UPDATED 08:10 EDT / MAY 09 2016

NEWS

What you missed in Cloud: The software-as-a-service arms race continues

Last week saw several of the biggest names in the software-as-a-service market roll out major feature additions to their offerings as part of a renewed push to woo enterprise customers. Microsoft Corp. set the pace with the introduction of three new mobile SharePoint clients that will extend access to internal corporate sites beyond traditional desktops to employee-owned devices.

According to the company, workers are also gaining the ability to view documents stored in the collaboration platform through OneDrive as if they were kept directly on the cloud service. The feature is complemented by a content recommendation engine that aims to make accessing internal data even faster by automatically surfacing files deemed relevant to a user’s work. Microsoft hopes that the additions will make Office 365 more competitive against rivaling productivity software and in particular, Google Apps.

The suite also received boost last week after Alphabet Inc. acquired Synergyse Training Inc., a Canadian startup that helps lower the learning curve for new users. Its namesake service overlays navigation instructions on the interface of each Google App and lets companies add their own custom training videos to the mix for added measure. Plus, it also keeps track of updates, which means that a worker can quickly familiarize themselves with new functionality after it’s released.

Alphabet plans on integrating Synergyse into Google Apps later this year and will introduce a Chrome version in conjuction to make its feature set more accessible for desktop users. The company announced the move against the backdrop of Adobe Inc. buying Livefyre Inc. in a similar strategic acquisition meant to bolster its own software-as-a-service lineup. The startup’s comment management tool and associated analytics features will be made part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud to let brands manage all of their social media activity the same place. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Image via Pixabay

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