Google has partnered with global consulting firm Capgemini to push GoogleApps -- Google's online alternative to Microsoft Office -- at enterprise users.

The two companies are set to announce a partnership today where Capgemini will offer desktop support and installation services to large corporations that use Google Apps Premier Edition.

Google Apps, which includes Gmail, a calendar and document editor, can fill a role in large corporations -- even though the product suite is used mainly by individuals and small businesses, according to Capgemini executives.

These Web-based applications make sense for employees who typically don't have their own PCs, such as factory line or retail workers, where the cost of a PC and Microsoft Office is hard to justify, said Steve Jones, head of SOA (services-oriented architecture) at Capgemini.

The Google suite also makes sense for people collaborating over the Internet with business partners, he added.

Capgemini will provide support to corporations and customise GoogleApps to fit a company's business processes.

For Google, the arrangement helps GoogleApps' entry into large corporations, which tend to be conservative about new technology adoption.

A report published last month by research firm the Burton Group argued that corporations that use Google Apps Premier Edition are taking risks, even though the product is relatively inexpensive at US$50 per user per year.

Most corporations are not experienced in getting productivity applications delivered over the Web from Google, which is primarily a consumer company. The applications themselves lack features that Microsoft Office has, such as the ability to access documents based on an employee's role, the report noted.

"While the US$50 per user per year price point is attractive, enterprises are not getting a lot for their money," wrote Burton Group analyst Guy Creese.

"While Google's entrance is adding momentum to using software as a service (SaaS) for communication, collaboration, and content management, it's unclear at this point whether Google will be able to capitalise on the trends that it's accelerating," he added.

Capgemini's Jones said that Capgemini decided to offer a Google Apps service in part because employees often use the applications without the approval of corporate technology departments, which can lead to problems managing important company documents.

"If companies don't proactively control this, then they will lose control. This is going to happen no matter what. The question is whether you enable it or not," he said.