Microsoft is continuing its efforts to transfer its Office productivity suite dominance to the cloud and compete with Google Apps for the hearts of the business users. The Seattle giant’s Microsoft Office has long enjoyed an almost exclusive position in the enterprise, but many companies have begun to favor Google’s rival cloud software for its convenience, accessibility and ability to integrate. It seems Microsoft has learned from its mistakes with Apple, and isn’t  isn’t taking the the competition from Google lightly. Microsoft has mustered its engineering muscle to launch a two-pronged attack.

First, Microsoft announced details of its Office on Demand feature, which will allow Office 2013 subscribers to run temporary instances of  Office applications on any computer. Now details about the upcoming Office 365 revamp are leaking. The business group lead for the company’s Singapore Office division says the upcoming release of the cloud-based suite will introduce features such as social media, file sharing and instant messaging that are likely to appeal to mobile workers. The new features should simplify make the tools for end users  and reduce the number of supplementary services organizations need to deploy and manage to provide the features users expect.

Microsoft is smart to focus its attention on bolstering Office in the cloud. The software’s continued strong performance is a major component of the company’s success. Office and Windows account for 105 percent of Microsoft’s profit when you take into account all the loses in other divisions. In the third quarter of this year, Office profits rose 14 percent – mostly due to enterprise purchases. If Microsoft doesn’t act aggressively and allows its Office leadership to slip, the overall success of the company won’t be far behind.