Google Apps for Work gets an SMB boost via Kronos integration

Kronos and Google have teamed up to integrate Google Apps for Work with the Kronos Workforce Ready cloud suite for small and midsize businesses, Kronos announced Tuesday, giving SMBs new ability to engage office employees and remote workers via familiar Google Apps and mobile devices.

Through an integration with Google Calendar, for instance, employee work schedules created in Workforce Ready will automatically be synced to their personal calendars, meaning workers won't have to wait until the schedule is posted to see their assigned shifts.

HR reports, timesheet data, payroll information and other documents from Workforce Ready will be securely saved to Google Drive, meanwhile, making it easy to share as needed. Spreadsheets will be sharable between Workforce Ready and Google Sheets as well.

Finally, with a new connection to Google Maps, SMBs will be able to list job openings with company-specific information on their Google Maps pin as well as identify geographic talent pools for more efficient hiring, Kronos said.

Additional integrations are planned to follow.

Some 2 million businesses pay to use Apps for Work, Google recently announced.

The software enjoys considerable popularity among startups and small businesses, noted Christine Dover, a research vice president with IDC.

"Connecting things like schedules to Google Calendar makes a ton of sense, as it’s a format people are used to seeing," Dover said in an email.

On the downside, "Google appears to have lost interest in Apps -- it's kind of on life support," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group. "That perception may overcome this improvement."