Google Getting Serious about Enterprise IT

This just in: Google has just announced hiring of Rob Enslin as President of Global Customer Operations for its Google Cloud unit.

Why is this a big deal? Because Enslin only in the past month announced his departure from SAP, where he spent 27 years and was most recently in charge of SAP's entire cloud portfolio. He was also a member of SAP's executive board.

Enslin will be reporting to Thomas Kurian, who was recently hired on by Google as the CEO of Google Cloud. Kurian, of course, was highly regarded during his 22 year career at Oracle, where he was most recently the President of Product Development. He was also the brains behind Oracle's Fusion line of cloud applications, which represent Oracle's future as a cloud applications services provider.

Kurian writes:

Today, it is my pleasure to introduce Robert Enslin, Google Cloud’s new President of Global Customer Operations. Rob’s expertise in building and running organizations globally, business acumen and deep customer and partner relationships make him a perfect fit for this crucial role. Rob will report to me, and he starts on April 22. Rob spent the last 27 years at SAP in leadership roles across sales and operations, most recently as the President, Cloud Business Group and Executive Board Member. He developed and managed SAP’s entire cloud product portfolio, led the field revenue and enablement efforts across multiple geographies, and oversaw core functions including professional services, ecosystem, channel, and solutions. Rob brings great international experience to his role having worked in South Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States—this global perspective will be invaluable as we expand Google Cloud into established industries and growth markets around the world.

Just today in a private message a fellow analyst said, in another context, that the "enterprise software boat is being rocked." I replied that it needs to be rocked, and maybe it needs to be capsized.

Perhaps Google getting serious about enterprise technology is just what the market needs. For now, Google's immediate objective appears to be to take on Amazon and Microsoft for cloud infrastructure services. But with hiring of Kurian and Enslin, will Google also start moving into enterprise applications? Or will it be content to just be a platform provider>

Watch for who are the next new hires. That will give us a clue.