(September 18) When David Senf and colleagues at technology research firm International Data Corp. needed to collaborate on a spreadsheet, the easiest way was to upload it to Google Docs, a cloud-based service where they could all edit it.
Though IDC specializes in technology, it didn’t have any tools internally that could handle the task as easily as a publicly available cloud service, says Mr. Senf, who is vice-president of the firm’s infrastructure solutions group in Toronto.
What he and his colleagues did is not uncommon. Employees of companies large and small – but especially those in smaller businesses, Mr. Senf says – are using Google Docs, Google Drive, Box, YouSendIt and Evernote at work.