no surprise that the most recent release of SpringCM’s cloud ECM solution focuses on improving ease of use — it’s been the focus of almost every quarterly release. Key improvements in the release include:

  • Enhanced e-forms and metadata functionality that enables easier and faster deployment of SpringCM
  • Inclusion of field masks for e-forms, which reduces errors and exceptions due to improperly formatted data
  • Elimination of file downloads and printing with enhanced online document viewing.

The latest version of SpringCM’s cloud ECM is available now to customers. 

Equitrac Integrates with eDOCS 5.2

Moving to document capture, intelligent print management vendor Equitrac has recently announced that Equitrac TouchPoint Document Capture, part of its Professional 5 software suite, is now compatible with OpenText eDOCS DM 5.2.

With its integration, users can now scan, profile, and save documents to OpenText eDOCS from an MFP connected to an Equitrac TouchPoint Console.

According to Equitrac, this is an integrated, easy-to-use and inexpensive document capture and cost recovery solution with defined workflows, including personal inboxes, email addresses, shared network folders, DMS or a firm's workflow applications.

However, given that OpenText released v5.3 of eDOCS only recently and indicated that v5.3 would be the basis for a major release of eDOCS in 2012, it seems a bit surprising that Equitrac’s software doesn’t seem to be compatible with v5.3 – at least Equitrac hasn’t said it is.

Is this a case of wait-and-see what the eDOCS 2012 release brings, instead of trying to second-guess OpenText? Possibly so. We’ll let you know when we know.

QuickOffice’s Mobile Office App

Finally, mobile office productivity vendor QuickOffice has announced it will ship its Office application on the latest Samsung Android-powered smartphone and tablet devices. Quickoffice enables consumers to uaw Microsoft Office documents directly on mobile devices.

Optimized to take advantage of the tablet's larger screen display and touch interface, Quickoffice's proprietary design technology, named SmartTouch, delivers a series of user interface enhancements and advanced touch controls that offer as easy a user experience as possible.

A full-featured application, it enables users to gain access to, view, edit and share Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, including Office 2007 and 2008 file formats. The app will be available on the recently announced Galaxy Mini and Galaxy Fit, both of which feature improved resolution.

While it’s only one of a number of mobile Office web apps, it does show yet again how important office productivity suites are going to be this year. More on this later.