Earlier this morning I was perusing the latest TechCrunch postings when I ran across this: NetSuite Announces Chrome Compatibility.  After I picked myself off the ground from fits of laughter, I went ahead and made our own grand pronouncement on our twitter feed letting everybody know that we were Chrome compatible as well.

Though the announcement by NetSuite was a bit unnecessary, it does point to something more important to us as a fellow Software-as-a-Service company: Google has now really emphasized cloud computing, web applications and SaaS.  I am currently using Chrome on SalesForce, the king of all SaaS web applications.  What Chrome gives me, is the ability to run SalesForce sans a traditional browser.  I have previously experimented with Mozilla Labs’ Prism but, Chrome’s ease of use trumps the Mozilla model.  Through the use of Chrome’s software application mode, I can easily and quickly “tear away” a tab from the browser and create a desktop shortcut.

What this means to us here at Adapt is that our clients, if using Chrome, can now actually generate a desktop shortcut specific to our web application instead of having to save it as a favorite link or continually type in the web address.  Google even generates a cool little icon based on you favicon.

While being thoroughly aware that Chrome is a direct assault on Microsoft and its software strangle-hold (they are pushing not only Google Docs, but also Google Apps for Business which recently blew past the 1,000,000th user mark), we still applaud them for making the user’s life easier in companies that utilize SaaS solutions in their day-to-day operations - whether that be SalesForce, NetSuite or Adapt SEM.

It should be noted that Chrome, while it appears to be a great consumer and features browser, has yet to be thoroughly tested within the enterprise realm over any substantial period of time. There have also been some rather sobering revelations on security flaws and it is not fully compatible with all websites, including those using Active-X controls.  This is however understandable as it is labeled as a beta release. Some caution should therefore be taken when using it to surf the web.  That being said, I still think it is a great first release.

Oh and by the way, I think this post is Google Chrome compatible as well.

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