Like a technological submarine, silent and deadly, Google is moving swiftly in the unchartered blue ocean of opportunity to transform its knowledge and strengths into a working platform known as open services development.
Open means just that, open as in low cost technology available or open to many thanks to Google's crisp comprehension of the future of enterprise computing. And the furniture industry constitutes an enterprise ripe for Google's magic.
Google, by its configuration of hundreds of thousands of commodity servers into a massive, parallel, virtual supercomputer used for search, has worked out, by intent or accident, the enterprise computer platform of the future. It's just waiting to flex its technological muscles.
As the search engine of choice, scores of millions of personal and business computers are already linked to Google's giant storehouse of supercomputers. With some sensible tweaking the most sophisticated operating applications will open to all, as a quick click away for furniture retailers and manufacturers.
As mentioned previously, Google has aligned with Intuit, the powerhouse maker of QuickBooks, which is bundling a local search function in the 2007 edition. What will stop Intuit and Google from transforming Quick Books into an inexpensive, muscular operating system?
Access to the a inevitable Google open services platform means the smallest retailers will possess the technological power reserved for Walmart and other biggies. In the hands of smaller retalers, the neighborhood merchants will be empowered and able to operate their busiesses with greater power more economically.
For suppliers, they will be able to sell to more retailers, more often and more economically instead of just barely making a profit in the service of the biggest merchants.
They can rely on the sophisticated Google software to to all the grunt work of hitherto profit-sapping handling all the financial and logistics tasks.
Thanks to the open services platform, furniture merchants and their suppliers can devote more productive time to their core competency: designing and marketing furniture to help people live more comfortably and better.
Go Google: Run silent, run deep!
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