CapGemini Announces Its First Customer For Google Apps: ItselfCapGemini Announces Its First Customer For Google Apps: Itself

It appears big companies aren't breaking down the doors at Capgemini to sign up for its new desktop outsourcing service for Google Apps. Two months after announcing the availability of the service, Capgemini says it has completed the first enterprise deployment of Google Apps. But here's the catch: the deployment is at its own offices.

To be fair, it takes time to build a customer base, and Capgemini is demonstrating that it's going to practice what it preaches. The company announced Wednesday it has deployed Google Apps to 165 agents and supervisors at its facility in Junction, Kan., that provides outsourced customer call center services for businesses. Agents are using Google Docs, Gmail, Calendar, Talk, and Start Page.

Besides e-mail, agents are using the Google software to submit reports and create spreadsheets that answer questions and share information related to customer issues. Google Talk lets them send instant messages to a supervisor when they need assistance with a call, and Capgemini says solving the situation with the help of an e-mail chat with a supervisor can eliminate the need to call back customers with answers. Agents use Google Docs to take notes during customer calls to alert managers of any developing customer issues. They're using Google Apps as a compliment to the call center's existing CRM application.

Capgemini, which has long offered a desktop outsourcing service for Microsoft Office, added Google Apps to its service offerings for large companies following a partnership it announced with Google on September 10. Google will host the apps from its data centers, and Capgemini will support them, charging businesses additional fees for services such as deployment, integration, help-desk support, software and hardware provisioning, and security monitoring and software.

Capgemini offers multilingual desktop support services from 17 cities worldwide, from Kansas City to Krakow to Mumbai. Google App adoption among large companies is moving slowly, but there are some big names using the suite, including Procter & Gamble, General Electric, and L'Oreal.